Christian Bale

Bale stars as Batman and Bruce Wayne in the third installment of the Batman series, The Dark Knight Rises. Eight years after the Joker’s reign of anarchy, the Dark Knight must return to defend Gotham City against the enigmatic jewel thief Catwoman (Halle Berry) and the ruthless mercenary Bane (Tom Hardy) as the city teeters on the brink of complete annihilation.

Bruce Wayne, the playboy, is a pure facade, it’s a lie he has, somehow, to control one side of your soul that’s not really under control. In fact, only Alfred knows who he is. It’s time for Bruce Wayne to face the pain that has always stirred his life.

Bale plays Dicky Eklund in The Fighter, a film depicting the early years of boxer “Irish” Micky Ward and his brother, played by Mark Wahlberg, who helps train him before going pro in the mid 1980s.

Dicky has a very squirrelly way of fighting and that came to me through really hardcore boxing training.

Bale returns as Batman/Bruce Wayne in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight, sequel to Batman Begins. When Batman, Gordon and Harvey Dent launch an assault on the mob, the Joker, Heath Ledger’s last major role,  turns Gotham on itself.

It’s now the question of the burden and toll of what he’s doing, the question can this be a finite endeavor. Is this something that has an end? Can he quit and have an ordinary life? The kind of manic intensity someone has to have to maintain the passion and the anger that they felt as a child, takes an effort after awhile, to keep doing that. At some point, you have to exorcise your demons. That’s what I love about Batman. There’s so much that is about character.

Bale plays Jack Rollins and Pastor John in I’m Not There, a biographical musical film about the different facet’s of Bob Dylan’s life and public persona.

Bale stars as Dan Evans in 3:10 to Yuma, a western about a small-time rancher who agrees to hold a captured outlaw who is awaiting a train to Yuma. Russell Crowe co-stars.

Bale stars as Alfred Borden in The Prestige, a movie in which a rivalry between two magicians becomes all-consuming when they attempt the ultimate illusion.

I read The Prestige again after I finished Batman, but I wasn’t sure if Chris just wanted to keep me as Bruce Wayne in his eyes and that was it, and he wouldn’t want to work on anything else. So, I contacted him and raised that question. I really liked the character of Borden and just told him, ‘Hey look, this would be great. I could really do this very well.’ And he did believe me, so we got crackin’.

Bale plays Bruce Wayne and Batman in Batman Begins. After training with his mentor, Batman begins his war on crime to free the crime-ridden Gotham City from corruption that the Scarecrow and the League of Shadows have cast upon it.

I’m really happy with how it came out, I think Chris (Nolan) has made a movie that will finally please like the hard core Batman fans and the fans of the graphic novel but also just people who appreciate good movie making and good storytelling.

Bale plays Patrick Bateman in the cult psychological thriller American Psycho, based on the book by Bret Easton-Ellis. Bateman is a wealthy New York investor who tries to hide his alternate psychopathic ego from his friends as he begins to be taken over by his fantasies. In a later interview he says:

I never viewed Patrick Bateman as a real character. It wasn’t going to work unless I made myself look absurd.

Bale plays Thomas Berger in Swing Kids. The film is a musical drama set in pre-WWII Germany. Thomas and his friend Peter attempt to be swing kids by night and Hitler Youth by day.

Bale plays Jack Kelly in Newsies, a musical based on the New York City newsboy strike of 1899.

Bale plays journalist Arthur Stuart in Velvet Goldmine, a British movie set during the glam rock days of the 1970’s that follows the life of the fictional pop star Brain Slade. The movie co-stars Ewan McGregor and Jonathan Rhys Meyers.

Bale plays Jim Graham in Stephen Spielberg’s Empire of the Sun, a film portraying a young English boy’s struggle to survive in Shanghai under Japanese occupation during WWII. Bale is offered the role after starring in the made for TV movie Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna. Amy Irving, Bale’s co-star in the television movie, recommended Bale to her then-husband, Steven Spielberg, for the role.

I’d nothing to lose, I wasn’t thinking in terms of a career. I wasn’t really thinking about the consequences at all. I tend to think you’re fearless when you recognize why you should be scared of things, but do them anyway. I didn’t recognize it that time.