Christian Bale has revealed the one condition that could convince him to play Batman in a film for a fourth time.
The actor already starred as the caped crusader in a trilogy from British director Christopher Nolan: Batman Begins (2005), The Dark Knight (2008), and The Dark Knight Rises (2012). The wildly successful blockbusters are credited with ushering in a grittier, more realistic era of superhero films.
The Oscar-winning actor says that “no one’s ever mentioned” a fourth instalment of his Batman series, despite the latter two films grossing over $1bn at the worldwide box office.
But he’d be game to reprise the role, provided Nolan were the one to ask him.
“I had a pact with Chris Nolan,” Bale said in a recent interview. “We said, ‘Hey, look. Let’s make three films, if we’re lucky enough to get to do that. And then let’s walk away. Let’s not linger too long.’
“In my mind, it would be something if Chris Nolan ever said to himself, ‘You know what, I’ve got another story to tell.’ And if he wished to tell that story with me, I’d be in.”
Bale insists any rumours that he’s turned down offers to reprise the role are false.
“Occasionally, people say to me, ‘Oh, I hear you were approached and offered all this’,” he revealed. “And I’m like, ‘That’s news to me. No one’s ever said that,’” Bale told ScreenRant.
The actor is set to return to the world of comic books as the villain Gorr the God Butcher in the new Marvel film Thor: Love and Thunder.
So far, that film has earned glowing feedbackfrom early audiences.
