Josh Hartnett Wishes He Had Taken Christopher Nolan's Offer To Play Batman

Back in the day, Josh Hartnett (Penny Dreadful) was on Hollywood's radar to become the next big thing. The only problem? He had no desire to become a Hollywood star. He turned down opportunities to become Spider-Man, Superman and Batman, all because he didn't want any of those superhero roles to "define him."

Now at 36, and no longer being approached for lead roles in big-budget Hollywood films, Hartnett looks back upon those superhero offers with a bit of regret. He is especially unhappy with himself for turning down Christopher Nolan's offer to star in Batman Begins (2005) as the The Dark Knight.

"I've definitely said no to some of the wrong people," Hartnett admitted to Playboy. "I said no because I was tired and wanted to spend more time with my friends and family. That's frowned upon in this industry. People don't like being told no. I don't like it. I learned my lesson when [writer-director] 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. They not only hired their Batman for it, they 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," Hartnett added. "I was so focused on not being pigeonholed and so scared of being considered only one thing as an actor. 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?"

Too bad that it took him this long to figure out that good actors don't let superhero roles define them. Hartnet pledged, "I know now that I wouldn't turn something down just because it's a superhero role."