From Friday’s The Oklahoman:
By
Assistant Features Editor
Look for a more mobile Batman in “The Dark Knight.”Christian Bale, speaking at the press junket in
“It was much more comfortable. It was heavier, but it was actually much more comfortable,” Bale said. “I could move my head; it was much more mobile. … The suit actually was compatible with (the fighting style), whereas in the first one I was having to fight with the suit to do the fight sequences.”
Bale said he was pleased to return to the role of Batman, at least in the “Batman Begins” universe.
“I definitely have an interest in playing Batman the way that Chris Nolan likes to have him portrayed,” Bale said. “And I think this second movie has surpassed the first, and it stands as a great movie regardless of genre.”
Bale said he and the late Heath Ledger had a great dynamic as Batman and the Joker. He described the Joker as an “intelligent psychopath” who is gleeful to confront Batman.
“It’s impossible to leverage him, because he’s not looking for anything but living in the moment, and living in that anarchy,” Bale said. “He’s completely uncompromising, as is Batman, but Batman does have this one rule, (that) he will not kill. … But absolutely, the Joker comes closer than anybody has to provoking Batman to break that one rule.”
Bale expounded on the duality of the character of Batman, who uses violence in an attempt to end violent behavior.
“He’s in conflict often with himself about how far and how violent he can be, because he does embrace violence to an extreme degree and has to counter that with the altruism of do-good, and the inherited philanthropy of his parents,” Bale said.
While Batman has been campy in the 1960s and highly stylized in the 1990s, Nolan’s Batman is based on grounding the characters in a realistic portrayal, Bale said.
“I knew that the tone of Chris Nolan’s