This may be Christian Bale's last Batman film, but the actor was eager to tell
Yahoo that he would love to work with Chris Nolan again in the future. Although Nolan will probably hope that Bale will learn to read a script a bit faster as the actor recalls the first time he laid eyes upon
The Dark Knight Rises.
"I usually read and re-read and re-read, so he couldn’t believe it, I think. Chris kept walking in, thinking, is he asleep? We started lunchtime, it got dark, and the family was having dinner."
While Christian's reading skills would put Speedy Gonzales in a coma, it is his unique approach to acting that has won over critics and fans. He begins each film with the mindset that no one is going to see it. This keeps him from becoming self-conscious, allowing him to take the bold and courageous risks that most actors wouldn't even dream of.
Q: Was there a favourite place for you during the filming?
CB: I want to say that one of the places where everyone else would have said was a complete hell hole, was India. When we started the film, we did a couple of days in Jodhpur, and the locals thought we were fu**ing nuts. (laughter) We were out in 120 degree heat, and we would be walking back into this one room where we had air conditioning and go “Ah!” it was like putting your head in a freezer. It was 90 degrees in that room, just to show you how hot it was. I thought it was a great kind of induction by fire, into that whole thing. And of people, we were just having the most ridiculous conversations because of heat exposure by the end of each day. But it was a nice kind of bonding moment, it was very memorable.
Q: At this point, what do you expect the legacy of the Batman series to be? And personally, what do you want to leave with the audience?
CB: For me, time will tell with that. And for myself as well, I feel like you sit back and digest it. You watch it with new eyes for the first time, you watch it a few times and then you get that answer in a few years time. For myself, when you are inside a project, you cannot see the wood for the trees.
Q: You mentioned that you won’t miss the Batman suit.
CB: Well it’s kind of a bittersweet thing. There are certain moments where you are in there you have got a migraine and you are in Saginaw. This is the year that when I landed badly on my back, or I did something and my back didn’t fix itself for a month, it was difficult. I’m used to it fixing after three days, but I’m 38 now, and I was hobbling about in the mornings, bloody hell, so things have changed for me this year. So, it did get exhausting, but the second you start complaining about that, I mean, come on. I can’t whine about that and just need to recognize that there’s this great iconic character that I’m getting to play.
Q: Did you make an improvement from the previous movies, like maybe the suit?
CB: The suit stayed pretty much the same, but just advanced in terms of character, where he’s at and what has he been doing? What has he had to reflect upon? And how long does somebody continue to have this painful episode in their life and continue to direct their lives? And we’ve always said that throughout the saga, who is warning what could go wrong? And so it’s kind of crunch time, how much longer can you do this? How much longer does he let it dominate his life, but can he get out, does he get through it?
Q: The Batman fans are pretty crazy and the Joker is so much more known as a villain than Bane which is such an obscure character. So the question just arises what way you can go, because most people don’t know shit about Batman except for the nerds and they know too much.
CB: You got both and you got a bold actor right here. Tom (Hardy) goes the distance, Tom goes way beyond what most other actors would do. And so be bold and respect Chris in his decisions and be bold and you’ve got a hell of an actor here that has created a phenomenon, a villain that stands by itself.
The Dark Knight Rises hits theaters July 20th 2012 and stars 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 Blake and Marion Cotillard as Miranda Tate.