Christian Bale Refused Nolan For Batman Movie:
Movies may come and movies may go. But only a few achieve such a legendary status that they become cult classics for eternity. When Christopher Nolan took up the responsibility of directing a Batman movie for Warner Brothers, nobody would have expected that his realistic take in the superhero origin story of Batman would garner such critical acclaim in Batman Begins. He was given the green signal to make another movie titled The Dark Knight, which will always be nothing short of a movie miracle. The third and final movie in The Dark Knight trilogy called The Dark Knight Rises is also one of the highest-grossing movies of all time. The trilogy ended there. But there was a chance for Christian Bale, who played Batman in the trilogy, to return for a Fourth Nolan movie. But he refused to do so and here’s why.
The fan base remains divided on the decision of who was the best Batman of all time. Some claim it was Michael Keaton while others say it was Val Kilmer. Many of the fans consider Ben Affleck to be the best take on the Caped Crusader. But a majority of the fans still believe that Christian Bale was the best received Batman. Christian Bale’s suave and swag won the hearts of the viewers, who were charmed by his boyish attitude and the seriousness of the Dark Knight persona. Robert Pattinson has big shoes to fill when he takes on the mantle of the Bat in the 2021 Matt Reeves movie. But if fate had taken a different course, Pattinson would have never bagged that role. Bale could have just decided to reprise the role of Batman again. He almost said yes to Christopher Nolan but ended up saying no at the last moment.
Warner Brothers were so enamored by The Dark Knight trilogy’s success that they were planning to bring back Bale for another movie. Bale declined the offer claiming a very interesting and valid reason. While in an interview with The Toronto Sun, Bale recalls the situation where he said not to the opportunity to play Bruce Wayne aka the Batman for the fourth time! He says and we quote:
“We knew we had to reinvent it,” said Bale as he explained his views Nolan’s Batman. “I literally had people laugh at me when I told them we were doing a new kind of Batman. I think that the reason it worked was first and foremost Chris’ take on it. But also we never were arrogant to assume that we had an opportunity beyond one film at a time. That’s something that Chris always would talk about.”
He adds on:
“He’d say, ‘This is it. We’re making one film. That’s all we’ve got.’ Then when they came and said, ‘You want to go make another?’ It was fantastic, but we still said, ‘This is it. We will not get another opportunity.’ Then they came and they said, ‘OK, let’s do a third one.’ Chris had always said to me that if we were fortunate to be able to make three we would stop. ‘Let’s walk away after that,'” Bale said.
“Then when they inevitably came to us and said, ‘How about a No. 4?’ I said, ‘No. We have to stick to Chris’ dream, which was always to, hopefully, do a trilogy. Let’s not stretch too far and become overindulgent and go for a fourth.’ That’s why we, well Chris, stepped away. After that I was informed my services were no longer required.”
It is not like we are complaining. The dark Knight trilogy earned a lot of money for the studio and acclaim for the cast and crew. The Dark Knight Rises alone earned more than 1 Billion US Dollars at the Box Office. It was fortunate that Bale and Nolan refused to go on with another movie. It would have just tarnished the legendary legacy of Ledger, Bale, and Nolan.
Now let us see if Robert Pattinson can continue the tradition of upping the ante like each Batman actor (barring George Clooney) who came before him has done.
