Christian Bale says he'd play Batman again—but only if Christopher Nolan is the director

Bale is the hero Gotham deserves, but not the one it has in the suit right now

By Savannah Olson  |  June 27, 2022 | 5:09pm
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Christian Bale says he'd play Batman again—but only if Christopher Nolan is the director
Christian Bale at the Thor: Love And Thunder Los Angeles premiere. Photo: Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images

Looks like hopes of Christian Bale returning to the Batcave haven’t been fully abandoned by the former Batman actor. In a recent interview with ScreenRant, the Academy Award-winner didn’t shy away from the idea of reprising his role as The Dark Knight, but on one condition: director Christopher Nolan would have to come back, as well.

“No. No one’s ever mentioned it to me. No one’s brought it up,” says Bale on returning as the famed superhero. “Occasionally people say to me, ‘Oh, I hear you were approached and offered all this.’ And I’m like, ‘That’s news to me. No one’s ever said that.’”

“I had a pact with Chris Nolan,” explains Bale. “We said, ‘Hey, look. Let’s make three films, if we’re lucky enough to get to do that. And then let’s walk away. Let’s not linger too long.’ In my mind, it would be something if Chris Nolan ever said to himself, ‘You know what, I’ve got another story to tell.’ And if he wished to tell that story with me, I’d be in.”

Revered for his Batman’s realism and grittiness, Bale first starred as the Caped Crusader in 2005's Batman Begins, directed by Nolan. The two would team up again for the film’s sequels The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises, ushering in a new era of superhero films with each amassing over $1 billion at the worldwide box office.

The likelihood of Nolan returning to the superhero world seems less than stellar, as the director has been focusing on time travel films and his upcoming “everyone in Hollywood is in this” Manhattan Project movie, Oppenheimer. Not only that, but lest we forget, there’s another actor currently donning the smelly rubber suit—Tenet’s Robert Pattinson who starred in this year’s The Batman.

With the DCEU diving into its own version of the multiverse that includes Michael Keaton returning as an elder Dark Knight in the upcoming Batgirl film, maybe there’s room for Bale to make an appearance in the future, though. But first, he’s hopping over to another superhero film universe and killing some gods as Gorr the God Butcher in Thor: Love And Thunder.

 
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