Christian Bale has been speaking to GQ about some of his iconic roles. Considering that Bale exploded into the acting world at the age of 12 by starring in a Steven Spielberg movie, no less, he certainly has many movies to discuss. Inevitably, Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy came up, and Bale discussed Batman being overshadowed by the villains – especially Heath Ledger’s Joker.
The first thing that Bale (rightly) says about Batman is; “What a weirdo, right? Jumping around town at night in a bat outfit.” He also says that most of his recollections of making Batman involve; “doing crosswords by myself in a blue tent with very uncomfortable stuff on because they wanted me to be ready in 15 minutes at any given moment.”
“Heath Ledger – oh my God, what a performance, what a pleasure to have gotten to work with him. Just to see how much he put himself into the Joker. I was watching it going; ‘yeah this is absolutely fantastic, are we in trouble here?’ When Chris [Nolan] and I first sat down we said; ‘you know what the problem with Batman is? Is that the villains are always more interesting, right?'”
Bale continues; “But Batman actually is very close to being a villain himself. We said; ‘let’s never let him become dull by comparison.’ And unfortunately, I was sitting there going; ‘I feel a little bit dull by comparison, because Heath is just killing this.’ But I’m very proud of that film, I love it. The Dark Knight (2008) is absolutely extraordinary. It was such a pleasure to have gotten to work with Heath.”
Speaking of Ledger, Bale says; “Heath was a wonderful go-kart racer. Holy crap, he beat all the stunt guys. He was quick. He then very quietly mentioned that his Dad was a go-kart racer. Very talented individual and a great soul to be around. I miss him greatly.”
Check out our guide to the best Batman villains, to see if we thought Joker is the best.