He’s done very fine work before and after his time in the cowl, but it’s likely that Christian Bale will always be first and foremost remembered as the star of Christopher Nolan’s “Batman” movies. The Oscar-winning actor had some high-profile leading roles before 2005 — “Empire Of The Sun,” “Reign Of Fire,” “Newsies” — but it was “Batman Begins” that vaulted him onto the A-list, and though he’s worked with A-list directors ever since, it’s probably what gets him recognized on the street most often now.
READ MORE: Christian Bale & Oscar Isaac Can’t Escape The Soap Opera-y ‘The Promise’ [Review]
But don’t look for Bale to try and replicate the same kind of role in the future. Collider spoke with Bale last week ahead of the release of the past weekend’s “The Promise,” and the site asked him whether he might return to the superhero genre, and not only did Bale rule it out, he also says that he doesn’t really watch the genre. “I’m not interested in doing that,” he said. “I’ve never seen — I’m trying to think if that’s correct, I think I’m actually correct, I can’t remember a single superhero film that I’ve ever watched. Apart from the ones I made, and like, the Christopher Reeve ‘Superman’ films.”
It’s a fair enough approach and one that’s more or less expected for an actor of Bale’s seriousness and sincerity, though he’s careful not to diss the other films in the genre (“I have no understanding of it and I’m completely blind to it,” he says). Still, Bale certainly has some understanding of supervillainy: he’ll soon reunite with “The Big Short” director Adam McKay for his biopic of Dick Cheney…
