Christopher Nolan considered casting Heath Ledger as Batman

Christopher Nolan may be done telling Baman stories on the big screen , but apparently he has plenty more stories to tell about making the films themselves.

While talking at a Lincoln Centre Q&A in New York City this week (via Hitfix ), the director revealed that he originally considered casting Heath Ledger as The Bat in Batman Begins .

When Nolan met with Ledger, though, the actor politely declined - and told him he’d never be in a comic-book movie.

Fast forward a few years and Ledger was so impressed with what Nolan did with 2005’s Batman Begins that he agreed to meet to talk about The Dark Knight .

“He didn’t like to work too much,” Nolan explains of the actor. “He liked to do a character and then stop working and let enough time go by until he was hungry for it again.

“And that’s what happened when he came in; he was really ready to do something like that.”

Though we obviously can't imagine anybody else playing The Joker or Batman in Nolan's film, we're sure Ledger would have made a fantastic Bat. If only we had a screen test to pore over...