Christian Bale Thought Playing Batman Was Easier for Him Than for Other Actors
Christian Bale followed in the footsteps of many actors before him who played a live action Batman. But there were certain differences with his own take on the character that perhaps made his Batman a bit easier to play.
Christian Bale once shared what made his Batman different from the others
Bale might’ve done more physical work to fill in his Batsuit than his predecessors. Unlike Michael Keaton and George Clooney before him, Bale had to gain significant weight and muscle to honor his character. But because of the weight loss he experienced in The Machinist, Batman Begins director Christopher Nolan was concerned. Nolan wasn’t as confident as Bale was that he could’ve packed on enough muscle in time.
“I kind of knew I could do it. I think Chris was probably worrying far more than me,” Bale once told BBC. “I was talking to him one time on the telephone whilst we were doing The Machinist and he’d say, ‘How’re you looking these days?’ It was frankly pathetic, I was down to 121 pounds and I couldn’t do a single push up – this is maybe not the guy you want to cast as Batman. But we had enough time. It was an arduous journey to get there, but I managed to get into appropriate shape by the time we started filming.”
Bale actually overachieved after he was finished with his training, and had to lose a bit of the weight he gained before donning the suit. But he felt he might’ve had an easier time in the Batsuit than some actors of the past due to its flexibility.
“I think I probably had it the easiest out of all the actors who have been Batman – well maybe not Adam West, that looked like a pretty flimsy outfit he had there,” Bale added. “Lindy Hemmings came up with the most light-weight batsuit so far, with more mobility than the previous ones had. Our Batman was able to turn his head, which had never been done before, it had always been very robotic. And it’s true that it’s hot and sweaty wearing it, it gives you a headache, but I’m not going to complain about it because I got to play Batman!”
Christian Bale was once more fascinated in Batman’s villains than Batman himself
Prior to Batman Begins, there was a common perception that Batman was upstaged by the villains in his own movies. It was an opinion that started with Jack Nicholson’s highly acclaimed performance as The Joker in 1989’s Batman. It seemed Bale agreed with the take, which made him feel that Batman wasn’t a very interesting character at first. This changed after Bale did some research on the role.
“It felt like treading water when Batman was on screen. It wasn’t until reading the graphic novels in 2000 that I became aware of how interesting he could be. And I wasn’t sure why that had never been seen in a feature film before,” Bale said.
Bale seemed very pleased with Begins, however, which seemed to avoid the same mistakes past Batman films did. He hoped that the movie’s potential sequels lived up to the same standards.
“I don’t think it would make any sense to suddenly return to what we’ve seen in the past where Batman is sidelined and the villains are the more interesting characters again. We’ve established that Batman is just as interesting and I hope that will continue,” he said.
Christian Bale didn’t feel he nailed Batman like he wanted to
Although Bale seemed very pleased with his Bat trilogy, he felt that he could’ve done more with the part than he did.
“I didn’t quite manage what I hoped I would through the trilogy,” he told Variety in 2016. “[Christopher Nolan] did, but my own sense of self is like, ‘I didn’t quite nail it.’”
“Batman, he’s this very, very dark, messed-up character,” Bale added. “I found when I put on the suit I went, ‘I just feel like a bloody idiot if I don’t use this as a means to kind of [show] his true, monstrous self that he allows to come out in that moment.’”
Ironically, Bale might’ve felt that Heath Ledger’s portrayal of The Joker ended up upstaging Batman again, after all.
“Heath turned up and just kind of completely ruined all my plans,” he said. “I went, ‘He’s so much more interesting than me and what I’m doing.’”
