Got this from Theo's blog, which he got off YouTube.
Absolutely brilliant...more of Batman's growling, which I really hated in the movie!
Showing posts with label The Dark Knight. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Dark Knight. Show all posts
Monday, July 28, 2008
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Reviews: Batman: The Dark Knight
Went to watch "The Dark Knight" today at Forest Hill. As one might imagine, there is more than a healthy interest in this movie here in Australia as it was Heath Ledger's final movie before he died. And at least a third of the audience (maybe two fifths) who were watching the same session of "The Dark Knight" as me were people who I think normally wouldn't go to watch a movie like that. There were old aunties watching the movie, for crying out loud. Old aunties! And there was even this older gentleman, who's dressing (he wore a beret that he kept on the entire movie!) screamed out: "I'm a sophisticated gentleman, so who knows what the hell I'm actually doing in this grungy cinema watching this!"
But anyway, yes, there were quite a number of people watching The Dark Knight. But was it any good?
Before you read on, here's the obligatory spoiler warning.
If you don't want to find out what happened in the movie, stop reading HERE as there may be some plot points revealed!
I suppose in order to put this movie in context, one would undoubtedly have to compare it to a few of the Batman movies before this: the successful reboot of the Batman franchise in the 2005 "Batman Begins" movie, as well as the original "Batman" movie which featured Jack Nicholson's classic take on the Joker. I was tempted to compare it to "Batman Forever" which has the first appearance of Two Face on the big screen, but that would be pointless...comparing a movie to a bad movie doesn't make much sense, unless one was trying to decide which movie was crappier.
I preferred "Batman Begins" to "The Dark Knight". I suppose I've always been a fan of the Batman: Year One era when Frank Miller showed, for the very first time, that Batman was human and he always wasn't this all-menacing, no-mistakes vigilante that we all know he is. "Batman Begins" didn't just humanise Batman, it also showed us the flip side of his persona, how he actually managed to work Bruce Wayne nicely as his alter ego. "Batman Begins" was really about Batman and Bruce Wayne.
"The Dark Knight", however, is a tale of Heath Ledger's Joker and Aaron Eckhart's Harvey Dent. While Batman is still the title character of the movie, he takes a backseat to Joker and Harvey Dent in the movie. Heck, if it wasn't for Heath Ledger's chilling portrayal of Joker, I'd argue that the movie should be titled: Harvey Dent: The Golden Years since Harvey seems to be the shining light of the movie and the focus seems to be always on him as the hero!
The opening scene of a bank robbery sets the tone of the movie, telling audiences that this is going to be a much darker movie than the previous one (which was pretty dark in itself at times). There's a nice "cameo" of William Fichtner ("The Longest Yard", "Black Hawk Down") as the bank manager of the bank that holds money for Gotham's mobs, grabbing out of a shotgun and taking no crap from the bank robbers, who don clown masks to hide their identity.
He shoots two of the bank robbers and tries shooting another one only to find out that he's run out of shells. That bank robber than gets up and unloads with a submachine gun into Fichtner's body. We then see that the hired goons robbing the bank all start shooting each other on the back, thanks to Joker's instructions to shoot the other guy after he's done his part to assist with the bank heist. With one clown remaining, he pulls off his mask to reveal an extremely creepy version of the Joker.
This Joker is nowhere close to the one Jack Nicholson portrays in "Batman". While Nicholson's Joker is cunning and ruthless, he's also actually bwa-ha-ha laugh-out-loud funny. Everything is a joke to him and he trades humourous quips with not just Batman, but with his perceived audience. Ledger's Joker, while also seeing everything as a joke, is much darker and is, for the lack of a better description, an agent of chaos. He sees the funny side of things in a twisted way, acting on his violent impulses and having no qualms or hesitations about killing anyone. Ledger's Joker is a master strategist, as we find out as the movie plods on.
Ledger is brilliant as Joker and quite a number of the Hollywood heavyweights have called for him to be awarded a post-humours Oscar for his role. That might just happen this year! His body language and mannerisms are brilliant, one minute portraying the Joker as this scrawny fiend who is not a physical match for Batman, and the next as a cool and calculated tactical genius who can match Batman in the brains department.
The one thing that I thought was really great about this movie was the fact that they didn't reveal Joker's origins. Who really needs to know why he has the insane mind that he is anyway? It would have added a bit to the plot, but it certainly wasn't necessary. It seemed that they DID reveal Joker's origin during the movie, when Joker tells a mob boss that his father used a knife to cut the grin-scars on his face. But that was a lie as revealed later on when he tells Rachel Dawes (played by Maggie Gyllenhal, who looks very much like Katie Holmes) that he inflicted those wounds on himself.
Ledger's Joker is very simplistic in the sense that he's not motivated by money or revenge or anything like that. He's motivated by anarchy, by spreading chaos to the world around him. He's just insane and he likes the simplistic notion of just blowing things up. And although Joker explains during the movie that he likes the "cheap" stuff like gunpowder, oil and plastic explosives, he also prefers using knives to gut a victim because he can see their emotions close up, slowly. What a loon!
Harvey Dent is the other major part of the movie. The entire movie keeps comparing Batman to Harvey: one's an illegal vigilante who takes down thugs the hard way while the other is a white knight who takes down criminals legally using the justice system. Batman sees Harvey as the hero Gotham City needs as he takes no bull but at the same time, gets results by removing the criminal element off the streets without having to resort to violence or the nifty technology that Batman possesses.
Dent is also dating Rachel, and there's a love triangle that is briefly explored but doesn't deter from the main plot of the movie. If anything, it explains Harvey's quick turn to Two Face later in the movie when he loses Rachel and finds out that, while Joker is ultimately responsible for organising the kill, it was crooked cops that was part of Detective Jim Gordon's (played by Gary Oldman) task force that took her away to a location where she died when a bomb went off. Dent loses everything, including, it seems, his mind.
When the Two Face character first appears on screen, it's like seeing the Two Face character from "Batman: The Animated Series" or from Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale's Batman: The Long Halloween series...very similar and a hell of a lot better looking than the Two Face from "Batman Forever". Dent is a broken man and when approached by Joker, he actually buys into Joker's hoopla and actually goes after his former friends, Jim Gordon and Batman, instead of killing the man who was responsible for killing Rachel!
As I said, Batman seems relegated to be the supporting character in this movie. Bruce Wayne seems to have more presence than the caped crusader himself! The one thing that I absolutely hated was Batman's snarl. I know he has to disguise his voice so that people can't tell the difference between Bruce Wayne and Batman, but really...it really was that, a snarl. I'm not sure whether it was Christian Bale's fault or not, but everytime Batman talked, he sounded as if he needed a box of lozenges for that really sore throat that he had! It's great for scaring off crooks and criminals, but when he's talking to Gordon and Dent, it's a bit hard understanding what the hell he's saying.
The movie goes on for 2 hours and 25 minutes (not including the credits), which felt like it was 25 minutes a bit too long. There were some scenes which really could have been cut as they didn't move the movie forward at all. That's my take on it anyway.
Nice to see some other "cameos" from the world of Batman actually making it into the movie. We see Cillian Murphy's Scarecrow again early in the movie when he gets caught by Batman during a drug deal gone wrong. Then there's Salvatore Maroni (played by Eric Roberts) from the Batman: Year One and Batman: The Long Halloween series who's appearance in the movie really gives it some continuity, since he's the "replacement" mob boss after Carmine "The Roman" Falcone (played by Tom Wilkinson) went loony in "Batman Begins".
We even get to see the appearance of Tony "Tiny" Lister (the president from "The Fifth Element" and Zeus from the WWF in the late 80s) as a con in the latter part of the movie! Even a Singaporean actor, Ng Chan Han, was in "The Dark Knight" as Lau, the Hong Kong businessman who "steals" the Gotham City mobs' pooled money!
Best line of the movie:
"This city needs a better class of criminal."
All in all, I think while "The Dark Knight" is a good movie, it's not as good as the previous one. Ledger and Eckhart are standouts in this movie. Alfred (played by Michael Caine) and Lucius Fox (played by Morgan Freeman) get to develop their characters further and you emphatise with them. Batman, though being the title character of the movie, takes a HUGE back seat and in some of the scenes he's in, I personally thought to myself: "Ok, I'm sick of seeing him. Bring back Joker and Harvey Dent already." And Rachel Dawes brought nothing to the movie except for the plot point of getting killed and "turning" Dent into Two Face.
An Oscar for Heath Ledger? Guess we'll find out in about nine months' time!
But anyway, yes, there were quite a number of people watching The Dark Knight. But was it any good?
Before you read on, here's the obligatory spoiler warning.
If you don't want to find out what happened in the movie, stop reading HERE as there may be some plot points revealed!
I suppose in order to put this movie in context, one would undoubtedly have to compare it to a few of the Batman movies before this: the successful reboot of the Batman franchise in the 2005 "Batman Begins" movie, as well as the original "Batman" movie which featured Jack Nicholson's classic take on the Joker. I was tempted to compare it to "Batman Forever" which has the first appearance of Two Face on the big screen, but that would be pointless...comparing a movie to a bad movie doesn't make much sense, unless one was trying to decide which movie was crappier.
I preferred "Batman Begins" to "The Dark Knight". I suppose I've always been a fan of the Batman: Year One era when Frank Miller showed, for the very first time, that Batman was human and he always wasn't this all-menacing, no-mistakes vigilante that we all know he is. "Batman Begins" didn't just humanise Batman, it also showed us the flip side of his persona, how he actually managed to work Bruce Wayne nicely as his alter ego. "Batman Begins" was really about Batman and Bruce Wayne.
"The Dark Knight", however, is a tale of Heath Ledger's Joker and Aaron Eckhart's Harvey Dent. While Batman is still the title character of the movie, he takes a backseat to Joker and Harvey Dent in the movie. Heck, if it wasn't for Heath Ledger's chilling portrayal of Joker, I'd argue that the movie should be titled: Harvey Dent: The Golden Years since Harvey seems to be the shining light of the movie and the focus seems to be always on him as the hero!
The opening scene of a bank robbery sets the tone of the movie, telling audiences that this is going to be a much darker movie than the previous one (which was pretty dark in itself at times). There's a nice "cameo" of William Fichtner ("The Longest Yard", "Black Hawk Down") as the bank manager of the bank that holds money for Gotham's mobs, grabbing out of a shotgun and taking no crap from the bank robbers, who don clown masks to hide their identity.
He shoots two of the bank robbers and tries shooting another one only to find out that he's run out of shells. That bank robber than gets up and unloads with a submachine gun into Fichtner's body. We then see that the hired goons robbing the bank all start shooting each other on the back, thanks to Joker's instructions to shoot the other guy after he's done his part to assist with the bank heist. With one clown remaining, he pulls off his mask to reveal an extremely creepy version of the Joker.
This Joker is nowhere close to the one Jack Nicholson portrays in "Batman". While Nicholson's Joker is cunning and ruthless, he's also actually bwa-ha-ha laugh-out-loud funny. Everything is a joke to him and he trades humourous quips with not just Batman, but with his perceived audience. Ledger's Joker, while also seeing everything as a joke, is much darker and is, for the lack of a better description, an agent of chaos. He sees the funny side of things in a twisted way, acting on his violent impulses and having no qualms or hesitations about killing anyone. Ledger's Joker is a master strategist, as we find out as the movie plods on.
Ledger is brilliant as Joker and quite a number of the Hollywood heavyweights have called for him to be awarded a post-humours Oscar for his role. That might just happen this year! His body language and mannerisms are brilliant, one minute portraying the Joker as this scrawny fiend who is not a physical match for Batman, and the next as a cool and calculated tactical genius who can match Batman in the brains department.
The one thing that I thought was really great about this movie was the fact that they didn't reveal Joker's origins. Who really needs to know why he has the insane mind that he is anyway? It would have added a bit to the plot, but it certainly wasn't necessary. It seemed that they DID reveal Joker's origin during the movie, when Joker tells a mob boss that his father used a knife to cut the grin-scars on his face. But that was a lie as revealed later on when he tells Rachel Dawes (played by Maggie Gyllenhal, who looks very much like Katie Holmes) that he inflicted those wounds on himself.
Ledger's Joker is very simplistic in the sense that he's not motivated by money or revenge or anything like that. He's motivated by anarchy, by spreading chaos to the world around him. He's just insane and he likes the simplistic notion of just blowing things up. And although Joker explains during the movie that he likes the "cheap" stuff like gunpowder, oil and plastic explosives, he also prefers using knives to gut a victim because he can see their emotions close up, slowly. What a loon!
Harvey Dent is the other major part of the movie. The entire movie keeps comparing Batman to Harvey: one's an illegal vigilante who takes down thugs the hard way while the other is a white knight who takes down criminals legally using the justice system. Batman sees Harvey as the hero Gotham City needs as he takes no bull but at the same time, gets results by removing the criminal element off the streets without having to resort to violence or the nifty technology that Batman possesses.
Dent is also dating Rachel, and there's a love triangle that is briefly explored but doesn't deter from the main plot of the movie. If anything, it explains Harvey's quick turn to Two Face later in the movie when he loses Rachel and finds out that, while Joker is ultimately responsible for organising the kill, it was crooked cops that was part of Detective Jim Gordon's (played by Gary Oldman) task force that took her away to a location where she died when a bomb went off. Dent loses everything, including, it seems, his mind.
When the Two Face character first appears on screen, it's like seeing the Two Face character from "Batman: The Animated Series" or from Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale's Batman: The Long Halloween series...very similar and a hell of a lot better looking than the Two Face from "Batman Forever". Dent is a broken man and when approached by Joker, he actually buys into Joker's hoopla and actually goes after his former friends, Jim Gordon and Batman, instead of killing the man who was responsible for killing Rachel!
As I said, Batman seems relegated to be the supporting character in this movie. Bruce Wayne seems to have more presence than the caped crusader himself! The one thing that I absolutely hated was Batman's snarl. I know he has to disguise his voice so that people can't tell the difference between Bruce Wayne and Batman, but really...it really was that, a snarl. I'm not sure whether it was Christian Bale's fault or not, but everytime Batman talked, he sounded as if he needed a box of lozenges for that really sore throat that he had! It's great for scaring off crooks and criminals, but when he's talking to Gordon and Dent, it's a bit hard understanding what the hell he's saying.
The movie goes on for 2 hours and 25 minutes (not including the credits), which felt like it was 25 minutes a bit too long. There were some scenes which really could have been cut as they didn't move the movie forward at all. That's my take on it anyway.
Nice to see some other "cameos" from the world of Batman actually making it into the movie. We see Cillian Murphy's Scarecrow again early in the movie when he gets caught by Batman during a drug deal gone wrong. Then there's Salvatore Maroni (played by Eric Roberts) from the Batman: Year One and Batman: The Long Halloween series who's appearance in the movie really gives it some continuity, since he's the "replacement" mob boss after Carmine "The Roman" Falcone (played by Tom Wilkinson) went loony in "Batman Begins".
We even get to see the appearance of Tony "Tiny" Lister (the president from "The Fifth Element" and Zeus from the WWF in the late 80s) as a con in the latter part of the movie! Even a Singaporean actor, Ng Chan Han, was in "The Dark Knight" as Lau, the Hong Kong businessman who "steals" the Gotham City mobs' pooled money!
Best line of the movie:
"This city needs a better class of criminal."
All in all, I think while "The Dark Knight" is a good movie, it's not as good as the previous one. Ledger and Eckhart are standouts in this movie. Alfred (played by Michael Caine) and Lucius Fox (played by Morgan Freeman) get to develop their characters further and you emphatise with them. Batman, though being the title character of the movie, takes a HUGE back seat and in some of the scenes he's in, I personally thought to myself: "Ok, I'm sick of seeing him. Bring back Joker and Harvey Dent already." And Rachel Dawes brought nothing to the movie except for the plot point of getting killed and "turning" Dent into Two Face.
An Oscar for Heath Ledger? Guess we'll find out in about nine months' time!
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
New "Dark Knight" trailer debuts! Check out the photo gallery!
Would you like to take a look at the new pictures from the sequel to Batman Begins, "The Dark Knight"? Well check this out then! I hope cinemas show the six minutes of trailer footage, not just IMAX!
NEW ‘DARK KNIGHT’ TRAILER DEBUTS!
CHECK OUT THE PHOTO GALLERY!
It’s a monster Batman weekend as new trailer hits, six minutes of footage shown on Imax theaters
By Rickey Purdin
And now, those of you who couldn’t make it to see the Fresh Prince’s new blockbuster can get in on the tasty action by checking out atastefortehtheatrical.com to see the Bat-tastic trailer online. Named after a quote in the trailer where Lt. Jim Gordon says his new prisoner has “a taste for the theatrical,” the site is just one of many pieces in the online viral marketing campaign for the Christopher Nolan-directed film which swoops into theaters July 18.
But be warned! Heath Ledger’s portrayal of the classic villain will make your skin crawl—in an entirely glorious way!
And to see a photo gallery of images from the awesome new trailer, check out below!
Was it me who said that Heath Ledger would make a bad Joker? Well, the jury is still not out on that one yet, but it's starting to look the perfect fit from the photos.
NEW ‘DARK KNIGHT’ TRAILER DEBUTS!
CHECK OUT THE PHOTO GALLERY!
It’s a monster Batman weekend as new trailer hits, six minutes of footage shown on Imax theaters
By Rickey Purdin
Posted December 17, 2007 12:00 PM
Those of us thirsty for a clear shot of Heath Ledger’s take on the Joker got served a frosty mug of awesomeness over the weekend when a brand new trailer for 2008’s “The Dark Knight” hit theaters attached to prints of the Will Smith film, “I am Legend.”And now, those of you who couldn’t make it to see the Fresh Prince’s new blockbuster can get in on the tasty action by checking out atastefortehtheatrical.com to see the Bat-tastic trailer online. Named after a quote in the trailer where Lt. Jim Gordon says his new prisoner has “a taste for the theatrical,” the site is just one of many pieces in the online viral marketing campaign for the Christopher Nolan-directed film which swoops into theaters July 18.
But be warned! Heath Ledger’s portrayal of the classic villain will make your skin crawl—in an entirely glorious way!
And to see a photo gallery of images from the awesome new trailer, check out below!
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Was it me who said that Heath Ledger would make a bad Joker? Well, the jury is still not out on that one yet, but it's starting to look the perfect fit from the photos.
Monday, December 17, 2007
International "Dark Knight" posters unveiled!
Seems like every week there's something new about "The Dark Knight" Batman sequel released to tease the fans. Two of the international posters have been released:
INTERNATIONAL ‘DARK KNIGHT’
POSTERS UNVEILED!
New posters from the Batman film feature the Caped Crusader and Joker in bright-colored glory
By Rickey Purdin
INTERNATIONAL ‘DARK KNIGHT’
POSTERS UNVEILED!
New posters from the Batman film feature the Caped Crusader and Joker in bright-colored glory
By Rickey Purdin
Posted December 14, 2007 11:40 AM
It may be the eve of a new “Dark Knight” trailer, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t any Batman news!
Popping up online everywhere Thursday night were new, surprisingly bright international film market “Dark Knight” posters. Seen below, the first poster features Batman/Bruce Wayne (played by returning actor Christian Bale) from behind, staring out from what’s probably a Wayne Enterprises office window onto the Gotham cityscape. The next features a from-behind shot of Joker (played by Heath Ledger) as he strolls down a Gotham street donning a knife and playing card. Much more straightforward than the previously released viral marketing poster featuring Joker makeup on a brick wall, the new images really convey the widescreen sensibility director Christopher Nolan plans to unleash when “Dark Knight" punches theaters in the face on July 18, 2008.
If you can’t wait to check out the film, be sure to hit up theaters tonight when IMAX versions of “I Am Legend” feature the first six, Joker-filled minutes of “Dark Knight.” Standard showings of “I Am Legend” will feature a new “Dark Knight” trailer. However you cut it, it’s a Caped Crusader weekend!
Popping up online everywhere Thursday night were new, surprisingly bright international film market “Dark Knight” posters. Seen below, the first poster features Batman/Bruce Wayne (played by returning actor Christian Bale) from behind, staring out from what’s probably a Wayne Enterprises office window onto the Gotham cityscape. The next features a from-behind shot of Joker (played by Heath Ledger) as he strolls down a Gotham street donning a knife and playing card. Much more straightforward than the previously released viral marketing poster featuring Joker makeup on a brick wall, the new images really convey the widescreen sensibility director Christopher Nolan plans to unleash when “Dark Knight" punches theaters in the face on July 18, 2008.
If you can’t wait to check out the film, be sure to hit up theaters tonight when IMAX versions of “I Am Legend” feature the first six, Joker-filled minutes of “Dark Knight.” Standard showings of “I Am Legend” will feature a new “Dark Knight” trailer. However you cut it, it’s a Caped Crusader weekend!
Monday, December 10, 2007
["DARK KNIGHT" EXCLUSIVE] What's the deal with Anthony Michael Hall?
Hey folks! Back for another week of comics-centric news, articles and features!
Does anyone remember Anthony Michael Hall? He was a "cult" icon back in the 80s, most notably in a whole bunch of John Hughes flicks. He often played the role of the nerd, which he did FANTASTICALLY and his most memorable characters were "Ducky" from Pretty in Pink as well as the nerd from The Breakfast Club. He was the stereotypical on-screen nerd...and he definitely looked AND sounded the part.
Over 20 years on, Anthony looks NOTHING like the nerdy character he portrayed back in the 80s. The picture they have on him on the Wizard Universe site is very Star Trek/sci-fi-esque. And he's going to appear in "The Dark Knight", though no one seems to know the character he's going to play!
But whatever role he plays, it's going to be a huge move from the stereotypical roles he was associated with back in the day.
[‘DARK KNIGHT’ EXCLUSIVE] WHAT’S THE DEAL WITH ANTHONY MICHAEL HALL?
Riddler, stalker or Joker henchman? Speculation runs rampant about the actor’s role in ‘The Dark Knight’
While Heath Ledger and Aaron Eckhart may be building major buzz as “The Dark Knight” approaches its release date, there’s one other cast member who’s got the Internet pulling its hair out.
Ever since Anthony Michael Hall (“The Dead Zone”) told sources in May 2007 he’d signed on for the film, no one’s been able to decipher what his role in the film could be. So far, Hall has kept his mouth shut on who he might be playing in the film and even said he legally can’t divulge the secret.
“I signed a confidentiality agreement, and I can’t say which part I’m playing because it affects the story,” claimed the actor. “I can’t give away the suspense. It’s a $200 million surprise, and I don’t want to be the guy to ruin it.”
Initially, fans online believed Hall would portray the Riddler, bringing the film’s villain-count to three along with the Joker and Two-Face. The claims have hit a wall with most citing the idea that director Christopher Nolan wouldn’t weigh the film down by tossing too many baddies in one flick.
Other reports indicate Hall plays a Gotham journalist obsessed with Bruce Wayne. The current popular rumor, though, is that Hall plays nothing more than a lead henchman for the Joker. Insiders have seen Hall on set at the same time as Ledger, so it looks like whatever Hall’s connection is, there’s a smiling madman at the other end.
Does anyone remember Anthony Michael Hall? He was a "cult" icon back in the 80s, most notably in a whole bunch of John Hughes flicks. He often played the role of the nerd, which he did FANTASTICALLY and his most memorable characters were "Ducky" from Pretty in Pink as well as the nerd from The Breakfast Club. He was the stereotypical on-screen nerd...and he definitely looked AND sounded the part.
Over 20 years on, Anthony looks NOTHING like the nerdy character he portrayed back in the 80s. The picture they have on him on the Wizard Universe site is very Star Trek/sci-fi-esque. And he's going to appear in "The Dark Knight", though no one seems to know the character he's going to play!
But whatever role he plays, it's going to be a huge move from the stereotypical roles he was associated with back in the day.
[‘DARK KNIGHT’ EXCLUSIVE] WHAT’S THE DEAL WITH ANTHONY MICHAEL HALL?
Riddler, stalker or Joker henchman? Speculation runs rampant about the actor’s role in ‘The Dark Knight’
By Rickey Purdin | Posted December 7, 2007 9:00 AM |
While Heath Ledger and Aaron Eckhart may be building major buzz as “The Dark Knight” approaches its release date, there’s one other cast member who’s got the Internet pulling its hair out.Ever since Anthony Michael Hall (“The Dead Zone”) told sources in May 2007 he’d signed on for the film, no one’s been able to decipher what his role in the film could be. So far, Hall has kept his mouth shut on who he might be playing in the film and even said he legally can’t divulge the secret.
“I signed a confidentiality agreement, and I can’t say which part I’m playing because it affects the story,” claimed the actor. “I can’t give away the suspense. It’s a $200 million surprise, and I don’t want to be the guy to ruin it.”
Initially, fans online believed Hall would portray the Riddler, bringing the film’s villain-count to three along with the Joker and Two-Face. The claims have hit a wall with most citing the idea that director Christopher Nolan wouldn’t weigh the film down by tossing too many baddies in one flick.
Other reports indicate Hall plays a Gotham journalist obsessed with Bruce Wayne. The current popular rumor, though, is that Hall plays nothing more than a lead henchman for the Joker. Insiders have seen Hall on set at the same time as Ledger, so it looks like whatever Hall’s connection is, there’s a smiling madman at the other end.
Thursday, December 6, 2007
["DARK KNIGHT" EXCLUSIVE] Christian Bale: Behind the cowl
Super eager to catch "The Dark Knight" when it's released next year! Even though I'm a Marvel fan, I'm more eager to watch this than Iron Man!
Wizard Universe interviewed the Dark Knight detective himself, Christian Bale, HANDS DOWN the best Batman that has ever graced the big and small screen!
[‘DARK KNIGHT’ EXCLUSIVE] CHRISTIAN BALE: BEHIND THE COWL
The Welsh actor is the son of a circus performer and is trained in ballet and guitar
For such a complex actor, Christian Bale is a fairly uncomplicated guy. He doesn’t have an entourage or an attitude and when he describes what he does for a living, he has a sense of humor about his self-involved ways.
Even as he is knee deep filming the second in the rebooted Batman series, “The Dark Knight,” Bale recalls way back when at the original audition and he does so with a sly, self-deprecating grin.
It was not an easy time, he remembers, trying to convince director Christopher Nolan, that he was the guy for the Caped Crusader job. As shocking as it may seem now that he has proven himself beyond a shadow of a “Batman Begins” doubt, there was a time when Bale was considered risky business.
How could that American Psycho pull off the lead role in the reinvention of the comic book series everybody knew and wanted to re-love?
The potential for a poor fit wasn’t necessarily because he was a Welsh actor. And it wasn’t because he had a notable but very independent unique streak. Mostly it was because he seemed more intrigued with the bizarre and the unfamiliar than the mainstream. And worse yet, so did his fan base.
The frontrunners at that oh-so-critical, near-elimination phase were Irish actor Colin Farrell and up-and-comer Jake Gyllenhaal, both of whom had a heartthrob history and potential bankability.
But the tenacious Bale remembers fighting diligently to make the finals, so he wasn’t about to retreat from the challenge just because a few studio suits couldn’t see beyond their bottom lines.
As it turned out, Nolan’s hunch about Bale was right on the money just as the director’s time-shifting style and more grown up approach rejuvenated what had become a cartoonish joke with Joel Schumacher’s damaging 1997 release of the universally reviled “Batman & Robin.”
Still, suiting up Bale as Batman counted back then as a more dangerous proposition than the previous ones, including Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer or even George Clooney, who had the unenviable task of always apologizing on behalf of Schumacher for the franchise-disabling results.
In the midst of the campaigning, Bale says he had a few things going for him. For one, there was his friendly but fierce tenacity. For another, there was his obsessive-compulsive disorder, as he calls it. The same flaw which had previously allowed him to immerse himself in some extreme and demanding roles.
“So by the time I actually came to be considered seriously for Batman,” recalls Bale with a slight smirk, “I’d become so focused about it, I viewed the role as mine, even before they gave it to me.”
That hopeless devotion proved to be another undeniable positive from Nolan’s point of view, and Nolan was, indeed, no stranger to pushing the envelope of re-invention as defined by his acclaimed and admired piece of cinema, “Memento.”
Looking back on the Bale selection after collaborating with him on “Batman Begins,” “The Prestige” and now “The Dark Knight,” the director marvels at Bale’s capacity to involve himself in whatever he is assigned, whether it’s suiting up for a dangerous action sequence or quieting down for an intimate shift of quiet restraint.
“He locks those eyes on you, and that’s it,” reports Nolan. “His attention to detail is incredible, and so is his nuance. He’s mature way beyond his years.”
In show biz terms, that makes sense. Bale was born in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, Wales, the youngest of four kids, hovering around a hustling entrepreneur, pilot and talent manager father David Bale and a so-called performance clown mother Jenny James.
Not surprisingly, Bale spent much of early childhood on the road in the U.K. and the United States. Eventually, the Bales settled in Bournemouth, where the youngest Bale attended Bournemouth School. And while he played rugby, the child was decidedly different from his other chums. He also trained in ballet and guitar. His father, who later married famed feminist Gloria Steinem in 2000, encouraged his youngest son to pursue acting, becoming his manager in the process. TV commercials followed, then the young Bale made his stage debut at the age of eight in Rowan Atkinson’s West End play, “The Nerd.”
A few films and a miniseries followed but his coming-out party arrived when he was hired as the lead at 13 in Steven Spielberg’s “Empire of the Sun.” The praise and attention almost proved too much for the sensitive young teenager to bear, but Kenneth Branagh persuaded the father, and more importantly his actor son, to appear in Branagh’s acclaimed film version of Shakespeare’s “Henry IV.”
A smattering of other studio movies followed—“Newsies,” “Swing Kids,” “Little Women”—but Bale maintains he was still searching for a reason to continue his craft in what he says now was a period “making me slide into a kind of mediocrity I didn’t enjoy.”
In 1999, Bale contends, he found a new enthusiasm for his craft after shooting an updated version of Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” with Kevin Kline and Michelle Pfeiffer.
That positive experience gave him the courage and confidence and the creative energy to tackle the notorious role of the yuppie serial killer in the often-misunderstood satire “American Psycho” in 2000.
That same year he married Sandra Blazic, a former model, and personal assistant to Winona Ryder, Bale’s “Little Women” co-star. In 2005, the couple had a daughter, Emmaline. And while the actor says his family situation changed his personal outlook, he still has a professional attitude that makes him take chances.
Not that those chances led to smart choices all of the time, especially in 2001 and 2002. He was in the John Madden adaptation of the best-selling novel “Captain Corelli’s Mandolin,” with Nicolas Cage, which was a mistake in almost every way, especially for Bale who was relegated to an afterthought.
“Laurel Canyon” in 2002 was his small but ignored feature which belonged to Frances McDormand. “Reign of Fire” served as Bale’s debut in the action genre but nothing could save it from dudsville. “Equilibrium” was Bale’s third film in 2002 but it was neither charmed nor widely circulated, although it did prepare the actor for his martial arts future in “Batman Begins” as he had to learn hand-to-hand combat attack skills for the film.
Back to his future as a risk taker, Bale played Trevor Reznik in 2004’s “The Machinist,” dropping a shocking 60 pounds to define his character. The dedication to the role at the expense of his own health—as seen in his 120-pound frame for “The Machinist”—seems to be a theme in Bale’s single-minded compulsion for what he does.
“I do like the times when I get totally consumed by things,” he says. “Those are the times I feel a purpose which is when I am the happiest in life.”
More accurately defining the actor’s need to succeed at challenging himself was his varied slate in 2006.
In “Rescue Dawn,” German filmmaker Werner Herzog had him playing a fighter pilot in the Vietnam War struggling to survive in the jungles after being shot down. Filmed in the jungles of Thailand, Bale, in the name of realistic Herzog moviemaking, ate maggots, rode on helicopter slats, was bitten by a snake and tortured by ants—none of which he regrets.
“C’mon,” he says, “how many times do you get to hang out of a helicopter zooming low over the top of the jungles in Thailand?”
Terrence Malick’s improvised U.S. $30 million independent production of “The New World” proved to be less frantic but just as mind-boggling and often distracting but one which Bale quickly embraced. “Some actors might not like it much,” he says of Malick’s haphazard approach. “But I learned to love it.
“Many times he would say to us, ‘Here’s the scene. Here’s the dialogue’ and, at the last minute, he would say, ‘If you don’t like saying it, don’t say it,’ ” says Bale.
On “The Prestige,” more predictable because of the special effects, the actor reunited with Nolan in the turn-of-the-century drama about magicians which also featured Hugh Jackman and was notable for its strict adherence to shape and form.
As a modest Bale says, he was initially hesitant to contact Nolan about “The Prestige” “because I really didn’t know if Chris would only see me as Batman.”
As it turned out, Nolan says that he was thrilled his Caped Crusader was willing and able to take on the role of Borden in “The Prestige,” chuckling at the thought of not wanting Bale in one of his films.
“I was the one who thought it would be a long road for Christian to do three films in a row with me, but he really seemed up for it,” says Nolan, who went straight into “The Prestige” after “Batman Begins” before starting “The Dark Knight.”
What we do know for sure is that Nolan reports that Bale and Heath Ledger—cast as the Joker in “The Dark Knight”—share some of the same qualities. “They both have a youthful energy and a fearlessness,” says Nolan.
In fact, his “Prestige” co-star Jackman was thrilled and surprised by the professional and the personal sides of Bale.
For instance, Jackman knew he had to bring his A-game with the understanding that he’d be acting opposite the intense Bale, since “The Prestige” showcased the two competing magicians in many scenes together.
In the end, the down-to-earth Jackman was overcome by his colleague’s multitasking on both sides of the camera.
“I find him inspiring,” says Jackman of Bale. “He’s incredibly truthful in everything he does. And it became obvious he wanted to make the movie more than just a two-hander between the two leading men at odds with each other.”
What was the surprise? Jackman was relieved that Bale saved his intensity for his work in front of the camera only. “He did his characters and I did my characters separately, but as people we got on incredibly well,” recalls the always optimistic actor who at first suspected the depth of Bale’s performances might be reflected by a moody persona.
As it turned out, the unlikely pair became best buddies. “We had play dates with our kids,” says Jackman, “and I really enjoyed his company for different reasons on and off the set.”
Certainly, Nolan was enthusiastic about having Bale “lead by example” as he took on the difficult assignment of continuing the momentum of “Batman Begins” with “The Dark Knight,” the first Batman movie without the winged one mentioned in the title.
Maintaining that ominous tone is a featured attraction that Bale and Nolan happily agree is required in the next edition as the dual personality lives in the shadows between do-gooder and dangerous vigilante.
Batman represents a hero by any standards, and one that is quintessentially an American icon, which is ironic given Bale’s background as a wandering Welshman.
Still, not only does Bale do a straightforward American Midwestern accent for his roles, he does Batman interviews the same way. He did so while promoting “Batman Begins” and promises to repeat for “The Dark Knight.” Just like flipping a switch—not unlike the switch from foppish playboy Bruce Wayne to the all-business Batman—Bale transforms from suave European to All-American boy next door.
“I just feel like Batman is such an American character,” he says, “there is no choice really. And in representing him, by doing the interviews as an American, I didn’t want to be sounding English, because that would just plain be peculiar.
“I would expect,” says Bale, switching in mid-sentence to a veddy English accent, “people to be saying, ‘What the hell is he on about? Why do we have an English Batman?’”
No worries. The personal envelope of the Dark Knight defines the character more than syntax. And even if he felt a little Elish or Welsh seep in, it would always disappear once the costume came on.
“The very first time I put on the wardrobe, it was actually for the ‘Batman Begins’ screen test, so it wasn’t specifically made for me,” recalls the actor. “But it didn’t matter. It became clear quickly that if I had that Batsuit on I would always feel that American beast within.”
And he will again with “The Dark Knight.” “I’m kind of enjoying that possibility because we’re probably on slightly safer ground now with the second one,” he says, although he won’t be specific about the movie’s details.
What he will say is that he’s cautious. And he’s not assuming just because the first one worked the second one will, as well.
“There’s the great danger of becoming too comfortable,” he says. “And obviously with the second Batman you have to outdo the first. But I have great faith in [Christopher Nolan], that what he pulls out of the hat will be even better.”
So the key to the next Batman just might be the inner turmoil of the very rich Bruce Wayne and the very unstable avenger Batman. Bale won’t confirm either way.
“But I think that because he continues to channel his rage so much into the Batman character, he is creating that as a creature, as kind of a monster, in a way that’s kind of demonic therapy for him,” says Bale getting into the analysis.
Could be that “The Dark Knight’s” “negative emotions” might get transformed into Bruce Wayne so that his everyday life becomes even more unbearable.
“So Bruce becomes a performer most of the time, whether it’s the wasteful playboy or the angry young man, he’s never really letting anybody inside,” says the actor. “The only person who really knows who he is, is Alfred [Michael Caine].”
Indeed, his servant and his butler and his assistant “turns out to be the closest thing he has to his father figure,” says Bale.
So perhaps there are some burgeoning personality disorders on the horizon.
“That might be true,” says Bale, smiling. “And I love playing the demonic Batman. But I gotta tell you, the vacuous ass-playboy is as much fun as the angry, young soulful man.”
Freelancer Bob Thompson also likes to adopt foreign accents. He does a real mean Kazakhstan dialect.
WEIGHTING GAME
When it comes to getting into his roles, few actors this side of Robert De Niro go to greater lengths than Christian Bale. Just take a look at how he’s transformed his body in these roles.
AMERICAN PYSCHO (2000)
Although he labels working out as “incredibly boring,” Bale trained three hours a day for six weeks to transform into wealthy New York City investment banker Patrick Bateman, a psychotic killer obsessed with his looks.
THE MACHINIST (2004)
Bale dropped an incredible—and extremely unhealthy—63 pounds to play an emaciated insomniac. His diet consisted of salads, apples, gum and cigarettes. Bale reportedly wanted to drop to 100 pounds but filmmakers wouldn’t allow it.
HARSH TIMES (2005)
Bale hit the gym again to prep for the role of a deranged, ex-Army Ranger who suffers from post-traumatic stress and gets caught up in a life of petty crime when his dream job with the Los Angeles Police Department fails to materialize.
RESCUE DAWN (2006)
As a U.S. fighter pilot fighting to survive after being shot down and captured in Laos during the Vietnam War, Bale again had to drop weight to get into character, but not as much as co-star Steve Zahn, who shed 40 pounds.
Wizard Universe interviewed the Dark Knight detective himself, Christian Bale, HANDS DOWN the best Batman that has ever graced the big and small screen!
[‘DARK KNIGHT’ EXCLUSIVE] CHRISTIAN BALE: BEHIND THE COWL
The Welsh actor is the son of a circus performer and is trained in ballet and guitar
By Bob Thompson | Posted December 5, 2007 9:10 AM |
For such a complex actor, Christian Bale is a fairly uncomplicated guy. He doesn’t have an entourage or an attitude and when he describes what he does for a living, he has a sense of humor about his self-involved ways.Even as he is knee deep filming the second in the rebooted Batman series, “The Dark Knight,” Bale recalls way back when at the original audition and he does so with a sly, self-deprecating grin.
It was not an easy time, he remembers, trying to convince director Christopher Nolan, that he was the guy for the Caped Crusader job. As shocking as it may seem now that he has proven himself beyond a shadow of a “Batman Begins” doubt, there was a time when Bale was considered risky business.
How could that American Psycho pull off the lead role in the reinvention of the comic book series everybody knew and wanted to re-love?
The potential for a poor fit wasn’t necessarily because he was a Welsh actor. And it wasn’t because he had a notable but very independent unique streak. Mostly it was because he seemed more intrigued with the bizarre and the unfamiliar than the mainstream. And worse yet, so did his fan base.
The frontrunners at that oh-so-critical, near-elimination phase were Irish actor Colin Farrell and up-and-comer Jake Gyllenhaal, both of whom had a heartthrob history and potential bankability.
But the tenacious Bale remembers fighting diligently to make the finals, so he wasn’t about to retreat from the challenge just because a few studio suits couldn’t see beyond their bottom lines.
As it turned out, Nolan’s hunch about Bale was right on the money just as the director’s time-shifting style and more grown up approach rejuvenated what had become a cartoonish joke with Joel Schumacher’s damaging 1997 release of the universally reviled “Batman & Robin.”
Still, suiting up Bale as Batman counted back then as a more dangerous proposition than the previous ones, including Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer or even George Clooney, who had the unenviable task of always apologizing on behalf of Schumacher for the franchise-disabling results.
In the midst of the campaigning, Bale says he had a few things going for him. For one, there was his friendly but fierce tenacity. For another, there was his obsessive-compulsive disorder, as he calls it. The same flaw which had previously allowed him to immerse himself in some extreme and demanding roles.
“So by the time I actually came to be considered seriously for Batman,” recalls Bale with a slight smirk, “I’d become so focused about it, I viewed the role as mine, even before they gave it to me.”That hopeless devotion proved to be another undeniable positive from Nolan’s point of view, and Nolan was, indeed, no stranger to pushing the envelope of re-invention as defined by his acclaimed and admired piece of cinema, “Memento.”
Looking back on the Bale selection after collaborating with him on “Batman Begins,” “The Prestige” and now “The Dark Knight,” the director marvels at Bale’s capacity to involve himself in whatever he is assigned, whether it’s suiting up for a dangerous action sequence or quieting down for an intimate shift of quiet restraint.
“He locks those eyes on you, and that’s it,” reports Nolan. “His attention to detail is incredible, and so is his nuance. He’s mature way beyond his years.”
In show biz terms, that makes sense. Bale was born in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, Wales, the youngest of four kids, hovering around a hustling entrepreneur, pilot and talent manager father David Bale and a so-called performance clown mother Jenny James.
Not surprisingly, Bale spent much of early childhood on the road in the U.K. and the United States. Eventually, the Bales settled in Bournemouth, where the youngest Bale attended Bournemouth School. And while he played rugby, the child was decidedly different from his other chums. He also trained in ballet and guitar. His father, who later married famed feminist Gloria Steinem in 2000, encouraged his youngest son to pursue acting, becoming his manager in the process. TV commercials followed, then the young Bale made his stage debut at the age of eight in Rowan Atkinson’s West End play, “The Nerd.”
A few films and a miniseries followed but his coming-out party arrived when he was hired as the lead at 13 in Steven Spielberg’s “Empire of the Sun.” The praise and attention almost proved too much for the sensitive young teenager to bear, but Kenneth Branagh persuaded the father, and more importantly his actor son, to appear in Branagh’s acclaimed film version of Shakespeare’s “Henry IV.”
A smattering of other studio movies followed—“Newsies,” “Swing Kids,” “Little Women”—but Bale maintains he was still searching for a reason to continue his craft in what he says now was a period “making me slide into a kind of mediocrity I didn’t enjoy.”
In 1999, Bale contends, he found a new enthusiasm for his craft after shooting an updated version of Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” with Kevin Kline and Michelle Pfeiffer.
That positive experience gave him the courage and confidence and the creative energy to tackle the notorious role of the yuppie serial killer in the often-misunderstood satire “American Psycho” in 2000.
That same year he married Sandra Blazic, a former model, and personal assistant to Winona Ryder, Bale’s “Little Women” co-star. In 2005, the couple had a daughter, Emmaline. And while the actor says his family situation changed his personal outlook, he still has a professional attitude that makes him take chances.
Not that those chances led to smart choices all of the time, especially in 2001 and 2002. He was in the John Madden adaptation of the best-selling novel “Captain Corelli’s Mandolin,” with Nicolas Cage, which was a mistake in almost every way, especially for Bale who was relegated to an afterthought.“Laurel Canyon” in 2002 was his small but ignored feature which belonged to Frances McDormand. “Reign of Fire” served as Bale’s debut in the action genre but nothing could save it from dudsville. “Equilibrium” was Bale’s third film in 2002 but it was neither charmed nor widely circulated, although it did prepare the actor for his martial arts future in “Batman Begins” as he had to learn hand-to-hand combat attack skills for the film.
Back to his future as a risk taker, Bale played Trevor Reznik in 2004’s “The Machinist,” dropping a shocking 60 pounds to define his character. The dedication to the role at the expense of his own health—as seen in his 120-pound frame for “The Machinist”—seems to be a theme in Bale’s single-minded compulsion for what he does.
“I do like the times when I get totally consumed by things,” he says. “Those are the times I feel a purpose which is when I am the happiest in life.”
More accurately defining the actor’s need to succeed at challenging himself was his varied slate in 2006.
In “Rescue Dawn,” German filmmaker Werner Herzog had him playing a fighter pilot in the Vietnam War struggling to survive in the jungles after being shot down. Filmed in the jungles of Thailand, Bale, in the name of realistic Herzog moviemaking, ate maggots, rode on helicopter slats, was bitten by a snake and tortured by ants—none of which he regrets.
“C’mon,” he says, “how many times do you get to hang out of a helicopter zooming low over the top of the jungles in Thailand?”
Terrence Malick’s improvised U.S. $30 million independent production of “The New World” proved to be less frantic but just as mind-boggling and often distracting but one which Bale quickly embraced. “Some actors might not like it much,” he says of Malick’s haphazard approach. “But I learned to love it.
“Many times he would say to us, ‘Here’s the scene. Here’s the dialogue’ and, at the last minute, he would say, ‘If you don’t like saying it, don’t say it,’ ” says Bale.
On “The Prestige,” more predictable because of the special effects, the actor reunited with Nolan in the turn-of-the-century drama about magicians which also featured Hugh Jackman and was notable for its strict adherence to shape and form.
As a modest Bale says, he was initially hesitant to contact Nolan about “The Prestige” “because I really didn’t know if Chris would only see me as Batman.”
As it turned out, Nolan says that he was thrilled his Caped Crusader was willing and able to take on the role of Borden in “The Prestige,” chuckling at the thought of not wanting Bale in one of his films.
“I was the one who thought it would be a long road for Christian to do three films in a row with me, but he really seemed up for it,” says Nolan, who went straight into “The Prestige” after “Batman Begins” before starting “The Dark Knight.”What we do know for sure is that Nolan reports that Bale and Heath Ledger—cast as the Joker in “The Dark Knight”—share some of the same qualities. “They both have a youthful energy and a fearlessness,” says Nolan.
In fact, his “Prestige” co-star Jackman was thrilled and surprised by the professional and the personal sides of Bale.
For instance, Jackman knew he had to bring his A-game with the understanding that he’d be acting opposite the intense Bale, since “The Prestige” showcased the two competing magicians in many scenes together.
In the end, the down-to-earth Jackman was overcome by his colleague’s multitasking on both sides of the camera.
“I find him inspiring,” says Jackman of Bale. “He’s incredibly truthful in everything he does. And it became obvious he wanted to make the movie more than just a two-hander between the two leading men at odds with each other.”
What was the surprise? Jackman was relieved that Bale saved his intensity for his work in front of the camera only. “He did his characters and I did my characters separately, but as people we got on incredibly well,” recalls the always optimistic actor who at first suspected the depth of Bale’s performances might be reflected by a moody persona.
As it turned out, the unlikely pair became best buddies. “We had play dates with our kids,” says Jackman, “and I really enjoyed his company for different reasons on and off the set.”
Certainly, Nolan was enthusiastic about having Bale “lead by example” as he took on the difficult assignment of continuing the momentum of “Batman Begins” with “The Dark Knight,” the first Batman movie without the winged one mentioned in the title.
Maintaining that ominous tone is a featured attraction that Bale and Nolan happily agree is required in the next edition as the dual personality lives in the shadows between do-gooder and dangerous vigilante.
Batman represents a hero by any standards, and one that is quintessentially an American icon, which is ironic given Bale’s background as a wandering Welshman.
Still, not only does Bale do a straightforward American Midwestern accent for his roles, he does Batman interviews the same way. He did so while promoting “Batman Begins” and promises to repeat for “The Dark Knight.” Just like flipping a switch—not unlike the switch from foppish playboy Bruce Wayne to the all-business Batman—Bale transforms from suave European to All-American boy next door.
“I just feel like Batman is such an American character,” he says, “there is no choice really. And in representing him, by doing the interviews as an American, I didn’t want to be sounding English, because that would just plain be peculiar.
“I would expect,” says Bale, switching in mid-sentence to a veddy English accent, “people to be saying, ‘What the hell is he on about? Why do we have an English Batman?’”
No worries. The personal envelope of the Dark Knight defines the character more than syntax. And even if he felt a little Elish or Welsh seep in, it would always disappear once the costume came on.“The very first time I put on the wardrobe, it was actually for the ‘Batman Begins’ screen test, so it wasn’t specifically made for me,” recalls the actor. “But it didn’t matter. It became clear quickly that if I had that Batsuit on I would always feel that American beast within.”
And he will again with “The Dark Knight.” “I’m kind of enjoying that possibility because we’re probably on slightly safer ground now with the second one,” he says, although he won’t be specific about the movie’s details.
What he will say is that he’s cautious. And he’s not assuming just because the first one worked the second one will, as well.
“There’s the great danger of becoming too comfortable,” he says. “And obviously with the second Batman you have to outdo the first. But I have great faith in [Christopher Nolan], that what he pulls out of the hat will be even better.”
So the key to the next Batman just might be the inner turmoil of the very rich Bruce Wayne and the very unstable avenger Batman. Bale won’t confirm either way.
“But I think that because he continues to channel his rage so much into the Batman character, he is creating that as a creature, as kind of a monster, in a way that’s kind of demonic therapy for him,” says Bale getting into the analysis.
Could be that “The Dark Knight’s” “negative emotions” might get transformed into Bruce Wayne so that his everyday life becomes even more unbearable.
“So Bruce becomes a performer most of the time, whether it’s the wasteful playboy or the angry young man, he’s never really letting anybody inside,” says the actor. “The only person who really knows who he is, is Alfred [Michael Caine].”
Indeed, his servant and his butler and his assistant “turns out to be the closest thing he has to his father figure,” says Bale.
So perhaps there are some burgeoning personality disorders on the horizon.
“That might be true,” says Bale, smiling. “And I love playing the demonic Batman. But I gotta tell you, the vacuous ass-playboy is as much fun as the angry, young soulful man.”Freelancer Bob Thompson also likes to adopt foreign accents. He does a real mean Kazakhstan dialect.
WEIGHTING GAME
When it comes to getting into his roles, few actors this side of Robert De Niro go to greater lengths than Christian Bale. Just take a look at how he’s transformed his body in these roles.
AMERICAN PYSCHO (2000)
Although he labels working out as “incredibly boring,” Bale trained three hours a day for six weeks to transform into wealthy New York City investment banker Patrick Bateman, a psychotic killer obsessed with his looks.
THE MACHINIST (2004)
Bale dropped an incredible—and extremely unhealthy—63 pounds to play an emaciated insomniac. His diet consisted of salads, apples, gum and cigarettes. Bale reportedly wanted to drop to 100 pounds but filmmakers wouldn’t allow it.
HARSH TIMES (2005)
Bale hit the gym again to prep for the role of a deranged, ex-Army Ranger who suffers from post-traumatic stress and gets caught up in a life of petty crime when his dream job with the Los Angeles Police Department fails to materialize.
RESCUE DAWN (2006)
As a U.S. fighter pilot fighting to survive after being shot down and captured in Laos during the Vietnam War, Bale again had to drop weight to get into character, but not as much as co-star Steve Zahn, who shed 40 pounds.
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