Christian Bale was one of many actors over the years who took on DC’s most celebrated superhero Batman, in the critically acclaimed The Dark Knight trilogy directed by Christopher Nolan. Bale’s edgy and gritty version of the Caped Crusader saw the star winning a lot of appreciation for his performance.
Playing Batman expectedly required The Prestige star to physically prepare himself for the action-packed segments, including riding the famous Batmobile and flying off rooftops. One particular scene proved to be a huge risk and challenge even for Bale’s stuntman, who warned the British star about the consequences of getting it wrong.
Christian Bale’s Stuntman Cautioned Him About A Dangerous Action Scene
In his stint as Batman, Christian Bale proved that he was the perfect choice to play one of comic book’s cult heroes, with his physicality as well as his acting chops. The American Psycho star shone in many memorable scenes in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight trilogy with his personality and charisma on screen.
While Bale excelled in many of the action sequences, one particular scene proved to be a very challenging one, with even his stuntman warning him of the consequences. The Oscar winner who always made his stunt team perform any scene to ensure that he would be able to mirror it, was nonchalantly told right before the shot that, failure to properly complete this stunt could prove to be fatal. Recalling the incident to GQ, Bale said,
“I’m standing next to the stunt coordinator. Then, in all seriousness, he looks down and he goes, “All right, mate. Just do it right, because I had a friend who he did this and he broke almost every f**king bone in his body. And he’s a trained stuntman. But all right, cheers!” He patted me on the back and walked off. Then they went, “Action!”
Despite the extreme pressure to get the scene right while also putting his life at risk, Christian Bale, the professional that he is, managed to overcome all the odds to complete the scene to perfection.
Christian Bale’s Brush With Danger in Rescue Dawn
Christian Bale is no stranger to putting himself in the line of fire for a role. A year after his first Batman gig in Batman Begins, the British star was seen in Werner Herzog’s Rescue Dawn. In the film, Bale plays a Vietnam War fighter pilot who gets caught by peasants and hatches an escape plan with five deranged prisoners, that leads to further chaos. The film saw The Dark Knight actor courting danger again, this time, while hanging precariously from a speeding helicopter. Speaking to GQ about the rattling experience, Bale said,
“It was flown by these pilots that were crazy and they would take off in these crazy manoeuvres and you’d take out half a tree as you went. And I was standing, you know, on the rail, just hanging on from it. It was something else.”
While Bale fortunately lived to tell the tale, the celebrity mentioned his interesting equation with director Werner Herzog who made him perform this scene despite the actor being hesitant to do so.
