Josh Hartnett regrets passing on “Batman,” but not for the reason you may think.

Speaking to HuffPost Live on Wednesday, the actor explained that he’d met with Christopher Nolan while the director was casting for the 2005 installment, but he’d actually hoped to discuss his next film, “The Prestige,” instead.

“[‘Batman’] was not what I was interested in,” Hartnett recalled. “I really wanted to convince him that when he did the ‘The Prestige,’ maybe hire me.”

“And then, of course, as time went on, he ended up hiring the guy who he hired to play ‘Batman’ to play in ‘The Prestige,'” Hartnett continued, referring to Christian Bale.

The experience served as a teachable moment for the “Penny Dreadful” star.

“I realized much later that this is a relationship business,” said Hartnett, adding that he “regret[s] not forming a relationship with a great filmmaker [Christopher Nolan].”

“That was not necessarily where my head was at the time,” he concluded.

Watch more from Josh Hartnett’s conversation with HuffPost Live.

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