Culture news “He ruined all my plans” Christian Bale surprised to be stolen the spotlight in this iconic film
It sometimes happens that the hero of a film – even when the feature film in question bears his name – is eclipsed by another, more striking character. This is what happened to Christian Bale.
While the last live-action adaptation of Batman was released a little less than 2 years ago (the one with Robert Pattinson) – it’s impossible to get Nolan’s trilogy on the Dark Knight out of our heads. It was between 2005 and 2012 that the British-American director – to whom we owe such hits as Oppenheimer, Interstellar, Inception – became interested in the case of Bruce Wayne. Result: three large-scale projects more or less well received by critics. In the middle of this triptych, it is undoubtedly The Dark Knight which serves as the jewel… On the reference site “Rotten Tomatoes”, the film scores 94%, and is described as a “dark, complex, unforgettable” thriller. We imagine that Christian Bale – the interpreter of Batman – must be particularly proud! Well, actually, not really.
Blame it on the Joker
As reported by our colleagues at Allociné in an article published three days ago… Christian Bale said he was dissatisfied with his performance in The Dark Knight. “I didn’t really manage to achieve what I hoped for through the trilogy” – explains the actor for Yahoo. “My own self-esteem tells me: “I didn’t quite succeed” (…) Heath Ledger (the interpreter of the Joker in the feature film, Editor’s note) arrived and completely ruined my plans. I said to myself, “He’s much more interesting than me.”
It must be said that if we remember the film 15 years later, it is largely thanks to the performance of Heath Ledger – who tragically died of a drug overdose even before the premiere of The Dark Knight. In his guise, the Joker has become a truly striking and threatening enemynothing to do with the previous incarnations of the villain – Cesar Romero in 1966, Jack Nicholson in 1989. Moreover, Ledger will receive the Oscar for best supporting actor, in 2009, posthumously… Quite a reward deserved according to Christian Bale who, in another interview, hopes that the interpretation of his late colleague will be “praised as well as recognized” over time.