Christian Bale is arguably one of the best actors in the game today, having the ability to morph in any character he plays, and is also in the conversation for best Batman/Bruce Wayne on film. Masterfully working Bruce’s three personalities of public persona (playboy billionaire), real persona (private conversations with Alfred and Lucius), and the monster inside (Batman in suit), Bale is the top choice for many fans.
Although it has been five and a half years since he last wore the cowl and defeated Bane to once again protect Gotham from the League of Shadows, the character of Batman will always be with him. In a recent Variety podcast called “Playback”, Bale, who’s in general a pretty private person, comments on the popularity of the Dark Knight Trilogy.
“Mixed emotions about it. I’m always eternally grateful to Chris (Nolan). For instance, Rescue Dawn, Werner (Herzog) and I had been trying to put that together for a few years. American Psycho, Mary Harron and I had been trying to put that together for a few years. No one was interested. Why? Me. Suddenly everyone said, ‘Yeah, alright. We’ll go with him.’ It did change everything. It was the first time I had done a film of that magnitude. That was a real learning curve for me. I wrestled with it for a long time. I still do on occasions. But I’m just learning, hey, accept the good things.”
Being part of such an iconic franchise certainly did open doors for Bale. After his debut as the character in 2005’s Batman Begins, Bale has appeared in such great films as The Prestige and The Fighter just to name a couple. Opportunities that might not have presented themselves otherwise.
While we most likely will never see Bale don the cape and cowl again, we will always have Christopher Nolan’s Trilogy to look back on, and I’m sure many great and diverse performances from him in the future.
What is your stance on Christian Bale’s performance? Personally, apart from his voice in The Dark Knight and Rises, I thought he was near perfect.
