Let?s be honest. Christian Bale doesn?t need much in the way introduction. Having appeared in all manner of movies since he was a child actor, Bale?s been a constant presence in contemporary cinema. But he?s best known for his role as Bruce Wayne/Batman in the blockbuster Batman Begins and its sequel, the most anticipated film of this summer, The Dark Knight. He took time out from shooting the newest Terminator installment (he plays John Connor) to talk to us about how Batman has grown from Batman Begins to The Dark Knight, the lure of playing the part again, and the chance to work with the late Heath Ledger.

By Alyse Wax

Is the buzz cut for Terminator?

Yeah.

You played Pablo Escobar and are filming Public Enemies?

We haven't filmed Killing Pablo, but Public Enemies, yes I've finished.

So what do you find interesting about [playing] law enforcers?

It's not particularly a law enforcer against criminals. 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. So it's that. It's that more than an attraction to law enforcement.

What were the dimensions in this Batman that attracted you back?

Well, I knew that Chris had proven his ideas in Batman Begins, so I feel as though he was given more freedom to make exactly the movie that he wished to make for The Dark Knight. He can correct me on that if I'm wrong but that was my feeling. I know that with Chris?and this is our third time we've worked together?that he's not going to bother making another movie if he doesn't feel like he can improve upon the first one. I went to his house, I sat and read the script and felt like he had really kind of exploded all of the clichés of genre movies. That this was no longer an action movie. This was no longer a superhero movie. This was a movie that can stand shoulder to shoulder with any genre of movie. Of course, we have the resources and the ability to have the spectacle of the stunts and the explosions and all the excitement of that, but not have to compromise great storytelling. These special effects and explosions, they don't mean crap if they're not in the context of a really great, substantial drama.

Does it hurt your throat to do the Batman voice?

Not anymore. On the first one, it took me a while to really get accustomed to it but it's like riding a bike. For the second one, I could just switch on and off any time.

The notes say they worked you, just the workouts and martial arts. Don't you want to sit around and do nothing? Ever temped to take a breather?

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. 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 particularly like 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.

You said your father is your hero. How, and is your mother also?

You're getting a little too personal for me but I will give you something. I won't give you everything. I was just never somebody who really gravitated towards needing a hero. I don't know why, I just never was. Certainly not any kind of comic-book style hero or anything, or in any other fashion. I had many people who I found intriguing and interesting but my father was just always somebody who was very, very engaging and a real character. So the first time I ever considered that question was being asked it in an interview and I just sat back and thought, well, who have I looked up to most consistently throughout my life? Well, that's my father. Of course.

What was the challenge of playing more suited scenes, not showing your face?
I think that there's an opportunity with the body language to show everything there. He's not a guy who feels the suit to be constricting. Wearing the mask and putting on the suit gives him absolute freedom. He feels most free within that because he's free to anonymously let his anger out and his violence out and become that person who he has to hide from the rest of society most of the time. I think that's something that's interesting. He does it in a more extreme fashion probably than most of us do, but I think everybody has a shadow side to them. We all understand the rules of engagement for civilized society, but we're all tempted to break them all the time and we all are intrigued when we see people happily breaking those rules. With Batman, it's often a very fine line with him crossing the line, going too far.

Do you have a solution for the moral dilemma of dealing with crime and corruption?

Well, it's the circumstances. As we see in The Dark Knight, if there's the possibility of having the system work and of having somebody like Harvey Dent be an elected official who can actually solve the problems that Batman's trying to himself, then obviously Batman is obsolete at that point. So he believes in the system. It's just that the system in Gotham is broken.

Do you live in the system?

Well, look, everyone would want to live in a system that works, but when it doesn't, I think everyone would like to think that they would be able to affect some kind of a change themselves, and answer problems for themselves instead of being completely useless. Whether that's the correct thing to do in the long term or not, I'm not sure. But certainly when it comes to protecting things that you love, then it's black and white. You don't really care too much about the long-term consequences. You're gonna do what is right for the people around you in that instant, which is of course always the conflict between what is right for the individual and is that right for society in general. It's what's so great about being human. We're not ants. We do have individual streaks and we will do what is right for ourselves and not just tow the line.

What attracted you to another big franchise like Terminator?

Well, initially that was not an attraction. I felt that I wasn't sure where it could go. Before I gave an answer, I went back and reviewed the other [Terminator] movies. I felt like, 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.

How are things on the Terminator set?

Good, good. They're a number of weeks in. I'm just a week and a half in.

Can you talk about working with Heath, both the actor and the man? He really turns in a performance that's for the ages.

Absolutely. 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 walk in the room right now - 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, and thank you for saying that because he truly deserves that. 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.

With 80 years of Batman interpretations, how do you find any wiggle room within that?

Well, what do we have to look at? Adam West, he did it brilliantly, but tt was a spoof. It's a spoof of what I believe Bob Kane's original intention was. Then we have the other movies which we were in-between but still very, very theatrical. These were, with all due respect to them (and Tim Burton is a wonderful filmmaker), but ultimately these were men walking around dressed up like a bat. These were not people who became a different creature when they donned that [suit] and I'd never seen that done before.

I was misunderstood a number of times after Batman Begins when I'd mentioned about the possibility of making an R-rated Batman. A number of people came to me and said, "Well, you want to put sex scenes into Batman?" I said, "No, no, no, that's not at all what I was talking about." What I meant was if you look at the more recent graphic novels, there is such a darkness to it and such an internal human conflict and such questioning of the shadow side; the good motivation and good versus evil and the violence and his capability and propensity for violence. It could very easily become an R rated movie. I feel like the reinvention here? I'm not sure what anyone would do in the future with Batman movies, but they'll work it out. But this version has certainly never been seen before, not in a movie.

What sides of the character are left for you to want to play?

I do definitely [want to continue as Batman]. Again, that's Chris Nolan's decision. I finished this movie and I want to see what is going to happen next. He is the ultimate hero and he deserves all the credit and he's getting absolutely none whatsoever. But hey, that's Chris Nolan's decision.

Your action scene in Hong Kong, did you actually shoot there?

Yes, I went up, is it the IFC tower? So I did the highest tower in Chicago, then we went and did the highest tower in Hong Kong. That was all for real.

Did you have time to explore?

We had time to get lost but I tend to find, myself and my wife, we go get lost in cities and I think that's the best way to discover them.

Did you like it?

It's a very interesting city. There's so many different layers to that city. I wasn't there for that long but yeah. It wasn't what I'd expected.

Did you try some Chinese food in Hong Kong?

Absolutely I did, yeah. But I had done that back in 1987 in Shanghai and discovered at the age of 13 that the Chinese food in China is very different from the Chinese food in London, you know. I was trying to attack a full headed fish with a chopstick.

Any fun mishaps or bloopers for the DVD?

I don't think it's an appropriate movie for that. I'm not sure if there will be. I think that kind of thing is really appropriate for comedies and stuff but I'm actually anti-extra-information-on-DVDs. Look, it's just become normal and I'm seen as being a real old fashioned kind of grump when I express my attitudes towards it but I think that movies, like magic, should maintain a mystery. I think that if you want to find out how things are done, I think you should really have to work at that and to search it out. I don't like the way things are offered up so easily with all the EPKs and the behind the scenes footage and how things were shot. I don't like that kind of stuff.