This disparity puzzled the studios. Who was Christian Bale—the little known indie actor who could get his face on the cover of a magazine but did not have the clout to open a movie? Why was he so popular on the Internet? Studios often look to other mediums for signs of the next crossover star. That’s why singers try to get on TV shows while TV actors try to get in movies. To actors, movie fame is still the Holy Grail of celebrity.
Christian’s unusual fame was built on a new and untried medium. The Internet was unlike radio, television, or the movies because the audience could be interactive. This new audience could make their likes and dislikes known immediately and it was this interactivity that gave power to grassroots campaigns.
“Is Christian Bale too good to be true? Perhaps he’s some sort of spiritual messiah, or a synthetic android simulation of the ideal human, but something has made Bale one of the most popular stars in the Internet firmament—and it’s not just his cheekbones.”
—Marc Mohan, The Oregonian
Yet when I first told him about Batman, the role that would eventually catapult him to superstardom, Christian’s initial reaction was far from enthusiastic. He despised American comics and he hated movie adaptations of comic books. He didn’t want to be a movie star, and he thought even less of movie franchises. He physically pretended to gag whenever anyone would mention superheroes to him and it took months of convincing before he came to see that playing Batman made sense.
But while Christian was initially reluctant to being a superhero and trying to find less boring things elsewhere in his life, Hollywood knew it was time to resurrect one of their biggest money-making franchises of all time.
Three years before Warner Bros. even made their Batman casting decision, three Batman movie projects simmered in development. One project, tentatively titled The Dark Knight, was to be directed by indie director Darren Aronosky (Requiem for a Dream); Batman Begins by another highly praised indie director, Christopher Nolan (Memento); and the third was Superman vs. Batman to be directed by Wolfgang Peterson, who had had both critical and box office success with The Perfect Storm and Air Force One.
Mating a comic book project with an acclaimed, proven director seemed to be a smart move to revitalize the franchise, though in reality, for every success like a Sam Raimi-helmed Spiderman, there’s a bomb like Ang Lee’s Hulk. But all these projects looked perfect for Christian.
For Christian, hot off the critical acclaim of American Psycho, he was looking for meatier American roles. His villainous turn in Shaft had opened 2000 to mixed reviews and lackluster box office ratings. If he had a dream role, it was to play Anakin Sky-walker in the next Star Wars movie. Christian had grown up as a huge Star Wars fan and he was extremely disappointed when he lost the role of Obi Wan Kenobi to Ewan McGregor. So he desperately wanted the role of a grown-up Anakin Skywalker because of the dramatic challenges of playing someone seduced by the Dark Side of the Force, transforming from Anakin to Darth Vader. For an actor like Christian, there could be no better mainstream role.
But from the start the prospects didn’t look good for Christian to land the part of Skywalker. First of all, he was too old. Anakin Skywalker was supposed to be a couple of years younger than his future wife, Princess Amidala, played by Natalie Portman, who was seven years younger than Christian. Secondly, George Lucas was looking for an actor who would physically look like a grownup version of Jake Lloyd, the child actor who had played Anakin in Star Wars: Phantom Menace. For a number of months, it was rumored that Christian’s old nemesis Leonardo DiCaprio would be the one to strap on the lightsaber.
With that pivotal seduction to the Dark Side in mind, I thought the role of Batman looked like it would suit Christian perfectly, especially as one of the projects was to be a prequel that would be the origin story of how and why a young Bruce Wayne became the Dark Knight.
As mentioned before, I began pitching the Batman projects to Christian when he was on location in Ireland. Initially he resisted whenever I brought up the subject. When I called him on set to pitch the idea, the first response I got was: “Are you mad?”
It seemed Christian would never come round to the idea, despite repeated e-mails and calls from me over several months. Christian’s reaction was always the same—a vehement: “No, no no!” He frowned on comic book movies and he had a British actor’s sensibility that taking on a role like Batman would be selling out for a crass, American, hyper-merchandised commercial “product.”
So to convince him that Batman could be written seriously and darkly, I sent Christian his very first Batman graphic novels: Alan Moore’s Batman: The Killing Joke and Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns and Batman: Year One. These two authors (Moore is from Northampton in the U.K., Miller is from Vermont in the U.S.) had revitalized the Batman name with dark, serious and moody graphic novels that had less to do with Batman’s pre-World War II American origins and more to do with the anime style coming out of Japan and Hong Kong. With these critically acclaimed Batman interpretations in hand, Christian had a chance to see how this comic book legend could be treated as a serious, dramatic subject.
After a ton of cajoling, I finally managed to convince Christian to at least consider Batman. More to the point, he had also been convinced that he needed to do bigger movies with bigger paychecks. He sent me an e-mail to launch an Internet campaign and to prepare pitch packages for directors Christopher Nolan and Darren Aronofsky. Soon, every major Batman, sci-fi, and comic book Web site was seeded with the suggestion to rent American Psycho and imagine Christian in the dual role of millionaire Bruce Wayne and his alter ego, Batman. This seeding was crucial because the highly opinionated and often protective sci-fi and comic fans had to be convinced that British Christian could play Batman, a legendary American character. At the time, the only other name being floated was Ben Affleck—someone the sci-fi fans scoffed at, thinking he lacked the intensity or gravitas to play Batman.
Like all of Christian’s previous Web campaigns, it didn’t take long for Internet buzz to convert into mainstream editorial. Almost two years before Warner Bros. made a casting decision, we had key Web sites like FilmForce, Superhero Hype, Batman On Film, and MovieHole reporting that Christian was rumored to be the next Batman. On Comics2Film.com, Baleheads and Batman fans were showing off their Photoshop skills, digitally mocking up Batman: Year One posters with Christian. And newspapers around the world soon picked up the scent.
“The buzz in Hollywood is that Bale is the front runner to play Bruce Wayne.”
—The Sun, July 17, 2002
“Welsh actor Christian Bale is being hotly tipped to play the caped crusader in the new Batman movie.”
—Wales on Sunday, August 11, 2002
“The Internet was buzzing with rumours linking him to the role of Batman. It says something about Bale’s current stock that the concept of the Welsh-born actor as the caped crusader is not only enthusiastically received by the notoriously unforgiving comics community, it also appears somewhat credible in industry circles.”
—The Irish Times, August 17, 2002
Once he decided to pursue the role, Christian wisely leveraged his Web popularity. Internet fandom for Christian translated into clout at the polls, specifically, the many online opinion polls that gave voice to fan speculation on which actor should play the next Superman or the next Batman or the next James Bond. Like an invisible hand moving through cyberspace, the idea of “Christian Bale as the Dark Knight” was intentionally planted on every major Batman fan site. The Baleheads were legion and they had done their job. Soon, every Batman pundit was renting Christian’s starring turn in American Psycho and Equilibrium to check out his muscled body, nude or tuxedo-clad, to see if he was Bruce Wayne material.
Though the major studios were loath to acknowledge that any other medium could influence their casting decisions, the Internet was an easy way to conduct quick and dirty market research to test brands, colors, flavors, and actors. “You don’t want to draw too much out of a smal
l group of people talking, but if you look cumulatively across sites, it can start to mean something,” admitted Warner Bros. Vice President of Interactive Marketing.
And while the studios like to think that they dictate popular culture, to make a movie based on a graphic novel they had to test fandom opinion constantly, using the Internet and attending key conventions like Comic-Con to discover trends and to portend the next possible blockbuster franchise.
In the indie film world, Christian’s Internet clout was renowned. By 2001, the tenth anniversary issue of Entertainment Weekly crowned Christian “One of the Top 8 Most Powerful Cult Figures of the Past Decade,” citing his incredible and legendary cult status on the Internet as the unknown British guy who had wrestled the lead role in American Psycho away from none other than Titanic star Leonardo DiCaprio.
Winning the role of Batman was the ultimate achievement for Christian. He constantly worried about ending up trapped, like so many of his compatriots in England, in sort of a Merchant-Ivory-BBC-costume-drama hell. Ever since he had moved to L.A. in 1991, he actively pursued contemporary American roles, anxious to demonstrate his versatility and to avoid being pigeonholed.
Put this casting triumph in perspective. Christian had won a quintessentially American role—the antisuperhero, Batman. Imagine the reaction if an American was cast as James Bond? This was years before Brits like Andrew Garfield could win the part of Spiderman, Henry Cavill could finally land Superman, or Aaron Johnson could Kick Ass.
On September 3, 2003, just eight days before Warner Bros. would make its announcement, Yahoo, then the second most popular Web site on the Internet according to Nielsen Netratings, ran an online poll asking who should be the next Batman. Christian won 47 percent of the 10,420 votes, triple the number two choice, Joshua Jackson.
So not only was Christian the first non-American and the seventh actor to play the revered role (including Lewis Wilson and Robert Lowery from the 1940s serials, and Adam West from the 1966 movie and TV series), he also became the youngest to don the cape and cowl at the age of thirty-one. Bale would be perfect for Batman, the fans had overwhelmingly decided. But would Batman be good for Bale?
“Forget the Superman curse: it’s playing his pal Batman that may be hazardous to an actor’s career health. Michael Keaton and Val Kilmer saw their stars fade like a broken Bat-Signal after donning the winged-mammal suit. George Clooney escaped that fate but only because 1997’s Batman and Robin was so bad that viewers blocked it from their memories.”
—Entertainment Weekly, September 9, 2003
It was a bittersweet casting victory for Christian. Just a few months after the Warner Bros. announcement, his father, David, would be dead. David, the man who had so desperately wanted Christian to be successful and famous, would not live to see his son starring in his first real blockbuster film.
Similar to Lionsgate’s strategy with American Psycho, Warner Bros. beefed up the Batman Begins cast to surround Christian with talent that had both box office clout and indie credibility. Michael Caine stepped into the role of Alfred Pennyworth, Bruce Wayne’s trusted butler. Liam Neeson was cast as villain Henri Ducard. One of Christian’s personal favorites, Gary Oldman, was Sgt. James Gordon, an uncorrupted cop who had been there the night Bruce Wayne’s parents were murdered. Morgan Freeman was Lucius Fox, a Wayne Enterprises employee who provides Bruce with all the gadgets and vehicles that Batman needs. Cillian Murphy was cast as the villain, The Scarecrow, while Katie Holmes was Bruce’s love interest, Rachel Dawes. All Christian had to do now was convince everyone that he was Batman, one of the longest running superheroes ever created.
In 1989, the Batman movie helmed by eccentrically goth Tim Burton (Heathers, Edward Scissorhands) grossed over $251 million. A new franchise was born. If Warner Bros. had wanted a dark movie, they got it. Michael Keaton, hot off a string of hits (Mr. Mom, Gung Ho, Clean and Sober, and Beetlejuice), played the first Batman. Keaton returned in Batman Returns (1992), which pulled in $163 million. But Keaton wasn’t interested in donning the cape for a third time. “I wasn’t very inspired when I read the third installment,” he admitted.
Though the first two Batman episodes were box office hits, the critics derided the movies as product merchandising over substance. Still, Batman soldiered on, seemingly flop-proof. For the third movie, Warner Bros. revamped the franchise with a new Batman and a new Batman director. Val Kilmer was paid a reported $7 million paycheck to star as the next Batman. But Batman Forever was not a happy experience for Kilmer. Disaster loomed even during filming, when he kept searching for deeper motivation to Batman’s scenes, prompting director Joel Schumacher to brand him “childish and impossible” and snap: “Well, you’re Batman. Just you do it.”
Next up to bat was George Clooney. The fourth film, Batman & Robin, brought back Chris O’Donnell (who also appeared alongside Kilmer) as the Boy Wonder and starred Alicia Silver-stone as Batgirl. This time, Uma Thurman and Arnold Schwarzenegger played the villains. Though Clooney was People’s Sexiest Man Alive that same year, Batman & Robin was a major box office disappointment, grossing only $107 million, less than any of the previous Batman movies. Adding insult to injury, this Batman earned an unprecedented ten Razzie Award nominations, including one for Worst Remake or Sequel, while Alicia Silverstone won her Razzie for Worst Supporting Actress. Razzie Awards dishonor the worst achievements in film for the year. His Batman experience prompted Clooney to quip: “I am single-handedly responsible for killing Batman!”
In all seriousness, Clooney was thoughtful in his postmortem over the Batman & Robin disaster: “It was just too big. By the time we made our Batman movie, they were just about selling toys. They got $25 million from Taco Bell before we started shooting. It’s a moneymaking machine. They say I was a bad Batman, that it was my fault. They say I buried the franchise. But the truth is, it was a $150 million film and they paid me $10 million. I was pretty intimidated in that world.”
Like Kilmer, Clooney did feel that Batman was a smart career move to shore up an actor’s profile and bankability, adding: “I’ve now got money in the bank and there’s no reason to do any movie unless it’s one that I really want to do. With money in the bank, it is easy to be more selective, to make smarter decisions.”
As for advice for Christian, Clooney joked: “Hopefully he won’t tank the franchise the way I did. I set the bar so low he shouldn’t have a problem.”
Christian might’ve been ready for the movie after his months of Internet campaigning to get the role, but was this private actor really ready to deal with his face splashed all over the Batman merchandise? Was he ready for his Balehead army to grow dramatically to include the Batman fan boys who had very high expectations? Christian had his own philosophy about acting: “If you’re an actor, there have to be times when you’re ready to step up to the plate and make a fool of yourself and possibly embarrass yourself.”
However, at Comic-Con 2004, Warner Bros. promised a sneak peek at Batman Begins to the eager fan community. They would be disappointed as the promised trailer was not available and there was only “a half-hearted videotaped greeting from Chris Nolan and a distracted/annoyed Christian Bale.” Although Warner Bros. told Comic-Con attendees that a trailer was not available, just five days later, it appeared online. Not the nicest way to treat the hard-core fans! When Christian won the role of Batman, he had just five months to prepare himself for the role and threw himself into pumping up his body and getting it into superhero shape.
Christian had to look good for the part of Batman—a man who has no superpowers but a man who can fight crime with martial arts and weapons skills and an unlimited fortune to fund his gadgetry. But once again he went overboard.
This time he went completely the opposite, bulking up too much. Christian revealed: “I was in a really pathetic state after The Machinist. But Batman has no superpowers so we couldn’t get away with him looking like some Joe Schmo who never works out. Losing the weight was more of a mental discipline, which actuall
y leads to a place of great calm. It was far less healthy putting on the weight because I was just stuffing myself. A doctor actually said to me: ‘You’re nuts, you’re going to do some real damage.’ I went from 120 lbs. to 220 lbs. within five months. I turned up in England, bearded, long hair and I was walking toward Chris Nolan. I was like: ‘Hi Chris,’ and he had absolutely no idea who I was. When I got closer he went: ‘Holy, f * * * ! You look like Grizzly Adams what’s going on?’ Then he was like: ‘Ok, you did a good job, you got really big like I asked you to but maybe we should try slimming you down a little.” Some crew members were somewhat more candid. They came in and were like: ‘What movie are we doing here? Fatman?!’”
So Christian worked out and got the toned, perfect body by the time filming began in March 2004 in the Vatnajökull glacier in Iceland before the production moved to London and then Chicago. Despite now looking the part, Christian still wasn’t comfortable on set inside the Batsuit. He would sometimes have to wear the specially designed costume for up to fifteen hours a day. Unlike previous incarnations of the suit, which had been stiff and restricted full head movement, the new Batsuit was made of a special material, neoprene, to make it more lightweight and move more easily when Batman was fighting.
Costume designer Lindy Hemming and her team worked on the Batsuit at an FX workshop code-named Cape Town in a secure compound located at Shepperton Studios in London, where scenes from the movie were also shot. The suit’s basic design was a neoprene undersuit, which was shaped by attaching molded cream latex sections. Christian was molded and sculpted prior to his physical training so that the team could work on a full body case. To avoid imperfections picked up with sculpting clay, plastiline was used to smooth the surface while the team also brewed different mixtures of foam to find the one that would be most flexible, light, durable, and black.
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