Peel away Batman’s cowl and you will come face to face with an American Psycho.
And that finally means Christian Bale will no longer be famous for the role he almost lost to Leonardo DiCaprio.
The Welsh native certainly doesn’t enjoy household recognition, as Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer and George Clooney did when they rid Gotham City of crime. Since his debut as a teen in Steven Spielberg‘s Empire of the Sun, Bale‘s dedicated himself to period pieces and little-seen independents as Velvet Goldmine, Laurel Canyon and The Machinist. Bale‘s not a draw, which explains why DiCaprio could have walked off with the role of American Psycho‘s serial killer Patrick Bateman had he been so inclined. But Bale likely won’t endure anymore such indignities if Batman Begins revives a left-for-dead franchise.
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Bale’s Greatest Hits | |
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| 1. Shaft $70M | |||
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| 2. Little Women $50M | |||
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| 3. A Midsummer Night’s Dream $16M | |||
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This not the same Batman that director Tim Burton envisioned in 1989. With Memento‘s Christopher Nolan orchestrating the mayhem, the down-and-dirty Batman Begins ignores the Gothic overtones of Burton‘s Batman and sheds itself of the camp that crippled Joel Schumacher‘s sequels. Nolan also distances Batman Begins from Burton‘s franchise by retelling the Dark Knight’s origin.
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Bale’s Greatest Misses | |
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| 1. Equilibrium $1.2M | |||
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| 2. Newsies $2.8M | |||
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| 3. Swing Kids $5.6M | |||
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All this should do wonders for Bale, especially as Batman is not overshadowed by such lesser-known foes as the Scarecrow and Ra’s Al Ghul. That allows Bale to take ownership of the franchise, something Kilmer and Clooney could never do while competing against the likes of Jim Carrey and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
So what lessons can Bale gleam from his predecessors?
Michael Keaton: Batman ($251.1 million), Batman Returns ($162.8 million)
Jack Nicholson was born to play the Joker. But no one–with the exception of director Tim Burton–ever thought that wisecracking funnyman Michael Keaton could add muscle to the Batsuit. And this led to fears that the Beetlejuice partners-in-crime would launch the franchise as an extension of the cartoonish 1960s TV show. But fans fell for Burton‘s depiction of the Dark Knight as a psychologically damaged vigilante, and a suitably serious Keaton had the last laugh, portraying Batman twice. After hanging up his cape, Keaton never recaptured the popularity he enjoyed prior to Batman with Night Shift, Mr. Mom and Beetlejuice. Often shying away from comedy, Keaton floundered as romantic lead (Speechless), villain (Desperate Measures) and snowman (Jack Frost). Batman even robbed him of his comic momentum, resulting in the disappointments Multiplicity and The Paper. The bright spots–Jackie Brown, HBO’s Live from Baghdad–were few and far between. But the Sixth Sense knockoff White Noise brought Keaton back from the dead, and he’s about to hit the road in Herbie: Fully Loaded. Perhaps this is enough to finally revive the Beetlejuice sequel that Keaton‘s talked up for years.
Val Kilmer:Batman Forever ($184 million)
Unlike Keaton, Top Gun‘s Iceman wasn’t a proven commodity, but he possessed the physical presence many felt his predecessor lacked. And he arrived at Wayne Manor after scoring the best reviews of his career for The Doors and Tombstone. He didn’t stick around long enough to make the role his own. Why would he when the Batman franchise had quickly devolved into a showcase for its villains? Kilmer tried unsuccessfully to initiate his own franchise with The Saint, but he lacked the panache to play a James Bondian spy. His reputation for being difficult and his poor choice in roles have resulted in nothing but flops, from At First Sight to Alexander. His bad luck continued this year with Blind Horizon and the long-delayed Mindhunters. Not even Batman could rescue Kilmer from himself.
George Clooney: Batman & Robin ($107.3 million)
Forget whatever responsibility Clooney‘s taken for the demise of Batman. That dubious honor lies with director Joel Schumacher, who turned the Caped Crusader into an inconsequential gaudy bore. With his Cary Grant-ish good looks, the debonair Clooney certainly carried himself like a Gotham City playboy billionaire. But the then-E.R. heartthrob clearly overextended himself by keeping one foot in the operating room and the other in the Batcave. The ho-hum response to Batman & Robin didn’t ruin Clooney‘s bid for film stardom–it merely delayed the inevitable. The undeniably charming and charismatic Clooney‘s patience paid off, and Out of Sight and Three Kings begat the blockbusters The Perfect Storm and Ocean’s Eleven. If anything, Clooney benefited from weathering a disaster such as Batman and Robin so early in his career. He now knows to place his trust in proven filmmakers with vision, such as Steven Soderbergh and the Coen Brothers.
The Bottom Line
The rewards of saving Gotham City rarely equal the associated risks. But Bale has nothing to lose and everything gain. Without the presence of the Joker or the Riddler, the Caped Crusader takes center stage in Batman Begins. So all eyes are on Bale. He can then parlay this attention any way he desires. He can try to go mainstream, putting behind him such disasters as Reign of Fire and Equilibrium, or continue to grace the more intriguing fare that he’s draw to, such as Terrence Malick’s upcoming The New World. If Bale can make it in Gotham City, he can make it anywhere.
