Christian Bale: ‘Tons of People’ Laughed at Me Over the Idea of Playing ‘Serious’ Batman
Zack Sharf Christian Bale will forever be associated with playing Bruce Wayne/Batman in Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy, but not everyone believed in the duo’s interpretation of the character. Starting with “Batman Begins” and most notably in “The Dark Knight,” Bale and Nolan grounded the character in a level of realism the comic book movie genre had never seen. Bale’s serious approach was the opposite of the campier take on Batman as seen in Joel Schumaker’s “Batman Forever” and “Batman & Robin.”“I would [tell people] we’re going to sort of do Batman, but take him seriously.