Batman Begins

Batman Begins is a 2005 American superhero/action film based on the comic book fictional character Batman. The film was first released on June 15, 2005. It was directed by Christopher Nolan and written by Nolan and David S. Goyer. Although it is the fifth live-action Batman film since 1989, the movie is neither a sequel nor a prequel to the previous Tim Burton/Joel Schumacher films, but rather a complete reboot of the Batman series that more closely follows the mood of the Batman comics (much like the film adaptation of The Sum of All Fears in the Jack Ryan series).

Trivia

• David S. Goyer said that the graphic novels "The Long Halloween" and "Dark Victory" by Jeph Loeb were a huge influence on his screenplay. When he was asked the question, "What about Frank Miller's Year One?", he replied, "Our story is not Year One." An early draft of David S. Goyer's script leaked onto the Internet in April of 2004.
• Originally, Joel Schumacher was slated to direct the fifth Batman movie, titled "Batman Triumphant", with George Clooney and Chris O'Donnell reprising their roles as the Dynamic Duo, and Howard Stern slated to play The Scarecrow. However, when the box office returns for Batman and Robin dropped drastically in its second week of release, Warner Bros. began to panic. It was decided to replace Schumacher with Andrew Davis, who directed the Batman OnStar commercials, doubling as his screen test. The new film would be a lower budget movie with more emphasis on characters, as well as returning to a darker, serious tone. Bret Hart was considered for Batman, Vincent Kartheiser for Robin, and Crispin Glover for Scarecrow. But then Schumacher made a pitch to write and direct an adaptation of the comic book '. Warners bought the idea, but replaced Schumacher with Darren Aronofsky. Aronofsky joked that he would rather make The Dark Knight Returns with Clint Eastwood as the aging Batman, and film it in Tokyo, Japan. Nevertheless, he wrote a script with Frank Miller that ignored the "Year One" comic book, and was more of a Death Wish-meets-The French Connection movie. Horrified at the script, Warner Brothers killed the project and searched for a new director, ultimately hiring Christopher Nolan.
• In the movie, Bruce Wayne is shown arriving at a fancy hotel in a Lamborghini Murciélago. Although the car was named for a famous bull, the word murciélago is also Spanish for "bat".
• The track listings on the soundtrack are all named after different bat species.
• The first letter of tracks 4 through 9 spell out Batman.
• Chinese actor Vincent Wong plays a bit part, as an old prisoner in this film. He also played a crimelord in the 1989 Batman film.
• Characters in the movie pronounce Ra's as "rahz." Previously his name was often pronounced as "raysh," as on the popular television program '.
• The Batmobile is a working vehicle. For the street scenes there were four Batmobiles, two of which being special in that one was the "flap version," with hydraulics and flaps for the close-ups when the car is flying, and the "jet version," with an actual jet engine mounted onto the back for the scenes where the jet was necessary. Each of these cars cost around $250,000 to build. For the scenes that required the inside of the car to be filmed, there was another vehicle equipped with the hydraulics and decorations necessary to give the feeling of reality. There was also a small electric motor that allowed the car to drive, which was necessary for the slow driving scenes. Finally, there was a miniature version, which was around 6 feet long and able to fly for the scenes that required it except for the scenes where the car jumps and the scenes where the Batmobile enters the bat cave. http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/batmobile.htm
• Its running time is 140 minutes, making it the longest Batman movie ever made.
• There were a large number of actors (usually 22 years old and above) auditioning for the lead role. The list includes Henry Cavill, Jake Gyllenhaal, Joshua Jackson, Cillian Murphy, Hugh Dancy, Christian Bale and Billy Crudup. Although Bale got the part, Nolan enjoyed Cillian's audition so much that he persuaded him to play The Scarecrow.