Christian Bale worked extensively with Heath Ledger on The Dark Knight, and got to know the man as well as the actor. Ledger's performance in The Dark Knight is attracting Oscar attention and Bale's very pleased with the buzz surrounding Ledger's portrayal of The Joker. "First of all it's wonderful that people are recognizing that. I love the fact that - regardless of whether it ever comes to fruition or not - the fact that Chris has created in this movie even the possibility that people are talking about accolades for an actor in a superhero action genre movie. Usually that is never even considered so kudos to Chris for doing that and to Heath for coming forward with that devastating performance. He has raised the bar, completely, with it. He was absolutely committed."
"I enjoyed working with him immensely. Clearly it is tragic that we are talking about this as his last complete performance. I would love it if he were to be walking in the room right now - he would be talking, he's great company. I looked forward to working with him many times in the future; I looked forward to being his friend for many years to come. But this movie can be a celebration of his talent," said Bale. "He was a fierce talent and I was very fortunate to get to witness that talent and work with it and know the man during his lifetime."
After finishing up The Dark Knight, Bale signed on to a starring role in the fourth film of the Terminator franchise, Terminator Salvation. Bale plays the grown up John Connor in the action-heavy drama directed by McG ( We Are Marshall).
Bale wasn't sure about signing on to another franchise and did his research before committing to the role. "I felt that I wasn't sure where it could go to. I went back, I reviewed, before I gave an answer, I went back and reviewed the other movies. I felt like okay, unlike Batman Begins, this would be something where we would be respecting the previous mythology. Certainly of one and two, not so much number three, but certainly you would be recognizing that mythology, unlike Batman Begins where we were saying that this is the beginning right here. But what I view in it and what has ultimately made me make the choice to make it is that I see the same potential for reinvention and for breathing new life into the mythology. That's what I view our responsibility as filmmakers to be. It's pointless if we don't succeed in doing that."
He's also got Killing Pablo in the works and recently completed work on Public Enemies alongside Johnny Depp, Channing Tatum, and Billy Crudup. Bale described his attraction to Public Enemies: "It's first of all just a great story and then with the character of Melvin Purvis in Public Enemies, he was a fascinating character. You could make a couple of movies just about his life. It's working with Michael Mann who is one of the most thorough and wonderful researchers, and just has such nuance and I think is just such a fine filmmaker."
After losing massive amounts of weight for The Machinist and Rescue Dawn and bulking up for both Batman movies, Bale admits he's almost ready to take it a little easier on his body. "Absolutely. Maybe there's a temptation to find a role where preparation involves drinking a lot of wine and eating a lot of pasta and just putting on a lot of weight or something, and taking it easy," said Bale. "I think I put my body through enough transformation in the past few years that at my age now, getting to mid-30s, I'm starting to think, 'Yeah, I might start to have consequences if I keep doing this to myself too much.' I'm starting not to quite feel as invulnerable as I always have. But I enjoy the notion of strenuous work. I like it. I like to know I really worked at something. I don't like particularly taking it easy. The thing that I dislike most about filmmaking is waiting, waiting around. You're standing around doing nothing. That's what I dislike."
