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Nolan Says Batman Begins Was a Warner Bros. “Consolation Prize” After He Lost Troy

His account recasts a studio reshuffle that returned Troy to Wolfgang Petersen, positioning him for Batman.

Overview

  • Christopher Nolan told Empire he was originally hired to direct Troy when Wolfgang Petersen briefly stepped aside.
  • Warner Bros. scrapped Petersen’s Batman Vs. Superman and put him back on Troy, with Batman Begins offered to Nolan as a “consolation prize.”
  • In 2003 Nolan publicly described taking on Batman as a passion choice, which contrasts with a 2013 Nikki Finke report that he left Troy because he “wasn’t feeling it.”
  • Petersen’s Troy grossed about $500 million worldwide, while Batman Begins ignited Nolan’s studio career and led to a genre-shaping trilogy.
  • Nolan says he will finally realize his Trojan Horse ideas in The Odyssey, which Universal has dated for July 17, 2026.