Christian Bale

Christian Bale had long been a contender to portray Batman, from as early as 2002. Earlier on, he had auditioned for the role of Robin in Batman Forever, but lost out to Chris O'Donnell. In 2004, after completing filming for The Machinist, Bale won the coveted role and was set to star with the predominantly British and Irish cast of Liam Neeson, Katie Holmes, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Tom Wilkinson, Gary Oldman, Rutger Hauer, and Cillian Murphy in the Christopher Nolan-helmed Batman Begins, a complete restart of the Batman mythos without any ties to the Burton or Schumacher visions. Bale beat out Jake Gyllenhaal, the closest competition. (evening the score, as Bale lost the part of Anthony Swofford in Jarhead to Gyllenhaal).

Still fresh from The Machinist, it became necessary for Bale to bulk up to match the powerful physique of Batman. He was given a deadline of six months to do this. Bale recalled it as far from a simple accomplishment: “…when it actually came to building muscle, I was useless. I couldn’t do one push up the first day. All of the muscles were gone, so I had a real tough time rebuilding all of that.” With the help of a personal trainer, Bale succeeded in meeting the deadline, gaining exactly one hundred pounds in six months. He then worked toward converting most of it into muscle.

Bale had initial concerns about playing Batman, as he felt more ridiculous than intimidating in the Batman costume. He dealt with this by depicting Batman as a savage beast in his portrayal. To attain a deeper understanding of the character, Bale perused various Batman comic books. He explained his interpretation of the Dark Knight: “Batman is his hidden, demonic rage-filled side. The Batman creature [Wayne] creates is an absolutely sincere creature and one that he has to control but does so in a very haphazard way. He's capable of enacting violence – and to kill – so he's constantly having to rein himself in.” For Bale, the most grueling part about playing Batman was the costume. “You stick it on, you get hot, you sweat and you get a headache in the cowl,” he said. “But I'm not going to bitch about it because I get to play Batman.”[25] When promoting the film in interviews and public events, Bale retained Bruce Wayne’s American accent to avoid confusion with Batman being a Briton.

Batman Begins was released domestically on June 15, 2005 to wide critical, fan and public approval. Nolan was commended for choosing to film most of Begins more traditionally by opting for live-action special effects whenever possible in an age where CGI was economical and believable. The cast was praised for its effective portrayals, but Bale drew the most acclaim for his dual portrayal of both Batman and Bruce Wayne. He earned the Best Hero award at the 2006 MTV Movie Awards for his performance.

Batman Begins was a domestic and international triumph for Warner Bros., costing approximately US$135,000,000 to produce and taking in over US$370,000,000 in returns worldwide. A Batman Begins video game was also developed for the GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox, and Game Boy Advance; Bale provided the voice of Batman. The Dark Knight, the sequel to Batman Begins, is in production, with Bale set to reprise his role as Batman and Heath Ledger set to play his famous archnemesis The Joker. It is expected to complete filming sometime in 2008.

Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Bale