from scifi wire
Batman Is Psycho And Savior
Christian Bale, who plays the Caped Crusader in the upcoming Batman Begins movie, told SCI FI Wire that his Batman combines elements of two previous roles he's portrayed: Jesus Christ and the American Psycho. "He's very much an American psycho of sorts and, yeah, also certainly has Christ-like symptoms," Bale said in an interview at WonderCon in San Francisco last weekend. "And, yeah, you know, [you see it in] the battle between [his] spirit and ... flesh and, with Bruce Wayne, the battle between the philanthropy his father taught him and was a great example to him for and the need for vengeance, which is incredibly strong." Bale played Jesus in the 1999 telefilm Mary, Mother of Jesus and gained fame as the title character in 2000's theatrical film American Psycho.
Bale said that he views Batman as conflicted. "Because his heart is telling him, frankly, that he wants to kill," he said. "But he cannot do it. He's been taught differently from childhood, and he knows that it is wrong. But, still, it's an overwhelming urge that he's had to pull back, rein in, all the time."
Bale added that this version of the Batman story, the fifth in Warner Brothers' recent franchise, is particularly relevant to these unsettled times. "I don't want to give away too much, but what Scarecrow [Cillian Murphy] is doing, and which Ra's Al Ghul [Ken Watanabe] and everybody [is up to], is very similar to the anthrax scare that people [went through]," he said. "It's very similar to the possibility of chemical, biological warfare, etc., going on. The notion also of the mentor that Bruce Wayne chooses to go and train with being a man with a triple-barreled name [who] lives in caves kind of on the run: You can't help but take a look and say, 'Hmm. There's a lot of relevance to it.' I think also the age-old thing of the ever-widening gap between rich and poor. And the nature of power and corruption. I think all of these things are particularly relevant, yeah. And I think it should be. Because this is American mythology. It should be in keeping with the times. If it's not, it's missing the point." Batman Begins opens June 17.
