I first interviewed Christian Bale at the press junket for "Shaft." He was back on the scene since being a child actor, after an impressive performance in "American Psycho." I was only six months into my career and impressed to meet him, let alone Samuel Motherf***in' Jackson!
My big question at the time was: Your name is Bale and your character keeps posting bail. Am I reading too much into it? He said he'd love to go with me but it was just too early in the morning.
I've seen him a lot more since. He was dutiful to "Reign of Fire" and by "The Machinist," he had already filmed "Batman Begins" but wanted to give the indie its due. For "The New World, The Prestige, Harsh Times" and "Rescue Dawn," he was all about dodging that Batqueries.
For one day only, Bale actually talks about Batman. "The Dark Knight " picks up where "Batman Begins" left off with Batman dealing with the new Gotham City villain The Joker (Heath Ledger). He hopes D.A. Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) can fight crime by the book, but any comic book reader knows what's in store for Harvey.
Christian Bale gives the same thoughtful discussion to the big studio blockbuster as he does to his more avant-garde work. Maybe that's why the "Batman Begins" series recaptured even the disillusioned Batfans.
Q: Was the preparation different this time out, mentally and physically?
Christian Bale: Physically, I was coming from a place of less weakness this time round, we also went with in keeping the suit. It was a leaner suit, so I wanted to be a little leaner myself. It’s like the differences in the military. You get these big beefy fellas in the regular military and then when you get to the special forces, they’re leaner, wiry, and that’s what I was going for. Mentally, there are more mind-games being played in this movie. Chris [Nolan] really laid everything out for me. The character has evolved, matured and was trying to shrug off Batman, and he’s confronted with the Joker, who’s trying to make him question his ethics, but naturally, while "Begins" is purely about Batman, now we have a more complete supporting cast.
Q: Do you ever have the instincts to take the law into your own hands?
CB: Look, I think that it’s a damn shame if we’re in any society where people don’t attempt to do that kind of thing themselves. Whilst I’ve never truly been tested, I’d be hideously disappointed with myself if I didn’t step up to the plate in situations like that. Clearly Batman is doing it in a very extreme fashion. At heart, I think probably everybody has that desire and would like to answer that question of, if push came to shove, would they be able to stand up and rise to the occasion.
He’s doing it in a way in which only somebody with no dependents could ever do, and he’s suffering for it. He’s dealing with a persona which has a great deal of anger and a need for revenge. He’s hanging on to pain in a way that most people are able to exorcise by his age but he has not been able to. So in many ways he’s been unsuccessful in his life with that, but he’s turning it into something which gives him a sense of purpose and usefulness and makes him feel like he’s not a man of privilege who is therefore incapable of dealing with any tough situations in life. His ambition is to see that he can really test his mettle and prove himself.
Q: Do you understand his fascination with the extreme?
CB: I think I share a fascination with the extreme, like many people do. I think it’s a case of testing people’s mettle when the chips are really down. In the same way, dark characters are often more intriguing. We’re fascinated with people who break the rules of normal society. The shadow side is in all of us, the desire to destroy on occasion, and when people do that it’s always fascinating. Of course, as an actor, I find that interesting. In saying that, I don’t want to become predictable in my choices, but there’s no doubt that those types of characters get more noticed and remembered more vividly.
The good guy who tows the line is the harder character to play, because he’s not that memorable. I like variety. I want to be able to play the whole spectrum. That’s what a good actor does.
Q: Why do you play so many dark characters then?
CB: I think I’ve played many light characters as well but it's human nature that people are interested in the dark characters more. The villain always gets more attention. It’s a reflection of what Batman is battling with. Everybody has a shadow side. We all have a recognition, if we’re not insane, of the codes of civilized society and the way that we should behave but we all have another side to us which we keep in check, in not quite the extremities that Batman does, but everyone is fascinated when they see somebody cease to keep that in check and when they start breaking all the rules of civilization. So therefore any actor who plays these dark characters or villains, they always get more attention.
Q: What do you look for in roles?
CB: Well look, first of all I’ve just got to say I haven’t always been in this situation where I’ve been able to be quite so picky, and I’m very fortunate that I’ve found myself able to be in that situation right now, and that could end at any minute. I wouldn’t have gotten into this if I just wanted to have no risk at all, so I enjoy meeting with and working with new directors and taking a risk with that. Then clearly the script has something. I never have any idea what the public is going to see. I don’t have the arrogance to assume that I know anything about what people in general are going to want to see. I can only answer what I’m going to want to see myself so that’s always how it begins.
Q: Do you enjoy the Bat-gadgets?
CB: Yeah, any day I had free I was like, "I need to go and practice in that Lamborghini." Or "I got to get on that bike again!"
Q: Does it hurt your throat to do the Batman voice?
CB: Not anymore. On the first one, it took me a while to really get accustomed to it but it's like riding a bike. For the second one, I could just switch on and off any time.
Q: What were your impressions of Heath Ledger as a colleague?
CB: Our first scene was the interrogation room scene between myself and him and it’s a good intense scene. I saw that he is a hell of an actor whose completely committed to it and he totally gets the tone that Chris [Nolan] is trying to create with this, that we’re not going for actors sort of revealing their enjoyment of playing a wacky caricature character. This is, "Hey, we’re treating this as serious, as drama." That you go into character and you stay in the character. I love that. I find that so ridiculous that I love it and I take that very seriously.
Heath was definitely embracing that character. When he was in the make-up and the garb he was in character the whole time and when he took it off, he was absolutely fantastic company to be around. As the Joker, as you see in the movie, Batman starts beating him and realizes that this is not your ordinary foe because the more I beat him the more he enjoys it, the more I’m giving him satisfaction. Heath was behaving in a very similar fashion. He was kind of egging me on, and I was saying to Heath, "You know what, I really don’t need to actually hit you, its going to look just as good if I don’t . . ." And he’s going, "Go on, go on, go on." But he was slamming himself around, and there were tiled walls inside of that set which were cracked and dented from him hurling himself into them. His commitment was total."
Q: What sides of the character are left for you to want to play, assuming you do want to play him again?
CB: I do definitely. Again, that's Chris Nolan's decision. I finished this movie and I want to see what is going to happen next. He is the ultimate hero and he deserves all the credit and he's getting absolutely none whatsoever. But hey, that's Chris Nolan's decision.
Q: It's so intense already, do you imagine it could ever get to a level that "Batman" would be R rated?
CB: I was misunderstood a number of times after "Batman Begins" when I'd mentioned about the possibility of making an R rated Batman. A number of people came to me and said, "Well, you wanna put sex scenes into Batman?" I said, "No, no, no, that's not at all what I was talking about." What I was meaning is if you look at the more recent graphic novels, there is such a darkness to it and such an internal human conflict and such questioning of the shadow side and the good motivation and good versus evil and the violence and his capability and propensity for violence, that it could very easily become an R rated movie.
The reinvention here, I think Chris has proved that films like this shouldn’t be looked down on, that popcorn movies can be something with real substance and heart in them. I think he’s changed the game for good.
The Dark Knight opens on July 18th. For more information and media visit our Dark Knight page.
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