Christian Bale: Darker than Ever

Batman Begins launched a new, more layered, more introspective Batman into theaters. In the amazing continuation of the filmed Bruce Wayne saga, The Dark Knight, Batman faces his own demons, fights for the love of his life and considers hanging up the cowl and cape for good. Pitted against sociopathic, totally "out there" master criminal The Joker (played with frightening glee by the marvelous Heath Ledger) Bruce/Batman's resources are stretched to the limit both mentally and physically.

We wanted to know how Christian Bale coped with the emotionally and physically draining stunts and angst in the film and why he's enjoying his role as a caped crusader without being typecast. We've noticed, in our various interviews with the gorgeous, intense actor, that when Christian gives interviews for a film about to be released and he is currently shooting his next movie, his demeanor, appearance and voice tend to match the film he is working on. Right now, Christian is playing John Connor, the savior of a bleak future world at war in the next "Terminator" film so picture him with very short buzz-cut hair, beard, dark gray shirt, black pants and a mostly American accent with a touch of his native Brit thrown in occasionally... (Note: Christian's comments on working with the late Heath Ledger are covered in another of our Dark Knight stories).

TeenHollywood: So were you comfortable with taking Batman "darker" for this film?

Christian: Yeah, absolutely. I had read Frank Miller's "Batman: Year One", I had read various other graphic novels and, for the first time, I'd seen something interesting in Batman which I'd never seen before and that was more the tone how I wished to portray him. Actually, I feel like we've kind of gone back to its roots, when I've spoken with friends of Bob Kane [who created Batman for the comics] relatives, they've said, 'No, he meant this to be a very dark character.'

TeenHollywood: Batman seems to almost lose it at times. He's having a tough time making order out of chaos.

Christian: I think though that Batman is having to maintain this discipline and a sense of order because he does have such a temptation for chaos, and for disruption and for violence. He has this great shadow side born of the pain of the death of his parents, born of a need for revenge. His creation of Batman has never been healthy for his personal life. He's given himself this one rule; he will not kill precisely because he can see how very easily he could cross that line. But because of his inherited altruism and philanthropy from his parents he does not wish to cross that line. He's always in conflict with himself about it, and The Joker is the person who has managed to have him questioning his own ethics. There are some wonderful ethical questions that come up in The Dark Knight.

TeenHollywood: Was the emotional side what attracted you to play the role again?

Christian: I went to Chris's (Chris Nolan, the director) house. I sat and read the script and felt like he had really exploded all of the clichés of genre movies. That this was no longer an action movie. This was no longer a superhero movie. This was a movie that can stand shoulder to shoulder with any genre of movie. Of course, we have the spectacle of the stunts and the explosions and all the excitement of that, but not have to compromise the great storytelling. These special effects and explosions, they don't mean cr*p if they're not in the context of a really great, substantial drama.

TeenHollywood: Okay, we hear you took some physical chances on the film. Was that actually you as Batman standing on the ledge at the Sears Tower?

Christian: Yeah, I wasn't going to let anybody else do that!

TeenHollywood: What is the thrill, just being in the suit way up that high? Was it frightening?

Christian: No, I don't have a fear of heights, but how often am I going to get a chance to stand on the ledge of the Sears Tower, at a 110 stories down as Batman? It's unlikely that's going to happen again.

TeenHollywood: But you were attached to something in case you fell, right?

Christian: Yeah, exactly. I don't consider it a stunt, it was an experience. There was no way they were going to let their leading man plummet 110 stories down to the streets of Chicago. So I did the highest tower in Chicago, then we went and did the highest tower in Hong Kong and I stood there. That was all for real. By the time I got to Hong Kong, I was just strolling around. I had a cable. I would have fallen a short way, surprised some office worker down below, and then be pulled up.

TeenHollywood: That would be hilarious! How did you like the new suit, the new cowl? You can actually turn your neck and head in it.

Christian: So much better in every way. For me, just personally, so much more comfortable. It didn't give me a migraine every time I put it on. I could act the anger instead of genuinely feeling the anger like in the first one. I could breathe much better and it was so much easier for the fighting sequences.

TeenHollywood: Did you have time to explore while shooting in Hong Kong?

Christian: We had time to get lost. Myself and my wife, we go get lost in cities and I think that's the best way to discover them. It's a very interesting city. There's so many different layers to that city. I wasn't there for that long but yeah. It wasn't what I'd expected.

TeenHollywood: Did you try some Chinese food in Hong Kong?

Christian: Absolutely I did, yeah. But I had done that in Shanghai and discovered at the age of 13 that the Chinese food in China is very different from the Chinese food in London, as I was trying to attack a full headed fish with a chopstick!

TeenHollywood: Ewwww. What was the challenge of playing more scenes in the Batsuit and not showing your face?

Christian: I think that there's an opportunity with the body language to show everything there. He's not a guy who feels the suit to be constricting. Wearing the mask and putting on the suit gives him absolute freedom. He feels most free within that because he's free to anonymously let his anger out and his violence out and become that person who he has to hide from the rest of society most of the time. I think that's something that's interesting. He does it in a more extreme fashion probably than most of us do but I think everybody has a shadow side to them. We all understand the rules of engagement for civilized society but we're all tempted to break them all the time and we all are intrigued when we see people happily breaking those rules. Like I said, with Batman, it's often a very fine line, whether he'll cross the line and go too far.

TeenHollywood: Does it hurt your throat to do the low, gravelly Batman voice?

Christian: 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.

TeenHollywood: The anti-crime system in Gotham is broken. Do you have a solution for dealing with crime and corruption?

Christian: Well, it's the circumstances. As we see in The Dark Knight, if there's the possibility of having the system work and of having somebody like Harvey Dent [played by Aaron Eckhart] be an elected official who can actually solve the problems that Batman's trying to do himself then obviously Batman is obsolete at that point. So he believes in the system. It's just that the system is broken.

TeenHollywood: Do you find yourself wanting to fix our broken system?

Christian: Well, look, everyone would want to live in a system that works but when it doesn't, I think everyone would like to think that they were able to effect some kind of a change themselves. Certainly when it comes to protecting things that you love then it's black and white. You don't really care too much about the long term consequences. You're gonna do what is right for the people around you in that instant which is always the conflict between what is right for the individual and is that right for society in general. It's what's so great about being human. We're not ants. We do have individual streaks and we will do what is right for ourselves and not just tow the line.

TeenHollywood: Batman is a hero for many people. You've said that your father was your hero, why?

Christian: I was just never somebody who really gravitated towards needing a hero. I don't know why, I just never was. Certainly not any kind of comic book style [hero] or anything. I had many people who I found intriguing and interesting but my father was just always somebody who was very, very engaging and a real character. So the first time I ever considered that question, I just sat back and thought, well, who have I looked up to most consistently throughout my life? Well, that's my father. Of course.

TeenHollywood: You're still filming the new Terminator film right now. What attracted you to another big franchise like Terminator?

Christian: Well, initially actually that was not an attraction but I went back, I reviewed the other movies. I felt like 'okay, unlike Batman Begins, this would be something where we would be respecting the previous mythology'. Certainly of [Terminator] one and two and you would be recognizing that mythology, unlike Batman Begins where we were saying that this is the beginning right here. I see the same potential for reinvention and for breathing new life into the mythology. That's what I view our responsibility as filmmakers to be. It's pointless if we don't succeed in doing that.

TeenHollywood: You seem to work all the time. Ever temped to take a breather?

Christian: Absolutely. Maybe there's a temptation to find a role where preparation involves drinking a lot of wine and eating a lot of pasta and just putting on a lot of weight or something, and taking it easy [we laugh].I think I put my body through enough transformation in the past few years that I'm starting to think, 'Yeah, I might start to have consequences if I keep doing this to myself too much.' I'm starting not to quite feel as invulnerable as I always have. But I enjoy the notion of strenuous work. I like it. I like to know I really worked at something. I don't like particularly taking it easy. The thing that I dislike most about filmmaking is waiting, waiting around. You're standing around doing nothing. That's what I dislike.

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