The best thing about
The Dark Knight Trilogy: Ultimate Collector's Edition is that it offers us our first look at the actors that auditioned as the Caped Crusader for Chris Nolan's
Batman Begins. You can see a clip of Christian Bale's audition in the video at the bottom of the article. It hit the internet this past September, and now
MTV was able to ask Bale about that process, while he is out doing press for his new movie
Out of the Furnace.
"I got there. They put me in Val Kilmer's suit. It didn't even fit properly, and I stood in it and I went 'I feel like an idiot.' What kind of guy walks around, dressed like a bat? And is then going to go 'Hello, how are you? Just ignore that I'm dressed as a bat.' Of course, he's meant to be doing this," Bale said. "If you look at the history of the guy and the pain that he went through. I went 'I can't do this in a normal voice. I have to become a beast in order to sell this to myself.'"
One of the things that made Bale standout from the other actors, like Cillian Murphy and Eion Bailey, was that he altered his voice while wearing Val Kilmer's
Batman Forever Batsuit. Although, his wife wasn't a big fan of it
"I went home that evening, and my wife said, 'How'd it go?' I went, 'I kind of did this.' And I showed her, and she went, 'Oh, you f---ed that one up, didn't you?' " he said. "Thank God they went for it."
He even had some advice for Ben when it comes to the Bat-voice, and glowed when chatting about the heartwarming tale of San Francisco's Batkid.
"[The voice] ain't for everybody. Ben's obviously going to have to do his own thing, but it was the only way that I could find how to get into that and to justify wearing the fricking Batsuit. Otherwise, he's just loopy beyond belief. He's loopy, but he's loopy with a method to his madness," Bale said. "I wish [Affleck] the best. You look at this kid, Batkid.... That gives the whole point. It doesn't matter which actor is playing him. He's a symbol. He's so much bigger than any actor. That's all. This little kid, he doesn't really care which actor's playing him. It's the symbol of the whole thing, and that's what makes the character so fantastic. I look forward to seeing what Ben will do with it."
Christian Bale's Batman Audition by Eklecty-City
It has been eight years since Batman vanished into the night, turning, in that instant, from hero to fugitive. Assuming the blame for the death of D.A. Harvey Dent, the Dark Knight sacrificed everything for what he and Commissioner Gordon both hoped was the greater good. For a time the lie worked, as criminal activity in Gotham City was crushed under the weight of the anti-crime Dent Act. But everything will change with the arrival of a cunning cat burglar with a mysterious agenda. Far more dangerous, however, is the emergence of Bane, a masked terrorist whose ruthless plans for Gotham drive Bruce out of his self-imposed exile. But even if he dons the cape and cowl again, Batman may be no match for Bane.
The Dark Knight Rises was directed by Christopher Nolan, from a screenplay written by Christopher and Jonathan Nolan. The cast included: Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne/Batman, Michael Caine as Alfred Pennyworth, Gary Oldman as Jim Gordon, Tom Hardy as Bane, Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle, Joseph Gordon-Levitt as John "Robin" Blake and Marion Cotillard as Miranda Tate/Talia al Ghul.