The disastrous decision Josh Hartnett made to reject Christopher Nolan
American actor Josh Harnett has some impressive acting credits to his name, yet he has retained a relatively low profile throughout his career, wary of the pressures of fame.
Discussing his life on the big screen, the actor once shared with the Evening Chronicle, “I know what it’s like to be in that whole world [fame]. I was up there for a couple of years, and it was uncomfortable. I think trying to stay at the top is a shortcut to unhappiness. I spent a bit of time really thinking about whether this [acting] was the right thing for me.”
Harnett began his career in the late 1990s, landing a main role in the crime drama Cracker. Soon after, he starred in Robert Rodriguez’s The Faculty, which earned him a Saturn Award nomination for ‘Best Performance by a Younger Actor’. Harnett then played Trip Fontaine in Sofia Coppola’s The Virgin Suicides and SSG Matt Eversmann in Ridley Scott’s Black Hawk Down, cementing him as a fast-rising star.
Over the years, Hartnett has continued to act in many well-received films. Yet, he has consciously attempted to avoid reaching superstar levels of fame, even if that meant turning down highly lucrative opportunities. When Hartnett was still in the early years of his career, he met with Christopher Nolan to discuss the possibility of starring in Batman Begins, stating that he messed up his chance of forming a connection with the director.
Luckily, the pair finally got to work with each other on 2023’s Oppenheimer, with Harnett playing Ernst Lawrence. However, back in 2015, he reflected on his missed opportunities with Nolan. He told Playboy: “People don’t like being told no. I don’t like it. I learned my lesson when Christopher Nolan and I talked about Batman. I decided it wasn’t for me. Then he didn’t want to put me in The Prestige.”
He continued: “They not only hired their Batman for it [Christian Bale] but also hired my girlfriend [Scarlett Johansson] at the time. That’s when I realized relationships were formed in the fire of that first Batman film and I should have been part of the relationship with this guy Nolan, who I felt was incredibly cool and very talented.”
“I was so focused on not being pigeonholed and so scared of being considered only one thing as an actor,” Harnett added. “I should have thought ‘well then, work harder, man.’ Watching Christian Bale go on to do so many other things has been just awesome. I mean, he’s been able to overcome that. Why couldn’t I see that at the time?”
However, upon the release of Oppenheimer, Nolan clarified on the Happy Sad Confused podcast that, although he discussed Batman Begins with Hartnett, he never screen-tested for the lead role. Still, he expressed his satisfaction in finally working with Hartnett, stating, “I think over the last few years he’s done some really interesting things and really looked to stretch himself. […] ‘think hed do’ a really great job in the film.”
