Page 2
Russell, what made your character into such an animal?
Russell Crowe: “Well, there's a history that's talked about in the film and whether or not that's the complete version of his life's story is a different thing. You sort of assume all the experiences that an abandoned child might have and all the worst, all of those things will add up to where he is.
I think one of the important things is that because we had no history of Wade, we don't know his future. We don't know if he gets captured and all of that stuff, and so I was always taking the attitude that he was actually very successful at what he did and that was probably the fourth or fifth version of his quote unquote gang. And when they become too proficient, the gang members around him and the things that he's taught them, that's probably the time to clean the slate and move on and go and get himself another gang. There's a story in The Princess Bride where they talk about the Dread Pirate Roberts changing hands and that would go through my mind in terms of explaining him.”
Had you two met before and what sort of relationship did you forge on this film?
Christian Bale: “No, we had never met before. That's all. Whenever people ask me what I was doing next and I said that I was going to be working with Russell, they would kind of look at me and go, 'Oh, right, you're going to be in for a tough ride with him.' It was absolutely true (laughing). No. You find an awful lot, and I don't mean to talk out of school, but a lot of actors sort of complain and wince and do everything to avoid actually getting on with the work, so it's nice when you're working with someone like Russell when you can just get to the point and you can have blunt conversations about the scenes and it just makes it easy. Obviously, he doesn't have to be told what to do because he's a bloody good actor and it's a pleasure to work with someone as good as that.”
Russell Crowe: “Right from the first time that we did a reading I could see that he had a sense of humor and was very balanced about what the job is and all that sort of stuff. Once you've worn the cape it must be hard…”
Christian Bale: “This isn't going to go away all day.”
Russell Crowe: “…keeping your feet on the ground. You can tell that there's a lot of base jealousy coming from me about the fact that he gets to wear the cape.”
Christian Bale: “I bought him his own special rubber outfit.”
Russell Crowe: “Which I appreciated greatly.”
Christian Bale: “You'll be seeing him in the meat district of Manhattan.”
Russell Crowe: “We found it very easy to get on. And some of the days, I mean we talked about Peter pulling up at thirteen degrees, but actually some of the days were minus fifteen. So it's really nice to have an easy repartee when you're trying to do complicated things in rough conditions.”
Christian Bale: “Even though your jaw can't move because it's too cold to talk.”
Russell Crowe: “The thing is that it was easy. The thing that I said to him on the last night when we were finishing up, I said to him that he's all class. On a daily basis he was always ready. He's got great questions. His choices with his weapons, the way that he approached the horse riding – it's all good. From my perspective, to know that the guy you're working with has put the effort in and has switched on and is ready to go, regardless of the conditions and the hours and all of that stuff, it just makes you feel like you're in the right place.”
Christian Bale: “We were both a number of drinks down the line by that time, of course.”
Russell Crowe: “Which is also a good thing, being able to simply finish a days work and being able to have a regular conversation with a bloke over a beer without it being some big to do and breaking some sort of contemporary taboo like, 'We don't do that in Los Angeles.'”
Can you talk about working on the new Batman?
Christian Bale: “Russell is actually going to be in the new Batman movie, which is a big surprise that I want to reveal to everyone right now.”
Are you signed on to do The Justice League after the Batman films?
Christian Bale: “No.”
Russell Crowe: “What about The Green Lantern?”
Christian Bale: “No.”
Russell Crowe: “What about…”
Christian Bale: “No!”
Russell Crowe: “Come on, you look so good in a cape.”
