Breaking Bad Star Aaron Paul Turned Down A Role In The Dark Knight Trilogy

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There are great movies, and then there are timeless classics that leave an unforgettable mark on pop culture. Movies that will outlive us all. It's fair to say that Christopher Nolan's "The Dark Knight" is one of those movies. Moreover, his "Dark Knight" trilogy is broadly considered one of the best trilogies in cinema history and arguably the definitive take on Batman on the silver screen, so getting the opportunity to be in one of those movies would be a big deal for any actor. Aaron Paul, best known for playing Jesse Pinkman on "Breaking Bad," had that chance. It just didn't pan out.

In a recent interview with ScreenRant, Paul was promoting his new video game "Dispatch." It takes place in the realm of superheroes, which got the actor thinking. During the conversation, he recalled that he was actually asked to be in one of the movies in Nolan's "Batman" trilogy. Unfortunately, it didn't work out. Here's what Paul had to say about it:

"I sat down with Christopher Nolan on another project. This was years ago. I think it was for, I think it was for 'Interstellar.' But I was offered a very small — you literally just reminded me of this — a very tiny role in one of the Batman movies he was doing, but I was literally shooting another project, and I couldn't do it, and it was a tiny, tiny, tiny role, but I don't care."

"I just want to be in his universe. You know what I mean?" Paul added. "I just watched 'Dark Knight' the other night, and I thought about that. I was like, 'Ah, it would have just been so cool to just be, you know, 30 seconds in one of those movies.'"

Paul didn't elaborate precisely which movie he was offered a tiny role in. It's unclear if it was 2005's "Batman Begins," 2008's "The Dark Knight," or 2012's "The Dark Knight Rises," which was, for a time, DC's biggest movie ever at the box office. As such, it's tough to speculate as to who Paul might have played had things worked out, or which project ended up getting in the way.

Despite it being a small role, as Paul points out, even to be in one of these movies for 30 seconds would have been cool — perhaps not unlike Tom Lennon's brief role as Bruce Wayne's doctor in "The Dark Knight Rises." After all, "The Dark Knight" was a $1 billion smash hit at a time when very few movies ever made $1 billion. It was also an Oscar-winning critical darling, which is exceptionally rare for a blockbuster. But that's what Nolan brings to the table.

In the same interview, Paul also revealed that Batman is probably his favorite superhero, which might add to the residual sting of missing out on the role. As Paul revealed:

"I'm [into] classic Gotham. You know, I love Batman. I think Batman's probably my, maybe my favorite, because he's kind of just like the real guy, right? He's just the guy with a lot of money and a lot of toys, and he's not messing around, you know what I mean? But also, I mean, I love Superman, you know? I mean, I love it all. It's just such a fun, fantastic world where the options are sort of limitless."

You can grab the "Dark Knight Trilogy" on 4K, Blu-ray, or DVD from Amazon.