While out on publicity for his latest movie, The Knight of Cups, Christian Bale has expressed some second thoughts about his portrayal of Bruce Wayne/Batman for Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy.
When interviewed for Yahoo Movies, Bale noted that he didn’t quite capture the extent to which Bruce Wayne was messed up. This isn’t the first time that Bale has said that he’s slightly jealous of Ben Affleck’s opportunity to play the character in this month’s Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice.
“Batman, he’s this very very dark, messed up character. I found when I put on the suit, I feel like a bloody idiot if I don’t use this as a means of his true, monstrous self that he allows to come out in that moment.”
He went on to note that Heath Ledger completely upended all of his plans when it came to portraying the character. That’s not really all that much of a surprise, given how much of a messed up character The Joker is.
Looking back, Bale noted that he didn’t quite accomplish what he wanted to do with the character, but ruled out ever reprising the character again “Enough’s enough - we did our thing”.
It would be interesting to see just what Bale had in mind for a more screwed up Bruce Wayne, and how that might have looked.
Once we get a look at Affleck’s Batman, it’ll be interesting to see just how the two compare, and who comes out on top.