Batman Begins (2005)

[Blade Runner]

Batman Begins (2005)

Directed by: Christopher Nolan
Writing credits: David S. Goyer (screenplay) Bob Kane (Batman characters)

Cast:
Christian Bale .... Bruce Wayne/Batman
Michael Caine .... Alfred Pennyworth
Liam Neeson .... Ducard
Morgan Freeman .... Lucius Fox
Gary Oldman .... Sargeant James Gordon
Ken Watanabe .... Ra's Al Ghul
Katie Holmes .... Rachel Dodson
Cillian Murphy .... Dr. Jonathan Crane/The Scarecrow

Plot:
A new restart of the "Batman" franchise under the helm of "Memento" Director Chris Nolan and more in tone with the early "Batman: Year One" style comics. As a boy a young Bruce Wayne watched in horror as his millionaire parents were slain in front of his eyes, a trauma which led him to become obsessed with revenge but his chance is cruelly taken away from him by fate. After disappearing to the East where he seeks counsel with the dangerous but honorable ninja cult leader known as Ra's Al-Ghul, he returns to his now decaying Gotham City overrun by organised crime and dangerous individuals manipulating the system whilst the company he inherited is slowly being pulled out from under him. The discovery of a cave under his mansion, and a prototype armoured suit leads him to take on a new persona, one which will strike fear into the hearts of men who do wrong - he becomes, Batman. In the new guise, and with the help of rising cop Jim Gordon, Batman sets out to take down the various nefarious schemes in motion by individuals such as mafia don Falcone, the twisted doctor/drug dealer Jonathan 'The Scarecrow' Crane, and a mysterious third party that is quite familiar with Wayne and waiting to strike when the time is right.

IMDB

Click For Trailer

Bale Lifts Batman's Cowl

Christian Bale, who stars as Bruce Wayne in the upcoming Batman Begins movie, told SCI FI Wire that he's taking a fresh approach to the iconic character, playing him with a feral duality that adds reality to the comic-book mythology. Bale even uses one voice for Wayne and a different, coarser baritone for the caped crusader, who comes into being after Wayne vows to avenge the murders of his parents. Bale spoke in an interview Sept. 14 during a break in filming on the movie's massive Gotham City set outside London.

"I just saw it as a way of him being able to channel the clarity of mind that he must have had as a young boy when he first declared that he would get revenge," Bale said. "It's very difficult to maintain that throughout your life. It becomes a memory, and you know it takes a great deal of energy to maintain that sharpness of emotion. So I just felt that everything about him should become different [when he becomes Batman]. The look. The voice. And also see that he's able to have his own life, somewhat [when he's Wayne]. Because it seemed to me that if he was just going to be Bruce Wayne in a batsuit, first of all, that seemed a little bit ridiculous to me. It would have been as ridiculous as any of us getting into a batsuit and genuinely thinking we could go out on the town and intimidate people. I think most people would probably laugh, you know? So you have to kind of really go for it in every way. And for me that kind of, you know, involved taking on a slightly beastlike voice, as I hear it."

As for the newly designed suit, Bale said that it helped him get a feel for the caped crusader, whom he characterizes as "a creature" that is not quite human. "I felt like a panther the first day, you know?" Bale said, referring to the first shooting day he strode onstage in full Batman regalia. "I did feel like some kind of wild animal. I don't know if anybody else was looking at me like that way [laughs]. I don't know if I appeared quite as ferocious as I felt that I did. But I really felt like everybody was kind of looking at me [mimes backing away in fear], you know, jumpy. And ... it makes you feel, you know, like that, you want to kind of run and jump at people and beat the crap out of them. And ... you know, it just gives you this great neck and this physique that just looks intimidating. It's all kind of aggressive. It's all pointing forward. It's very much like a predator. And that was a thrill, doing that."

Bale demurred when asked about the suit's comfort. "No, I’m not going to bitch about the suit," he said. Last month Bale was quoted in the British Daily Telegraph saying that the suit was uncomfortable, prompting some of the U.K.-based wardrobe crew to create T-shirts with a joking reference to his quote. "There's a quote from me that some of the people have on the back of their T-shirts that says, 'It's hot, dark, ... sweaty, [claustrophobic,] and it gives me a headache.' Which is absolutely true, but there's nothing more annoying than hearing actors bitch about their work and stuff like that, you know? I'm playing Batman, for God's sake. That's pretty fantastic. I'm not going to complain about getting a little bit sweaty. And also, they've changed it so much, ... so I hear, from the first movie that they made. And so even though it may not feel like the most comfortable outfit to me, I know that others have had it worse." Batman Begins, which was on day 126 of a 128-day shoot, also stars Gary Oldman as Lt. James Gordon, Katie Holmes as Rachel, Cillian Murphy as Dr. Jonathan Crane and Ken Watanabe as Ra's Al Ghul. Batman Begins, from director Christopher Nolan, is slated to open next summer.

Talk about split personalities of the bat kind.Author: Jeremy Van Cise
Date: 09-16-2004
Source: Sci-Fi Wire

In an interview with Sci-Fi Wire during a break from filming in London, Bale spoke about his approach to the iconic character, and the newly designed suit.

"I just saw it as a way of him being able to channel the clarity of mind that he must have had as a young boy when he first declared that he would get revenge," Bale said. "It's very difficult to maintain that throughout your life. It becomes a memory, and you know it takes a great deal of energy to maintain that sharpness of emotion. So I just felt that everything about him should become different (when he becomes Batman). The look. The voice ... You have to kind of really go for it in every way. And for me that kind of you know involved taking on a slightly beastlike voice, as I hear it."

The new suit helped Bale get into character, he said, as he saw Batman as more of a creature than a human.

"I felt like a panther the first day, you know?" Bale said, referring to the first shooting day he strode onstage in full Batman regalia. "I did feel like some kind of wild animal. I don't know if anybody else was looking at me like that way, (but) it makes you feel ... like that. You want to kind of run and jump at people and beat the crap out of them. And it just gives you this great neck and this physique that just looks intimidating. It's all kind of aggressive. It's all pointing forward. It's very much like a predator. And that was a thrill, doing that."

Star Digs Deep Into Batman

Christian Bale, star of the upcoming prequel film Batman Begins, told SCI FI Wire that it will delve more deeply than previous Batman films into the character's origins and motivations. "It's very much looking at how Bruce Wayne came to invent and create this character," Bale said in an interview. "[We explore] how he got to be this nutcase that runs around dressed as a bat."

Bale plays the title role in the comic-book-inspired movie, the fifth in the Warner Brothers franchise, based on the DC Comics series. Christopher Nolan (Memento) directs. Bale said that he initially had reservations about playing the character, because he didn't feel like Batman was particularly scary. But Bale began to discover the character when he donned Batman's trademark cape and cowl. "The first couple of times wearing the mask was great, because it really helps you to [understand] how to play it," Bale said. "I always found it kind of laughable: The guy thinks he's going to be scary by walking around dressed as a bat. I'd look at him and go, 'What kind of nutcase are you? Get out of my face.'"

Bale added that the key to playing Bruce Wayne was figuring out the emotional dynamic between his real life and his alter ego and melding the two. "I thought, 'How can he really have this rage and this focus on despising criminals and this promise that he makes to rid the city of them?'" he said. "I saw that it's really difficult to make a promise to yourself and then keep that clarity of thought that you had at that lucid moment and maintaining that intensity. Adopting this different persona helps him to maintain that kind of intensity."

Bale said that he had to adopt a different persona in the suit than the one he played as Bruce Wayne. "In donning the suit and everything, I no longer wanted to present this as Bruce Wayne dressed as a bat," Bale said. "He becomes a different creature, partly out of necessity of disguise, but also out of necessity to keep himself sane in his own life. It really helped me. Once I put [the suit] on, I felt like if I don't play it this a certain way, then I'm just going to feel like an idiot standing in a bat suit the whole time." Batman Begins is in post-production and is currently slated for release June 17, 2005.

[squiffy]

ta very muchly!

[dinky]