Payne and other young British actors who were becoming established film actors, such as Tim Roth, Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, and Paul McGann, were dubbed the 'Brit Pack'. Payne's performances endeared him to Warner Bros., who considered "Bruce Payne as Bruce Wayne" on their "one liner" press marketing PR campaign for the first of Tim Burton's "Batman" films. Ultimately, Michael Keaton got the role. Payne has commented, "Warner were fascinated by the similarity" between his name and that of Bruce Wayne. Payne has said that "they drew up a very short shortlist and there I was on it. Obviously, I lost out in the end to Michael Keaton".