Carlos Bastarache: ben.jpg

Tuesday, 2 January 2018

ben.jpg

Warner Bros/YouTube

Have you gotten around to seeing Ben Affleck Batfleck it up as lunatic billionaire vigilante Bruce Wayne/Batman? If you haven’t, you’re not alone. Christian Bale hasn’t seen Affleck in action as the Caped Crusader either.

Bale shared that viewing history tidbit on the Happy Sad Confused podcast (h/t /Film), although his non-viewing isn’t exactly an intentional thing. The Nolan era Dark Knight isn’t staging a boycott. Superhero movies just aren’t the actor’s thing.

“I have not [seen Ben Affleck’s Batman]. Yes, I’m interested [in seeing it], my son seemed like he was really interested, but then I realized he just wanted to see the trailer and that was it. I tend to go see films that [my kids] want to see. I have to confess I’m not a huge superhero film fan. People seem surprised at that, I don’t know why. I’ve not seen any of the Avengers films or any of those films at all. I hear they’re very good, but I’m quite happy just hearing they’re very good.”

There are lots of actors that are thrilled to play comic book heroes, but Bale admits he wasn’t a big Batman guy on the page or onscreen before he started working on the films.

“I didn’t have knowledge of the graphic novels or the comics,” I wasn’t an avid fan, but when I had seen the Adam West series, I really enjoyed it. I had seen some of the other films. I was ambivalent about them. It was Frank Miller’s Batman: Year One that was such a surprise to me.”

This ruins the fantasy of all of TV and cinema’s Batmans hanging out together (possibly in Michael Keaton’s rumpus room) and filling out scorecards, but you can’t fault Christian Bale for being honest. Heck, this is as strong of a case you might need to show that superfandom isn’t essential to pulling off a comic book character.

(Via Happy Sad Confused & /Film)