While there’s already been two different actors playing Batmen since Christian Bale hung up his cape and cowl, the “Dark Knight” actor says he’d consider playing Batman again under one condition: if Christopher Nolan came back, too.
When asked whether he’s been asked to reprise his role as Bruce Wayne/Batman for Warner Bros., Bale told ScreenRant the issue hasn’t formally been broached.
“No. No one’s ever mentioned it to me. No one’s brought it up. […] Occasionally people say to me, ‘Oh, I hear you were approached and offered all this.’ And I’m like, ‘That’s news to me. No one’s ever said that.’”
The actor then clarified that he and Nolan had always planned to make three great Batman films and then walk away — which they did after 2012’s “The Dark Knight Rises” — but added he would potentially return if Nolan had a great new story to tell.
“I had a pact with Chris Nolan. 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.”
For his part, Nolan hasn’t publicly expressed any interest in returning to the world of Batman. In the wake of “The Dark Knight Rises,” he went on to make the sci-fi epic “Interstellar” and 2017’s WWII film “Dunkirk,” which earned him his first Best Director Oscar nomination. Most recently, Nolan directed “Tenet” for Warner Bros. and is currently in production on his next film “Oppenheimer” — about J. Robert Oppenheimer — for Universal Pictures.
Warner Bros., meanwhile, successfully jump-started a new Batman franchise with this year’s “The Batman” starring Robert Pattinson. The “Good Time” actor and co-writer/director Matt Reeves have already signed on to return for a sequel.
But done doesn’t always mean done, as Michael Keaton is reprising his Batman from the ‘90s in the upcoming Warner Bros. film “The Flash” — so there’s still hope for Bale.
