Christian Bale delighted fans with his portrayal of Bruce Wayne/Batman in Batman Begins, and fans immediately began begging for the sequel hinted at by the final shot of that film. Well, we now have that sequel coming in the form of The Dark Knight, but even before that film has been released, fans want a third film. Talking to Entertainment Weekly, Christian Bale says "sure. Maybe."
While at the ShoWest convention, Bale spoke about the Batman series, and why if he did return, it would be part 3 in the series, not part 7;
No, no, no, no, no. [Smiling] Part 3 is what I'd consider it, yeah, I don't say part 7. Batman begins - that was the beginning there, with all due respect to the others. We are re-creating this. You know, obviously the decision is out of my hands. I would, knowing The Dark Knight story, I would like very much to complete a trilogy. And I think that knowing the story of The Dark Knight, it leaves you anticipating something that really can get very, very interesting for a third. Now, the question would be: Is Chris going to be doing it? Because to me I find it tricky to imagine working on it without it being a collaboration with Chris.
Bale was quick to praise Nolan as well when discussing the arc of his character between the films. "Well, what we didn't get to do was show this man who has now matured, who no longer has the naivete that he had at a younger age - now it's somebody who has caused change, who has achieved what he had set out to do, but is now seeing consequences that he hadn't anticipated," Bale said. "So it's now somebody with the burden of his power - the difference between the man trying to attain that and the man who finds himself with it, and how very different it is." Bale continued. "It's one of the major [reasons] I like working with Chris [Nolan].... We manage to have all of the interest that I need as an actor, as well as what you said - what did you say, explosions and stuff?...Yeah, in the midst of that. Chris completely understands that explosions and effects don't make a movie. That ain't a story right there, those are spectacles within the story, but that doesn't make a good movie."
Asked about his The Dark Knight co-star, Heath Ledger, Bale was also quick to praise the man and his work:
You know, I don't like kind of trivializing the tragedy in conjunction with an interview to do with the movie, which is clearly far less important. But Heath was a joy. He really was like that, because he was a very unique man. I enjoyed watching him work, working with him - you know, we had a lot of the old gang from the first one together, and then there were new members, Heath obviously included. What was so great to see with Heath is just how seriously he took it. And we don't mean in any way to sound sort of pretentious with that, but just in the fact that if we don't take it seriously, then how can any audience ever take it seriously? And he did one hell of a job.
The Dark Knight opens on July 18, 2008, and stars Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Morgan Freeman, Gary Oldman, Aaron Eckhart and Maggie Gylenhall.
Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Aaron Eckhart, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Eric Roberts, Anthony Michael Hall, Nestor Carbonell, Melinda McGraw, Nathan Gamble, Michael Jai White
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