Josh Hartnett clarifies Batman snub comments

Actor Josh Hartnett has played down reports suggesting he passed on the chance to play Batman in director Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight trilogy, insisting comments he made during a recent Playboy interview were misinterpreted.

The Black Hawk Down star opened up about a meeting he had with Nolan over a decade ago and appeared to state that he had snubbed the opportunity to portray the Caped Crusader.

He was quoted as saying, "I've definitely said no to some of the wrong people. People don't like being told no. 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 (2006 film) The Prestige.

"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."

However, Hartnett now claims the story has been "blown out of proportion", because he didn't actually say he had been offered the coveted role - and was simply admitting his regrets over not staying in close contact with Nolan.

Clearing up the comments on breakfast show Today on Thursday (07May15), he explained, "I said back in 2002, 2003, I had a meeting with a director who I thought I should have formed a relationship with, and I liked a script that he had that his brother had written. He ended up doing it next and I said to him at the time, I really wanna do this (work together).

"We were talking about Batman but... it wasn't what I was interested in... I just said in that interview that I thought I should have formed more of a relationship, and knowing more about Hollywood now, I would have definitely done anything to kind of stay in that relationship and make multiple films (with Nolan), it doesn't matter what they are."

He adds of the widely-circulated Playboy comments, "It's just a reinterpretation of the truth."

Christian Bale went on to star as Batman in Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy.