November 27, 2011

Christian Bale has hung up his iconic Batman cape for good.

The actor has played Bruce Wayne and his superhero alter ego in all three films in Christopher Nolan's trilogy -- the last of which, The Dark Knight Rises, recently wrapped shooting for a July 20 release.

"I wrapped a few days ago so that will be the last time I'm taking that cowl off," Bale said in an interview with the Philippine Daily Inquirer. "I believe the whole production wrapped yesterday, so it's all done. Everything's finished. It's me and Chris - that will be the end of that Batman era."

The Academy Award winning actor has played Bruce Wayne and his superhero alter-ego since 2005's Batman Begins, which has earned more than $372 million worldwide. With its 2008 sequel, The Dark Knight, Warner Bros. pulled in more than $1 billion at the box office.

The Dark Knight rises features a few familiar faces --Michael Caine, Gary Oldman and Morgan Freeman -- as well as newcomers Anne Hathaway, Tom Hardy and Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

Bale sang the praises of each of his co-stars, but credits Hathaway with tackling the film's toughest job.

"When Chris watched the screen test, he agreed that Anne did a wonderful job. In many ways, she has the hardest job," he said. "There are a number of people who feel that the Catwoman role has been defined previously. So, I always saw Anne's role as being the toughest job of any of us."

The Dark Knight Rises is slated for a July 20, 2012 release and is being made with a budget of $250 million -- the highest of all three films.

[Edited 11/27/11 9:46am]

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As a side note, a part of this movie was filmed in Newark, NJ's subway system. I'll be looking out for it when I see this movie!

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I´m not really a big fan of the Catwoman character unless it is the Catwoman of the 70s ( O´Neill and Adams stories) but I can´t wait to see Anne Hathaway in this movie.

I have a little crush on Anne. I hope Eva Mendez doesn´t read this.

Good for him He's a great actor and there's no need in dragging out more Batman movies as is. I believe there's plenty of remakes (already filmed in movies and tv) of it to go around for centuries.

[Edited 11/27/11 8:48am]

both good and bad

i'm glad Bale and Nolan finished this trilogy. And I have my doubts with this final third film, Bale (the villian, not the actor, lol) is such a nerdy villian...I can't believe he will be the co-star of the film...

but who knows what will be next? will Warner produce circa 2015-2016 a new Batman film, with an older actor to play Batman so the execs/writers can introduce Robin?

who will be the director? will it feature the Riddler? and/or the Penguin? (two villians/characters that Nolan didn't want to work with)...

will Freeman, Oldman and Caine retire from their roles as well?? (that would be AWFUL) will The Joker reappear (played by a new actor?) and what about Catwoman (obviously she won't die in this third film, but wait...who knows )?

will this fourth film be a reboot, or a continuation of the Nolan/Bale trilogy?

too many questions...

JoeTyler said:

both good and bad

i'm glad Bale and Nolan finished this trilogy. And I have my doubts with this final third film, Bale (the villian, not the actor, lol) is such a nerdy villian...I can't believe he will be the co-star of the film...

but who knows what will be next? will Warner produce circa 2015-2016 a new Batman film, with an older actor to play Batman so the execs/writers can introduce Robin?

who will be the director? will it feature the Riddler? and/or the Penguin? (two villians/characters that Nolan didn't want to work with)...

will Freeman, Oldman and Caine retire from their roles as well?? (that would be AWFUL) will The Joker reappear (played by a new actor?) and what about Catwoman (obviously she won't die in this third film, but wait...who knows )?

will this fourth film be a reboot, or a continuation of the Nolan/Bale trilogy?

too many questions...

Well, since they're talking about doing a Justice League film (you know, to try to catch up with Marvel's films, esp The Avengers; which is funny because Marvel's been trying to catch up with DC in the animation department in recent years), they already have said that the film's Batman would be out of Nolan's continuity.

And Bale has been said this would be his last Batman film, so why this is making news now, I'll never know.

alexnvrmnd777 said:

JoeTyler said:

both good and bad

i'm glad Bale and Nolan finished this trilogy. And I have my doubts with this final third film, Bale (the villian, not the actor, lol) is such a nerdy villian...I can't believe he will be the co-star of the film...

but who knows what will be next? will Warner produce circa 2015-2016 a new Batman film, with an older actor to play Batman so the execs/writers can introduce Robin?

who will be the director? will it feature the Riddler? and/or the Penguin? (two villians/characters that Nolan didn't want to work with)...

will Freeman, Oldman and Caine retire from their roles as well?? (that would be AWFUL) will The Joker reappear (played by a new actor?) and what about Catwoman (obviously she won't die in this third film, but wait...who knows )?

will this fourth film be a reboot, or a continuation of the Nolan/Bale trilogy?

too many questions...

Well, since they're talking about doing a Justice League film (you know, to try to catch up with Marvel's films, esp The Avengers; which is funny because Marvel's been trying to catch up with DC in the animation department in recent years), they already have said that the film's Batman would be out of Nolan's continuity.

And Bale has been said this would be his last Batman film, so why this is making news now, I'll never know.

yeah, but NOW it's official.

bad choice anyway, a new Batman film always means $ and popularity and rave reviews if the movie is good, and there are dozens of good directors out there, don't know why he's obsessed to work only with Nolan ...

JoeTyler said:

And I have my doubts with this final third film, Bale (the villian, not the actor, lol) is such a nerdy villian...I can't believe he will be the co-star of the film...

You mean Bane.

And I have no doubts. Tom Hardy is an incredible actor. They literally could not have picked a better person for the job. I think it's possible he will even match Heath Ledger's performance as the Joker.

Dayuummmm!!

Michael Keaton I liked as Batman...... and then came along the others ........ but with Christian Bale

Sucks.

Val Kilmer as Batman was ok, but it seemed he was still in his "Top Gun" character.

I like that they're bowing out after a great trilogy. Christian Bale is easily the best Batman/Bruce Wayne of all time, and it's cool to go out on a high note.

Hopefully, he retires the "Batman" voice too.

i wanna see prince play batman

luv4u said:

Dayuummmm!!

Michael Keaton I liked as Batman...... and then came along the others ........ but with Christian Bale

Sucks.

Val Kilmer as Batman was ok, but it seemed he was still in his "Top Gun" character.

XxAxX said:

i wanna see prince play batman

Will Morris be the Joker?

Militant said:

JoeTyler said:

And I have my doubts with this final third film, Bale (the villian, not the actor, lol) is such a nerdy villian...I can't believe he will be the co-star of the film...

You mean Bane.

And I have no doubts. Tom Hardy is an incredible actor. They literally could not have picked a better person for the job. I think it's possible he will even match Heath Ledger's performance as the Joker.

I really, really hope you're right about Hardy as Bane.

luv4u said:

Dayuummmm!!

Michael Keaton I liked as Batman...... and then came along the others ........ but with Christian Bale

Sucks.

Val Kilmer as Batman was ok, but it seemed he was still in his "Top Gun" character.

Val is my favorite.. George is 2nd. I couldn't get with Michael Keaton as Batman because I don't find him attractive..

Christain:

Who's next???

Militant said:

JoeTyler said:

And I have my doubts with this final third film, Bale (the villian, not the actor, lol) is such a nerdy villian...I can't believe he will be the co-star of the film...

You mean Bane.

And I have no doubts. Tom Hardy is an incredible actor. They literally could not have picked a better person for the job. I think it's possible he will even match Heath Ledger's performance as the Joker.

looks like an improvement:

^ugh...

but I still think "Bane" is by far too cartoonish for a "serious/realistic" Batman movie...

we all thought that the villian would be "The Riddler", with "Catwoman" as a reluctant ally/harmless villian...

In the right hands, I don't think Bane is cartoonish at all. Batman's best villains play off his mind, I think...like Ras Al Ghul in the first one. And then the Joker being the opposite side of the coin of Batman--because Bruce Wayne has to be insane to dress up like a bat and try to fight crime that way.

In a different way, Bane is a cool villain because he is pure brawn to Batman's brains. Given these filmmakers' talents, I'm hoping for an incredible action movie in this final part of the trilogy.

Christian Bale is my favorite actor to play Batman, but he is not my favorite in the role. I guess I liked him as Bruce Wayne, but as Tom Waits/Batman he drove me a little nuts, which is unfortunate, because Nolan is also my favorite director to do Batman.

NDRU said:

Christian Bale is my favorite actor to play Batman, but he is not my favorite in the role. I guess I liked him as Bruce Wayne, but as Tom Waits/Batman he drove me a little nuts, which is unfortunate, because Nolan is also my favorite director to do Batman.

I wonder why they used that silly voice. I mean, Nolan and Bale created the most authentic, most true to the graphic novel Batman of all times, with a great plot in both movies, great villains, great gadgets, great characters like Alfred and Lucius Fox, and they didn´t notice that that voice sucks?

Come on...

I can´t understand those who prefer any other incarnation of Batman over the Nolan/Bale Batman because IMO, nothing comes closer to the Batman I grew up with. This is the perfect mix of those O´Neill/Neal Adams stories and the darker stories of the late 90s. Perfect!

The others were too commercial and too funny IMO. This one is commercial, too, but not for the sake of being commercial. You can tell that Bale and Nolan thoroughly studied their subject matter.

KoolEaze said:

NDRU said:

Christian Bale is my favorite actor to play Batman, but he is not my favorite in the role. I guess I liked him as Bruce Wayne, but as Tom Waits/Batman he drove me a little nuts, which is unfortunate, because Nolan is also my favorite director to do Batman.

I wonder why they used that silly voice. I mean, Nolan and Bale created the most authentic, most true to the graphic novel Batman of all times, with a great plot in both movies, great villains, great gadgets, great characters like Alfred and Lucius Fox, and they didn´t notice that that voice sucks?

Come on...

yeah, maybe it makes sense on paper for him to disguise his voice when he is Batman, but it sounds silly.

these are prob fake, but i had to post 'em anyway, lol

Efan said:

In the right hands, I don't think Bane is cartoonish at all. Batman's best villains play off his mind, I think...like Ras Al Ghul in the first one. And then the Joker being the opposite side of the coin of Batman--because Bruce Wayne has to be insane to dress up like a bat and try to fight crime that way.

In a different way, Bane is a cool villain because he is pure brawn to Batman's brains. Given these filmmakers' talents, I'm hoping for an incredible action movie in this final part of the trilogy.

I'm not familiar with the character to a great degree, but from my comicgeek friends I've been told that Bane is actually a very intellectual character who was experimented on & became that chemically-enhanced behemoth.

The grunting meathead in Joel Schumacher's abortion was not true to the character.

PurpleJedi said:

Efan said:

In the right hands, I don't think Bane is cartoonish at all. Batman's best villains play off his mind, I think...like Ras Al Ghul in the first one. And then the Joker being the opposite side of the coin of Batman--because Bruce Wayne has to be insane to dress up like a bat and try to fight crime that way.

In a different way, Bane is a cool villain because he is pure brawn to Batman's brains. Given these filmmakers' talents, I'm hoping for an incredible action movie in this final part of the trilogy.

I'm not familiar with the character to a great degree, but from my comicgeek friends I've been told that Bane is actually a very intellectual character who was experimented on & became that chemically-enhanced behemoth.

The grunting meathead in Joel Schumacher's abortion was not true to the character.

that's what I'm complaining about, Bane is not a realistic character. Ra's was a double agent/terrorist/martial arts expert with asian clothes, the Scarecrow an evil criminal with toxic weapons, The Joker a deranged guy with make-up, explosives and guns and Two-Face a bitter vigilante with heavy scars. That sounds extreme, BUT realistic. but a chemically-enhanced behemoth???

JoeTyler said:

PurpleJedi said:

I'm not familiar with the character to a great degree, but from my comicgeek friends I've been told that Bane is actually a very intellectual character who was experimented on & became that chemically-enhanced behemoth.

The grunting meathead in Joel Schumacher's abortion was not true to the character.

that's what I'm complaining about, Bane is not a realistic character. Ra's was a double agent/terrorist/martial arts expert with asian clothes, the Scarecrow an evil criminal with toxic weapons, The Joker a deranged guy with make-up, explosives and guns and Two-Face a bitter vigilante with heavy scars. That sounds extreme, BUT realistic. but a chemically-enhanced behemoth???

Dude...I hear what you're saying...but two words for you;

COMIC BOOK.

PurpleJedi said:

JoeTyler said:

that's what I'm complaining about, Bane is not a realistic character. Ra's was a double agent/terrorist/martial arts expert with asian clothes, the Scarecrow an evil criminal with toxic weapons, The Joker a deranged guy with make-up, explosives and guns and Two-Face a bitter vigilante with heavy scars. That sounds extreme, BUT realistic. but a chemically-enhanced behemoth???

Dude...I hear what you're saying...but two words for you;

COMIC BOOK.

back to Joel Schumacher's land?? green rays, unkillable heroes, blue ice, endless puns? no thanks, lol

JoeTyler said:

PurpleJedi said:

Dude...I hear what you're saying...but two words for you;

COMIC BOOK.

back to Joel Schumacher's land?? green rays, unkillable heroes, blue ice, endless puns? no thanks, lol

...and nipple suits...let's not forget the nipple suits...!

JoeTyler said:

these are prob fake, but i had to post 'em anyway, lol

These are real.

JoeTyler said:

PurpleJedi said:

Dude...I hear what you're saying...but two words for you;

COMIC BOOK.

back to Joel Schumacher's land?? green rays, unkillable heroes, blue ice, endless puns? no thanks, lol

From what I understand, and here's a potential spoiler coming, if you haven't read any of the news that's out, the beginning of the movie will show how Bane is badly injured and in turn needs some kind of pain killers / oxygen or whatever constantly to function (and maybe make him stronger, too?). Sounds reasonably realistic to me.