The actor who plays the Caped Crusader in Christopher Nolan's trilogy movies says he refused when asked by DC producers to return for a fourth superhero movie.
- Nov 21, 2019
AceShowbiz - Christian Bale turned down the chance to appear as Batman in a fourth movie, admitting it would have been "overindulgent" for him to appear in another film.
The 45-year-old portrayed the Caped Crusader in 2005's "Batman Begins", "The Dark Knight" in 2008, and "The Dark Knight Rises". But the 2012 movie was the final time Christian donned the superhero's cape and cowl, with the actor insisting in an interview with the Toronto Sun newspaper that he didn't want to "stretch too far" by making the intending trilogy into four films.
"When they came (to us after Batman Begins) and said, 'You want to go make another?' It was fantastic, but we still said, 'This is it. We will not get another opportunity,' " he explained to the publication. "Then they came and they said, 'OK, let's do the third one.' (Director Christopher Nolan) had always said to me that if we were fortunate to be able to make three we would stop. 'Let's walk away after that,' " he said.
"When they inevitably came to us and said, 'How about a No. 4?' I said, 'No. We have to stick to Chris' dream, which was always to, hopefully, do a trilogy. Let's not stretch too far and become overindulgent and go for a fourth.' "
Ben Affleck replaced Christian in "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" in 2016 and 2017's "Justice League". While he was going to play Batman in "The Batman", which he was also set to direct, the actor bowed out of both roles - handing over the helm to Matt Reeves and the cape to Robert Pattinson.