Since taking on the mantle of Bruce Wayne and Batman for the 2005 summer blockbuster Batman Begins, Christian Bale has become one of the more respected actors to take on the role, but before starting work on its sequel, The Dark Knight, Bale went to work with German filmmaker Werner Herzog on his latest dramatic film Rescue Dawn. Bale took a break from shooting The Dark Knight to talk to press about the Herzog film, but he took some time to answer a few questions from ComingSoon.net/Superhero Hype! about the sequel-in-progress.
Superhero Hype!: You seem like an actor who is always looking to do something new, so how hard is it for you to go back and play Batman, a character you’ve already done? Is there something new you feel you can bring to him?
Christian Bale: You got to see with the other versions, it didn’t really keep it going, but Chris Nolan who I’m working with for the third time now, he ain’t going to be making a movie if he’s not going to be doin’ something very different with it which he’s achieved in spades. I’m actually liking very much the idea, because I haven’t reprised a role before, so I know it already and obviously there’ll be progress. We’ve got a great cast as well. Chris and me work very well together, so I know we’ll be fighting an awful lot to add to it. The last thing it is is treading water. Now the people support us completely too so we have all that extra support behind us, to just kind of let rip.
SHH!: As an actor, how important is it to have a franchise character that you can go back to which allows you to do things like this movie?
Bale: Well, I’ve been doing things like this movie anyway. It’s not like if I didn’t have the franchise, I’d say, “No I can’t make ‘Rescue Dawn.'” What it does allow though is that something like “Rescue Dawn” you know Werner and me have been talking about making it for two and a half years, but I doubt it’s a huge coincidence that we got the finance pretty quick after I’d been in Batman. So it does mean that I can do these things in a much easier fashion verses a number of years back where like “American Psycho 2,” it took two years, just because they didn’t want me. Certainly it helps with that, but in and of itself, I really like what Chris has done and working with him on Batman. I tell you, it’s the only time in my life that I’ve been actually planning the future, because usually you know what you’re doing for the next two months if you’re lucky. After that, you have no idea. I’ve gone times when I’ve really needed to work, and there was no work coming in for me. I didn’t work for a year and a half or something. I guess having a franchise is the only time you can actually kind of sit back and go, “It’s alright. It’s going to be okay.” Even if nothing else happens, I know that that’s going to come along at some point. You don’t even know that actually because they could dump me in a second. But, it’s a good bit.
SHH!: Can you talk about your training for the upcoming film?
Bale: There are new things that I’m having to train for, but again just in the same way that we kind of were untested before, they know I know my right from my left now. They know when I walk, my arm swings the right way and everything. There’s a little bit more confidence in me about my ability to pick things up quickly. We did start awhile back which I believe is a mystery for what we are training for.
SHH!: How about working with Heath as The Joker?
Bale: Absolutely. He’s a great choice for it. I like him personally, but he’s got a real craving for playing that role. I think he’s going to do something really very different. We worked together briefly in the Todd Haynes movie.
The Dark Knight is scheduled for release on July 18, 2008, but Bale will first be seen in Werner Herzog’s Rescue Dawn, which opens on the 4th of July.
Source: Heather Newgen
