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March
30th, 2004 -
Christian in Empire
Check
out the May issue of Empire Magazine for an exclusive interview with
Christian!
Here's
a preview:
Now shooting in Iceland and England, Batman Begins has so far assembled one of the most heavyweight casts ever to take on a superhero franchise - Liam Neeson, Ken Watanabe and Morgan Freeman for example, not to mention Bale himself. So what can we expect?
"I believe that there’s an opportunity with that character to do things that I, personally, have never seen done," says Bale.
"There are choices you can make with such a character. You can go very camp with it, like the TV series, but that’s been done. You can’t outdo Adam West with that kind of deal. So what else do you do? There’s a really interesting character there, and that’s what I’m aiming for."
For all the Bale-heads out there dying for their next fix, the actor will be appearing in The Machinist later this year, a part for which he lost 60lbs - that’s a whopping one-third of his body weight, fact fans! Never fear, however, as he put the weight back on to play the Dark Knight.
"It’s very much like going from one extreme to the other. Batman is a guy who has to be able to tear apart a room, scale walls and do phenomenal things."
Click
here for the link to this story.
Also
look for some major updates to this website in the next couple of weeks
(hopefully!)
March
19th, 2004 -
Batman Website up!
The
official website for Batman Begins hit the internet yesterday.
Right now it only contains a teaser image of the Bat symbol, but it's
definitely worth a look! Click
here!
Keep
your eye out for Premiere Magazine for April 2004 featuring Rebecca
Romijn-Stamos on the cover. There's a black and white photo of Christian
from the Sundance Film Festival.
March
16th, 2004 -
Christian dedicates performance to his Dad
Here
is an article from ic Wales, the international website of Wales which
was posted on their website today.
Batman star dedicates role to father
Duncan Higgitt, The Western Mail
NEW Batman star Christian Bale is dedicating the movie role to his ex-RAF pilot father who died just months ago.
Christian, 30, who grew up in Haverfordwest, won the coveted role of the Caped Crusader after beating off competition from top Hollywood actors including Ben Affleck.
And, as filming began this week, Christian vowed to make it his best-ever performance - in memory of dad David.
Former RAF pilot David Bale died aged 62 from a brain tumour just before Christmas - just after Christian was told he'd landed the prized Batman role.
Christian was born in Wales while his dad was posted at RAF Brawdy in Pembrokeshire in the early Seventies.
But his death will give an extra meaning to Christian's performance of superhero Batman - the masked avenger's parents died tragically when they were brutally gunned down in front of him.
A friend of the Haverfordwest-born former child star said, "Christian was very close to his dad and wants to make him proud."
David became a commercial pilot after leaving the RAF - and he was idolised by his son.
Divorced from Christian's mum Jennifer, David became an environmentalist and animal rights activist in America.
He was "achingly proud" of Christian's career and was told about the Batman role just before he died in December.
The fifth film, Batman Begins, started filming this week with Christian - star of American Psycho, Reign of Fire and Captain Correlli's Mandolin - as the tragic hero.
Veteran Brit Michael Caine stars as the hero's faithful butler Alfred and Gary Oldman plays good cop Lieutenant Jim Gordon.
Drug dealing baddie The Scarecrow and evil cult leader Ra's Al-Ghul will be played by Cillian Murphy from 24 Days Later and Ken Watanabe who starred in The Last Samurai.
And Liam Neeson, Morgan Freeman and Dawson Creek's Katie Holmes also have roles in the big budget blockbuster due for release in summer 2005.
The story follows the transformation of Bruce Wayne into his alter ego Batman after his parents are brutally murdered in front of him.
Christian said, "I loved the kind of fantastical notion of the superhero but at the same time being able to bring a psychologically interesting element to that."
Click
here to read the original article.
March
12th, 2004 -
Batman in EW!
The
latest issue of Entertainment Weekly (Chris Rock on cover) has a bit of
a rundown on Batman Begins. It talks about the main characters
and the actors who will be portraying them, and also has a small photo
of Christian.
Check
out SHH
for more!
March
9th, 2004 -
Costume Malfunction on set of Batman Begins
BBC
Radio 1 is reporting that while trying it on Christian accidentally
ripped the first Batsuit on the set of Batman Begins.
Apparently
it took three crew members and a bottle of talcum powder to fit him into
the second one.
But
according to a report on Dark
Horizons a stuntman, not Christian, would be fitted for a Batsuit
this afternoon for testing, so it could just be a simple mix-up.
Right
now Christian is shooting in Iceland.
Click
here to read the article.
March
4th, 2004 -
Gallery Update & Batman
I've
updated the gallery with DVD captures from Laurel Canyon and four
more images from The Machinist.
In
Batman news, it's been announced that one of Christian Bale's
favourite actors, Gary Oldman, will now be playing the role of Jim
Gordon!
Also
some news on the Batsuit from BOF:
"I have not seen it myself, but an old costume
department friend has been working on it and tells me that it is based on the Alex Ross designs from the graphic novels. Dark (very) grey bodice, black bat chest (with no yellow shield), tight-fitting mask (that moves - meaning, frowns and squints and so on - but do not hold me or my source to that as he/she? has only seen a 3rd level prototype of the cowl) with prominent ears, overall an extremely tight fitting outfit (presumably to show off Bale's gym work, or, from what I have been told, to finally make the point that Bruce Wayne is a gym junkie, not a rich dope in
armour)."
Also:
"The Bat will be able to fly in this film--sort of. The cape is made of some sort of advanced material that is super light, yet can become very stiff and tight when a electric current is run through it. The Batman, with a touch of a button, will be able to turn his flowing cape into "wings" and fly--or actually glide in the skys of
Gotham!"
An
official press release on the filming and Gary Oldman has also been
released. Click
here to check it out on SHH.
February
27th, 2004 -
Great News!
Moviecitynews.com
just reported that Paramount Classics (click
here for their website) has acquired the distribution rights for
The Machinist from Filmax International and are planning to release it
later this year. They've acquired the North American rights as well as
the rights for the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa
and Latin America.
"We
are extremely proud to be working with Brad, a director of incredible
vision," said Paramount Classics co-presidents Ruth Vitale and
David Dinerstein. "His film is powerfully unique and evocative.
Bale’s work is equally impressive. We believe this will be a
performance to be reckoned with come Awards season."
To
read the whole article click
here.
Also,
the name of the new Batman film is officially Batman Begins.
February
23rd, 2004 -
Christian Speaks!
Christian
recently talked to German magazine Bunte about his latest film The
Machinist, and his upcoming movie Batman: Intimidation Game.
On their website
they've got audio clips (in English) from the interview in which he
talks about losing weight, Batman, and what it's like to play, and feel,
like an outsider.
Click
these links to hear the clips (you need Windows Media Player to hear
them:
Christian
on Batman
Christian
on Losing Weight for The Machinist
Christian
on being a loner
They
also have a slideshow of photographs of Christian and from some of his
movies, including The Machinist and American Psycho.
Another
magazine that features Christian is the March issue of Men's Fitness
which has an article about the fittest men in Hollywood. They talk about
Christian and have a little headshot of him. Scott Caan is on the cover.
February
14th, 2004 -
Happy Valentines Day!
I've
added DVD screen captures from The Portrait of a Lady into
the photo gallery, and captures from Laurel Canyon are on the
way!
11:23am
- The Machinist at the Berlin International Film Festival
Though
Christian didn't attend the press conference which was held, he did make
an appearance at the festival. Looking quite buff in preparation for his
upcoming role, he answered a few questions for the press.
Brad
Anderson had a lot to say about Christian's performance and dedication
to the role during the press conference.
"Christian's one of those actors that, like you say, pulls out all the stops when he plays a character. I mean, part, I think, of his attraction to this particular role is the fact that it would be a physical test of
endurance for himself as well. I mean, he lost like, (he could give you the right figure,) but I believe it's something like 68 pounds for this part over the course of three and a half months, four months, in the
preparation for the film.
Midway through the project he was eating, you know, like, an apple a day and drinking a couple glasses of water, I mean, he really went to the enth degree to capture this characters torment. And it was essential, you know, it was written in the script that the character looks like a walking scarecrow.
It was evident even before I talked to him about it, that he was going to have to lose some weight, and I didn't suggest losing 60 pounds or anything, but when he arrived in Barcelona he was
definitely emaciated, and I respect that, I mean, everyone in this film put their hearts into this movie, and Christian did just the same.
He certainly went a lot further than some of us did in his commitment to really making this realistic. I was amazed by his discipline and by the fact that, you know, even under really great shooting circumstances there's always room to complain, but Christian, during the process of making this movie I don't think he complained once. Maybe he was too tired to complain, too withdrawn, or exhausted. But he was a real
committed and amazing actor. It was a real honour to work with the guy."
In
an article about the festival, Variety said that Filmax has been
fielding US offers for The Machinist, so hopefully that means it
will get picked up soon.
February
13th, 2004 -
Batman update
Several
titles for Christian's upcoming Batman movie have been surfacing on the
net. The first, of course, being Batman: Intimidation. Though it hasn't
been confirmed yet, that's the title that is being used most often, as
well as Batman 5, and Batman: Intimidation Game. But there are three
more now, Batman: The Intimidation Game, Batman: Genesis and Batman
Begins.
Warner
Bros. has purchased domain names for Batman: Intimidation, and Batman
Begins, so it may come down to these two.
It's
been reported that shooting will begin in Iceland on the 25th, and
there's an article on the Latino Review website about it. Here's a
snippet of the article:
Question: Do you know when Batman 5 starts/finishes shooting in Iceland?
Answer: (Icelandic Production company) Saga Film, is working with the Batman 5 crew here in Iceland. On (Wednesday) February 25, they will start filming in the southeast, the group stay's in Hótel Skaftafell in Freysnes, which is about 130 km from the town Höfn and it is fully booked. They will be shooting for about 10 days. At the end of March about 80 people will spend 10 (more) days for filming in the southeast.
Question: Have you seen any of crewmembers at the locations? Have you seen any of the sets where they'll shoot?
Answer: I have not seen any crewmembers. The people from Saga Film are from here, in Iceland. I have not seen the sets, but it is nearer Skaftafell national park.
Click
here to read the rest of the article.
February
12th, 2004 - Technical
Difficulties
I
want to apologize for my site being down these past few weeks. I've been
having a few problems regarding space, but things are getting fixed and
there will be more updates.
The
Machinist is playing at the Berlin
Film Festival. The screening times are listed on the website, along
with a synopsis of the film and photographs as well, which I've added to
the Machinist gallery.
Also,
there will be streaming
video of a press conference for The Machinist on Saturday the
13th at 3:25.
In
Batman news, the latest person to join Christian, Michael Caine,
Katie Holmes, and Cillian Murphy in Batman: Intimidation is Liam
Neeson, who will play a villain.
Also
the new Batman animated series, titled The Batman, has given the
Caped Crusader a whole new look, and one that might be familiar to
Baleheads!
