Bale lands Batman role
British actor Christian Bale is to be the new Batman, it was announced today.
The American Psycho star will play the caped crusader in the fifth Batman movie.
He is the first British actor to land the role, following in the footsteps of George Clooney, Val Kilmer and Michael Keaton.
Director Christopher Nolan said: “What I see in Christian is the ultimate embodiment of Bruce Wayne.
“He has exactly the balance of darkness and light that we were looking for.”
Bale beat American actors Jake Gyllenhaal and Joshua Jackson to the role, which will focus on Batman’s early years.
The 29-year-old was born in Pembrokeshire, west Wales, and grew up in Oxfordshire.
He found fame in Steven Spielberg’s Second World War epic Empire Of The Sun, playing a schoolboy interned in a Japanese prisoner of war camp.
He went on to star in Little Women and Captain Corelli’s Mandolin but it was his role as yuppie serial killer Patrick Bateman in American Psycho that stands out.
The new movie starts shooting in February with Nolan, also British, at the helm. His previous credits include the acclaimed thrillers Memento and Insomnia.
Warner Brothers are hoping it will be a success after the last film in the franchise – Batman and Robin, starring George Clooney – proved a box office flop.
