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Batman Begins

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20:07 / 11.09.03

from NEWSARAMA today, right now, 5:06 pm Thursday 9/11:

www.newsarama.com

CHRISTIAN BALE IS BATMAN

According to a press release, Christain Bale will follow in the footsteps of Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer, and George Clooney when he assumes the role of Bruce Wayne/Batman on the silver screen in the upcoming Batman movie directed by Christopher Nolan. The Warner Brothers’ press release follows:

Christian Bale has been cast in the starring role of Bruce Wayne in Warner Bros. Pictures' upcoming Batman movie, to be directed by Christopher Nolan and produced by Emma Thomas. The announcement was made today by Jeff Robinov, President of production for Warner Bros. Pictures.

Principal photography on the film is expected to begin in early 2004. The movie is written by David Goyer and Nolan, and will follow the early career of The Dark Knight.

Said Nolan, "What I see in Christian is the ultimate embodiment of Bruce Wayne. He has exactly the balance of darkness and light that we were looking for."

Robinov stated, "Now that we've found the best person to play Batman, we are really looking forward to moving ahead with the rest of our casting, and are excited about the exceptional group we are assembling."

Bale, who first drew critical attention for his starring role in "Empire of the Sun," has starred in such diverse motion pictures as "Little Women," "The Portrait of a Lady, "Metroland," "American Psycho" and "Laurel Canyon."

Murray Hamhandler

21:11 / 11.09.03

Yes. I can totally see this. Yes. Well done.

21:38 / 11.09.03

He's been hinted at for MONTHS! Thank Christ they finally decided on him.
He can do well built psycho very convincingly. And my friend is bound to wet her pants if he has his top off at any time in the film.
Suddenly I'm interested in Batman again.

Is this the Batman: Year One film or the other one?

21:38 / 11.09.03

Scratch that question, I just read the summary of this thread. Doh!

03:16 / 12.09.03

I'll change the title of this thread if it offends anyone. I didn't mean to get too crazy, it just sums up my feeling when I heard the news - I was very excited

04:43 / 12.09.03

Result.

Bale is more than perfect for the role. I am so impressed with this. Hypocritamus and I are gonna hold a party!

What a fantastic fucking result.

Regrettable Juvenilia

07:17 / 12.09.03

Christian Bale as Batman is an interesting prospect.

When you add the "as YEAR ONE-style Batman", it all suddenly clicks into place.

Our Lady of The Two Towers

12:32 / 12.09.03

Well y'see, I've only seen him in 'American Psycho' and 'Equilibrium', so I'm yet to be convinced that he actually knows how to act, as opposed to walking round looking either constipated or grinning like the top of his head's going to come off. I can't help but feel that the only worser casting would be either Russell Crowe or John Inman.

15:11 / 12.09.03

Have you not seen him in Velvet Goldmine, proof if you ever needed it that he can do Batman.

Or not.

But A.P. and Equilibrium are perfect exaples of 'broody' Bale. I think he'll do brilliantly as a slightly manic younger Batman. Just imagin it could have been Ashton Kutcher.

Ugh.

18:00 / 12.09.03

I'm very pleased with this - I was rooting for either Bale or the currently-unknown British actor who was up for it (the dude who was in all those Brit Charles Dickens movies and stuff like that).

18:18 / 12.09.03

Here's the hoping the WB suits don't bungle it and tie the hands of another director.

Nolan, Goyer and Bale. It'll be a beautiful combination if they get their chance.

18:42 / 12.09.03

Aronofsky still has Batman-Year One tied up. This will be something different, though it might still be a "Year One-type" of film.

00:07 / 13.09.03

I was reading (Darkhorizons) that one of the problems that Bale had in accepting the role was that he felt that it would ruin his chances of playing james bond in the future. I think I'd rather see him play bond in 6 or 8 years then batman now...Although, working with Nolan must seem tempting. It seems kind of similar to giving the franchise to a young Tim Burton. There could be a chance for greatness...

03:21 / 13.09.03

this ought to be very cool, christian bale is a amazing actor!!! now what about superman?

03:40 / 13.09.03

I don't see how everyone can get worked up about who is playing batman. In reality, Christian Bale's stuntman will be playing batman, while he will be Bruce Wayne.

04:49 / 13.09.03

Which is exactly why he's perfect. Wayne is the disguise, Batman is the true identity. If we've seen anything from Bale, it's that he can act those kind of layers.

01

20:39 / 13.09.03

Seems to be too pretty boy to play Batman. When are these morons going to get it right and do the right thing and cast me as Batman?

10:31 / 14.09.03

One day Christian Bale will own Hollywood.

For now I can content myself with the fact that he'll shortly own Batman.

19:59 / 14.09.03

i like Bale as Batman. i've heard rumors of R'as al-Ghul being the villain in the movie, rather than having it be strictly Year One per se...

10:59 / 15.09.03

Egyptian sets have been built... I suppose you could presume that means Ras Al-Ghul.

Matthew Fluxington

13:15 / 15.09.03

Yeah, Ra's al Ghul is definitely the villain in this film. That's pretty cool, it's good to see them use a classic villain who isn't extremely familiar to the whole audience. This way it can seem a bit more fresh to most of the audience, while still firmly rooted in the comics.

Plus, they get to give Batman a sexy love interest in Talia.

14:27 / 15.09.03

agreed, flux, for the most part, though i do admit i have some concerns about having the main villain being a guy with an Arabic name who leads a bunch of assassins in the current political climate...

15:11 / 15.09.03

We don't truly KNOW Ra's is the villian. Egyptian sets fuel speculation but to my knowledge there's been no factual confirmation of Ra's. Unless someone's heard something new...>?

Your point about an Arabic terrorist as the villain is well-taken, also.

Matthew Fluxington

17:14 / 15.09.03

No. You don't understand me. I know that the villain is going to be Ra's al Ghul.

Jack The Bodiless

19:08 / 15.09.03

Ooooooh. Cryptic. Any sources for that?

13:04 / 16.09.03

I stand corrected - www.cinescape.com and www.aint-it-cool-news.com are both listing major insider reports (anonymous of course) that Ra's is the villain. So unless these people are all lying, it sounds pretty definite that Ra's is it. At first it was just 'they're building Egyptian sets, it must be Ra's,' which I figured was far too much speculation to be certain, but now with all these leaks from the set I figure it's a pretty safe bet.

15:39 / 16.09.03

does anyone know how you're supposed to pronounce R'as? the animated series seems to pronounce it "Raish," but that never sounded right to me...

18:50 / 16.09.03

A little bit of speculation here...

I wouldn't put it past the WB to make the villain in the next Bat-Pic "Sin Tzu": the new villain (designed by Jim Lee) who will be making his first appearances in a new multi-platform video game as well as an online comic strip through AOL. Just a thought?

20:27 / 16.09.03

I still think Bale would make a terrific Dr Manhattan.

04:38 / 17.09.03

this arabic terrorist angle is starting to make this movie already look stupid. I'm sure Nolan will be able to play Ra's' motivations well [and if you're read Rucka's interview about the character, this can be done right], but when Bateman starts punching him in the face, the cheering crowd will cheer with a reason...

16:51 / 17.09.03

I always pronounced it "Raas" like " rhymes "Las" in "Las Vegas" -
I didn't like the way they pronounced it on the animated series, but knowing them, I bey they did their research and pronounced it exactly the way it's supposed to be pronounced in Arabic.

And for the record, I pronounced the rest of it "ahl Ghoul"

Sin-Tzu could very well be used, that's not a bad idea. Also avoids the arabic terrorist angle. But I'd put my money on Ra's at this point.

00:53 / 29.11.03

Whoa! Michael Caine as Alfred?

This is way too good to be true.

10:15 / 30.11.03

Has anyone else heard or read the worrying rumours that Bale favours the 'lighter, camper' Adam West style Batman? These rumours could be rubbish, however... Quite how much say Bale has at this early stage MUST be debatable

18:02 / 01.12.03

I've heard the same stories Spaulding and it is worrying. As if Schumacher hadn't headed down that dangerous road in his two
(and slight thread rot, but I love the story of the guy in a screening of "Batman & Robin" {I think} standing up half way through and shouting "Let's hunt and kill Joel Schumacher!". Especially as it was a pre-release screening and the director was in the theatre at the time).

But then if you go on the working title that www.imdb.com gives this movie, how exactly would you play a movie called Batman: Intimidation for laughs in the first place.

19:18 / 01.12.03

When I heard Bale, I thought yeah... fair enough: he could be Bruce Wayne.

BUT... years ago...
When I heard Clooney, I thought yeah... fair enough: he could be Bruce Wayne.

MIND YOU... still years ago...
When I heard it was gonna be Schumacher AGAIN, I thought oh bollocks...

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