Christian Bale, who will be suiting up for a second time as Batman in the upcoming “The Dark Knight” alongside Heath Ledger, opens up to Details magazine about working with the late actor and how the role of Batman almost never happened for him.
”[Heath] was incredibly intense in his performance but incredibly mellow and laid-back,” Christian told Details in the June/July issue. “Certainly there was this great anarchistic streak to it—just getting dirtier than anybody’s envisioned the Joker before. This character has power because he has no limits—absolutely nothing to lose.”
The current caped crusader hoped he and Heath would enjoy the film together, but said the film honors the late actor’s talents.
“It was something I wanted to share with him—and expected to do so. And I can’t do anything else but hope that it will be an absolutely appropriate celebration of his work,” he said.
Celebrating the “The Dark Knight” almost never happened for Christian due to a personal phobia.
“I was standing on the back lot where they were creating the suit, and I had a few minutes to myself, staring up close in the mirror, just thinking, ‘This isn’t going to work. I’m claustrophobic, I can’t breathe, I’m getting a headache already, and this is all going to go very badly,’” the actor confessed to the magazine.
With some deep breathing techniques, Christian says he was able to calm himself down and keep the batsuit on.
“I just had flashes of what an a****** I would feel like saying, ‘Well, I wasn’t able to play [Batman], because I panicked every time I got in the suit,’” he joked.
Catch Christian and Heath’s haunting portrayal of the Joker in “The Dark Knight,” opening on July 18.
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