Christopher Nolan’s iconicBatmanfilms are renowned as some of the most well-done and influential comic book films of all time, with the trilogy’s centerpiece,The Dark Knight, firmly established asan all-time great superhero movie. While the films are beloved for their gritty interpretation of such an iconic character and the unforgettable villainous performances they contain (includingHeath Ledger’s legendary turn as the Joker), their action scenes are sometimes overlooked. Nolan is famous for his love of authenticity and realistic-looking cinema, and, as a result, the action sequences in The Dark Knight trilogy (inThe Dark Knightspecifically) are often spectacular-looking. To improve the realness of the action scenes, though, didChristian Balehimself actually do his own stunts for the trilogy?
Christian Bale Did Some Stunts For The Dark Knight Trilogy
Christian Bale has gone on record about doing his own stunt work in the Dark Knight films. As aTodayarticle from 2008notes, “Bale does as many of his own stunts as he can,” and the article goes on to recount that “InThe Dark Knight, he called one of his stunt doubles off a scene thattook place on the roof of the110-story Sears Tower in Chicago.He stands perilously close to the very edge of the tower, but he said it wasn’t as dangerous as it looked; he had safety straps on his feet.” While that may not seem as dangerous to Bale, standing on top of a skyscraper like that would still be considered extreme for most.
Christian Bale’s Weight Was an Issue During ‘Batman Begins’
Bale went a step too far during his debut performance as Batman.
Bale has a propensity for wanting to go to extremes for filmmaking, having toldEW“When I see that other people are thinking something is ridiculous or impossible, then I start to enjoy myself.” Another specific example of his stunt work for Nolan’s Batman saga would bethe famous training Bale’s Bruce Wayne undergoes withLiam Neeson’s Ra’s al Ghulon an icy lake inBatman Begins.Speaking withThe Chicago Tribune, Bale remembered that “We were out there, and it was splitting - there were big cracks appearing down it - and we all had to stand still and not break it. By the next day, there was all this water again.” This would be another precarious situation the actor put himself in for the sake of the film’s realism.
Christian Bale Did Not Do All His Own Stunts For The Dark Knight Trilogy
Christian Bale has made it clear, however, that he did not do every stunt for the Dark Knightfilms, as very few actors would. One specific element of Bat-tech thathe did not work with isthe Bat-Pod.In that same 2008Todayarticle, Bale admits, “The Bat-Pod was one thing only one man could ever master. We had a lot of world champion bikers. I ride bikes myself, but no way in hell was I ever going to be able to master that. There was one Frenchman, Jean-Pierre Goy, who just is phenomenal…The problem with it is as soon as you start to take a corner, it ended up on top of most the riders. It was only Jean-Pierre who was able to master that.“Goy is a seasoned stunt performerwho has worked on numerous other films, including action hits likeSkyfallandThe Bourne Legacy.
Why Christian Bale Stopped Doing Stunts
Christian Bale actually has a somewhat different approach to stunt work nowadays. In a2019 interview withGQ Magazine, Bale noted how when one is younger, injuries from stunts seem inconsequential and maybe even cool, but as he got older, he began to question if the stunts were worth it. He also recountsa game-changing incident for him when he sawa stuntman in his sixtieshave to repeatedly perform a stuntwhere he toppled off his horse straight onto his head. Bale noted, “With all due respect to the man, I don’t want to be doing that sort of thing when I’m in my sixties. I used to love going on my dirt bike and I loved falling off it. Loved crashing. It was so much fun […] Now, I’m like, ‘God, please. I can’t come off here now, because I know I might never get back up again.'” From these comments, it’s clear that with age and wisdom,Bale no longer feels the need or theadrenaline-fueled fun of performing dangerous featsfor a film’s production and is ready to leave it to the professionals.
Ultimately, Christian Bale definitely partook in some of the intense stunts ofThe Dark Knightfilms, which certainly helps to lend the action scenes more authenticity. However, there were certain stunts he was not involved with, and as he has gotten older, his relationship with stunt work has become more measured.
The Dark Knightis available to stream on Max in the U.S.
The Dark Knight
When the menace known as the Joker wreaks havoc and chaos on the people of Gotham, Batman must accept one of the greatest psychological and physical tests of his ability to fight injustice.
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