Christian Bale is an Oscar-winning actor who seems to be quite hard on himself. (And, uh, that one lighting dude.)
While Bale has been nominated and has won awards for a variety of roles, he is perhaps best remembered for his turn as Bruce Wayne/Batman in Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy. Later this month, Ben Affleck will officially take the reins from Bale in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. The upcoming release of the movie has Bale reflecting on the role he played three times, and he seems to have mixed feelings.
“I didn’t quite manage what I hoped I would throughout the trilogy,” Bale told Yahoo Movies. “Chris did, but my own sense of self is like, ‘I didn’t quite nail it.’ ”
Bale said he was hoping through his acting to portray how dark and twisted the character was, to show how much of a monster he can turn into while he's wearing the suit. Not only did Bale feel he didn't quite hit his mark, he saw Heath Ledger have an absolute stranglehold on his character, The Joker.
“Heath turned up, and just kind of completely ruined all my plans,” Bale said. “Because I went, ‘He's so much more interesting than me and what I’m doing.’ ”
Christian, you're being too hard on yourself, dude! Though it feels like more and more holes get poked in the Nolan Batman trilogy as it ages, Bale was objectively damn good as Batman. Remember who was being thrown out there before him. Nipply George Clooney? A well-meaning Val Kilmer? Nah. Bale, dare I say, brought a certain level of gravitas to the role. Batman Begins was particularly enjoyable, because Bale also had more time to play around as Bruce Wayne. Ledger nailed his role as The Joker, but that shouldn't take away from Bale's performance.
But, okay: The Bat-voice was a little goofy.
If you do want to check out Bale in what he maybe thinks is a better performance, his latest film, Knight of Cups, opens today.