Christian Bale set the standards high with The Dark Knight Trilogy and after all these years his Batman is still hailed to be one of the best there ever was. Regardless of his remarkable performance in the film series though, Bale’s Caped Crusader wasn’t exempt from criticism. Especially when it came to his exceedingly intense Batman voice, which fans seemed to loathe.
Over a decade and two different iterations of Batman later, Bale’s exaggerated deep voice as the superhero only seems to have worsened. And it certainly doesn’t help his case that Robert Pattinson’s billionaire superhero managed to have an air of authority even whilst being soft-spoken.
How Christian Bale’s Batman Voice Has Deteriorated Over Time
Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy has more often than not, been lauded to be a brilliant execution of Bruce Wayne’s true legacy. To this very date, The Dark Knight continues to remain a classic cinematic masterpiece and one of Nolan’s greatest accomplishments. But while his work has aged like fine wine over time, Christian Bale‘s Batman voice certainly hasn’t.
Sure, the Academy Award-winning star delivered an impeccable performance as Batman under Nolan’s guidance. But his harsh and gravelly voice as Bruce Wayne never sat well with the audience and with time, the raggedness of his tone only seems to have become more unbearable. In comparison, Ben Affleck and Robert Pattinson‘s Batmen hold much more weight without even trying too hard unlike Bale.
In his Snyderverse depictions of Batman, Affleck used a specifically designed voice modulator that made him sound extremely menacing to the criminals he went after. This worked out in the character’s favor since Bruce Wayne meant to keep his identity hidden from the public. But even when he wasn’t torturing perpetrators, Affleck’s Wayne still sounded naturally intimidating. Pattinson’s Batman voice, on the other hand, seems to be much more nuanced and had relatively lower aspects of modulation involved. And yet he still managed to sound just as threatening, having somewhat of a similar effect that Affleck did on screen with his character. In any case, both actors understood the assignment.
And then there’s Bale’s billionaire philanthropist whose excessively aggressive voice ended up coming off as more of a raspy growl than a rich, deep timbre that he was probably going for.
Why Christian Bale’s Batman Voice Was Excessively Raspy
In one of his interviews about The Dark Knight Trilogy, Nolan addressed the subject of the American Psycho star’s voice as Batman and why it sounded so unnecessarily harsh. According to the British-American filmmaker, Bale was trying to keep two distinct voices for Bruce Wayne and Batman, which is why his voice sounded like that.
“He decided that Batman needed to have a different voice than Bruce Wayne; he needed to put on a voice that supported the visual appearance of the character.”
However, even if he sounded like a chain smoker and less like Batman, Bale will still be one of the best actors to have played the role.
The Dark Knight Trilogy can be streamed on HBO Max.
Source: Screen Rant
