Christian Bale Was Ridiculed for His Vision of Batman, Now Everyone Follows His Lead
Bale was repeatedly told that his approach to playing Bruce Wayne in The Dark Knight trilogy wouldn’t work — but it’s been almost two decades, and who’s laughing now?
Today, Christopher Nolan ’s The Dark Knight trilogy is praised as the best adaptation of the Caped Crusader’s story, and Christian Bale ’s performance of Batman is called unique, game-changing, and immaculate. Even the new Bruce Wayne actors, Ben Affleck and Robert Pattinson, sought his advice before shooting (and he provided it).
However, it was not always like this. Despite Nolan and Bale arriving eight years after the disgrace that Batman & Robin was, most people still saw the Caped Crusader as a semi-comedic character similar to George Clooney ’s. When Christian Bale shared that he wanted to portray a grim and dark Batman, he was ridiculed.
Today, it’s almost impossible to imagine Batman being a comedy, right? Well, back in the day, people were so used to this idea they laughed at Bale for even suggesting that. The Batman franchise was just too much of a laughing matter at the time.
“I would [tell people] we’re going to sort of do Batman but take him seriously. I had tons of people laugh at me and just say, ‘Well, that’s just not going to work at all,’” Christian Bale told The Washington Post.
Fortunately for all superhero movie enjoyers, this reception didn’t make Christopher Nolan and his lead actor back down: if anything, they worked harder to achieve their vision and show that superhero stories are not just children’s business or comedies — and in the process, they paved the road for those who followed, the big players.
“It’s wonderful to be a part of a trilogy that proved those people wrong. I’m not certain if it kick-started [the MCU] but it certainly helped along the way,” Bale added.
Not only did Nolan and Bale prove everyone who was ridiculing their vision wrong but they also changed the perception of superhero movies — which, in turn, changed the entire modern movie industry as a whole when Marvel and larger DC caught up with what was going on. If this isn’t a huge success story, we don’t know what is.
Source: The Washington Post