Christian Bale's Dark Knight

Everyone in Hollywood was a bit worried about talented actor Christian Bale. After looking shaggy-haired and healthy in the sci-fi actioner Reign of Fire, the actor lost an alarming amount of weight from his over six foot frame, shrinking down to only 120 pounds for his role in The Machinist. Christian assured the director and producers of Batman Begins, that he could put the pounds back on plus some impressive muscle if they would cast him in the brooding action tale. Bale wanted to play Bruce Wayne in his journey to the semi-dark side emerging as beefy, caped vigilante Batman. Christian made good on his promise and looks hunky and buff in the film, although he doesn't look forward to being chased down the street by paparazzi if the movie is a hit.

A comic book [graphic novel] fan, Brit-born Bale was hot to take on the role; a more "real", straightforward version of the Batman character than any of the previous films had captured. The dark-haired actor is now growing a mustache and beard and wore Batman's favorite color... all black when we had our sit down in Beverly Hills earlier this month. Christian's director Chris Nolan and various producers of the film say that he's the ideal guy for the part. "We needed somebody where we could look into their eyes and believe they have the necessary intensity, the necessary self-discipline, to make themselves into a super hero. And Christian had that", says Nolan. Well, the guy is really serious about the part but he has a softer side as well. We also had an embarrassing moment. Batman blushes and so do I. Read on....

TeenHollywood: You lost weight for The Machinist and put it all back on -- plus some -- for Batman Begins. How did you pull that off?

Christian: Just eating a lot. I did it too fast, really. The losing the weight was fine. The putting the weight back on really felt unhealthy, just because it was too compressed, the amount of time. It was kind of right down to the line of being ready for playing Batman. It's not something I really want to repeat again.

TeenHollywood: How daunting is it to play a character that has been played by so many other actors? Do you have to just erase them from your mind?

Christian: Well, I don't feel like Batman's ever really been defined in any portrayal. So I felt like this was an opportunity to finally do that, in regards to way that Bob Kane originally intended it when he wrote it in 1939. He intended it as being a dark and terrifying and intimidating character. It's kind of ended up being spoofed more. And then there's great material in the newer graphic novels of Frank Miller and Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale. So the source material is right there and I just don't think it was ever taken advantage of until now. And with Superman you can really look at Christopher Reeve and the way that he played it, and he's become the defining Superman. I don't feel like that ever happened with Batman before, so I felt like I had an opportunity to expand and bring something new to it.

TeenHollywood: Your costume had air tubes and all that in it in an effort to make it more comfortable, right?

Christian: You know, I really never really took advantage of that. It was a really nice thought of theirs to have these kinds of cooling tubes and things running down the back, but it was just a little bit too (hard to make work). I'd have to go over and hook myself up and I would rather just feel free and walk around. They'd stick hair driers down the back instead.

TeenHollywood: I've seen some of the other Batman costumes and this one doesn't look as bulky.

Christian: Yes, it was the most lightweight of all the Batsuits that have been created so far. It had the most mobility as well to it. And it was the most paired down. We wanted to take it back to the basics and have everything being practical. No nipples or anything like that whatsoever. But still, regardless, you stick it on, you get hot, you sweat and you get a headache in the cowl, etc. But I'm not going to bitch about it. I'm getting to play Batman [big grin].

TeenHollywood: At the end of the day, what interested you more, playing Bruce Wayne or Batman?

Christian: Both. Batman was his hidden, demonic, raged-filled side. If he didn't have some kind of a channel to let that side out then he would not be able to function in regular society at all. So, to me, the Batman creature that he creates is an absolutely sincere creature and one that he is having to control, but in a very haphazard way. He's somebody who is so volatile and has such questionable motives as well, that he could very easily become the very thing that he is trying to fight. He's so capable as well in being able to enact violence and to kill and, frankly, I feel like his urges are to kill. He's constantly having to rein himself back in.

TeenHollywood: And Bruce?

Christian: Which Bruce Wayne (is he)? You've got the façade of the playboy. You've got the one who is heading off and investigating the criminal mind on his journeys. Then you've got the younger man. And I think the only person who truly knows is Alfred.

TeenHollywood: Michael Caine is so cool as Alfred. Can you talk about your relationship with Michael and Bruce/Batman's relationship with Alfred?

Christian: Well, Michael Caine, it's amazing how many sayings are attributed to Michael Caine. When I first sat down and started speaking with Michael, I realized that I'd quoted him without realizing it was him.

TeenHollywood: Well, that was weird I guess.

Christian: I kept on having to go, 'Stop it; it's him who said it in the first palace. So stop saying it.' [he laughs]. The man has been around so much, accomplished so much, has so many great stories. He's a great and humorous guy who did such a fantastic job, I think, with Alfred. I think it's such an important role in the movie. He's the surrogate father, but at the same time the butler, so there's this kind of dual role that they're having to deal with and get around. But it's the side of the movie that I think genuinely lets you know that Bruce has a real heart, that his motivations are good after all. He's dealing with a lot of demons, but that ultimately he is a good guy.

TeenHollywood: But, are you ready for the recognition when you walk down the street, the fame?

Christian: I'm not sure. I don't know what's going to happen with that. I like to think that you can control it in some ways, just through attitude and, as time goes on, through choice of movies, and it becomes evident that you're not attempting to grasp some kind of celebrity status. That kind of sounds nauseating to me and also very restricting. So if this movie can help me to actually make movies that I'm passionate about, that otherwise wouldn't get made, then that is fantastic. Hopefully, any kind of change in my life in terms of what you were just talking about will be short-lived. I have no idea because I have no experience with that kind of stuff.

TeenHollywood: Most genre or superhero fans tend to be men. A lot of women are interested in seeing Batman Begins because of you. What do you say about the film to women who perhaps hated or had no interest in the previous Batman films?

Christian: Embrace it. If you hated the other ones then this is the perfect movie to go see. This is our answer to what went wrong with the other ones. And it's something that I am kind of intrigued by because I think that naturally it would be a movie that would probably more commonly intrigue men, but I'll be interested to see what women think about the movie as well.

TeenHollywood: Are you kidding? Batman's hot! [whoops, that just slipped out]

Christian: There you go. You like the tight rubber [suit we hope he means].

At this point we both blush and I assure him it's the cape that does it for me. Uh, nevermind..on with the interview. My face is as red as my hair.

TeenHollywood: You've been a working actor all these years, since you were a kid in Empire of the Sun. But this will put you on a different level. Are your agents going to push you to only do blockbusters?

Christian: No, my agents are never going to be like that. People get accustomed to the mega-movie notion of it, to the anticipation of it, to the machine of it. And, to me, it's just another kind of movie that I'm experimenting with making. I want to go back and do small movies and do every kind of movie. My agents, they absolutely know that.

TeenHollywood: We heard about you filming a duel on ice with Liam Neeson. Was it really melting under your feet?

Christian: It was melting and cracking because there was a huge glacier behind it. So it was moving down and the pressure was cracking the ice, and it was thawing out at the same time. There were also people being scrambled off of the ice because we had guys saying, 'No, no, no. This is going to collapse at any second.' Liam and me would look at each other and be like, 'All right, do we carry on or not?' I think it added that extra sense of urgency and tension to the scene. It was nice. And that was the very first day of shooting.

TeenHollywood: Are you signed for a sequel?

Christian: Yes.

TeenHollywood: Where's your accent? Right now you're speaking with an American accent.

Christian: Batman, he's American. You can't do Batman and talk about being Batman in an English accent.

TeenHollywood: What would you like to explore in the sequel? We've met Bruce, gotten a sense of who he is. What's the next thing to learn about him?

Christian: We got a sense of who he is, but, if you refer to the graphic novels, you've got introductions of new adversaries, etc. But there's so much. The psychology of the guy, to me, is fascinating. The guilt element you can expand on. You can expand on, I think, almost every point that we started on here. I think, also expanding possibly visually as well. I haven't spoken with anybody about this, but I just really think it would be nice to come up with some kind of R-rated version, too, like a movie that is at one time PG and R, where you do two different edits for it.

TeenHollywood: We'd go for that. Have you really read all the comics?

Christian: I think I've read a damn lot of them that DC sent me.

TeenHollywood: If Bruce hadn't become Batman, would he have become American Psycho [one of Christian's critically-acclaimed earlier roles]?

Christian: Listen, they're both bluebloods. They both have issues and everything. But I think Bruce Wayne, he's got a soul.

TeenHollywood: You play the lead voice in the Miyazaki animated film Howl's Moving Castle. How did you get involved with that?

Christian: I had seen Spirited Away and loved it. I spoke to my agent and said, 'If I ever did a voiceover I'd like it to be for a movie like that.' I found out that Howl's Moving Castle was in the works. It was a lot less work (than regular film acting).

At this point, the actor says goodbye and sweeps out of the room. No cape. No mask. Darn.

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Lynn Barker is a Hollywood-based entertainment journalist and produced screenwriter.