Other Titles • Batman Begins (2005) • Batman 5 • Batman: Intimidation • Batman: Intimidation Game (2003) • Batman Begins: The IMAX Experience • The Intimidation Game
“Ra’s al Ghul is a very mysterious, complicated character,” says Ken Watanabe, nominated for an Academy Award in 2004 for his performance in the acclaimed drama The Last Samurai. “He’s very calm and quiet, but he’s also extremely powerful. I think of him as a silent volcano.”
Like Ra’s al Ghul, Ducard is committed to an ideal of natural justice, in which “justice is balance” – and The League of Shadows will go to any means to strike what it sees as a necessary balance. The harsh disciplinarian becomes Bruce’s mentor, training him in an array of physical and mental disciplines, as well as the importance of theatricality and deception.
“Ducard has committed himself to an ideal of how he would love to see the world and he sees Bruce Wayne as someone who could make these ambitions tangible and real,” says Liam Neeson, the renowned actor who earned an Oscar nomination for his performance in the Steven Spielberg Holocaust drama Schindler’s List and starred in such films as Kingdom of Heaven, Kinsey and Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace.
“Ducard reminds me of Ignatius of Loyola in the 15th Century, who formed the Jesuit Society. Ignatius was a very famous playboy and drunkard before he became an incredibly disciplined man and a saint. He’s someone I have a lot of admiration for – an extraordinary disciplinarian on a quest to find a true, natural justice in this world that will help mankind.”
Key in Bruce’s training is Ducard’s emphasis on the mastery of one’s anger and mental focus by confronting one’s greatest fear. “Ducard understands Bruce Wayne’s pain because he lost someone in his life who was very dear to him, which led to his quest for a deeper sense of his destiny and spirituality,” Neeson says. “He believes you have to go into yourself to discover your dark side as well as your good side, and marry those forces in order to be able to achieve your full potential as a human being.”
“Liam brings an incredible authority to the role,” producer Charles Roven says. “He’s able to invest the character with this extraordinary degree of trust, and you buy into his way of looking at the world. When Ducard tells Bruce he must have ‘the will to act,’ you know he’s a man who has the will to act. Ducard isn’t telling Bruce to do anything that he wouldn’t do himself.”
Like Caine, Neeson was drawn to the script’s realistic character and story dynamics, as well as the opportunity to work with Nolan. “He’s quite laconic, which belies years of hard work and dedication – kinda like Ducard!” he says.
While Ducard and Ra’s al Ghul represent a pathway to Bruce Wayne’s future, his touchstone to the past is Rachel Dawes, the daughter of the Wayne family housekeeper and his closest childhood friend. During Bruce’s travels abroad, Rachel becomes an Assistant District Attorney in Gotham to fight the crime that is devouring the city, an increasingly difficult and frustrating endeavor due to the rampant corruption that is corroding Gotham’s police force, judiciary and political infrastructure.
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