Christian Bale (33 page)

 

“T
he Dark Knight Is Cursed!”

That was the headline that screamed out around the world after a series of mishaps, threats, and deaths struck the cast and crew of the new
Batman
movie. Christian had once again got his physique into shape and eagerly hit the set along with Heath Ledger, Gary Oldman, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Aaron Eckhart.

Filming had begun on the highly anticipated
The Dark Knight
in April 2007, but almost immediately things began to go wrong. A series of catastrophes would hit the $185 million film. Before the movie was even released, two people would be dead and
Christian would be arrested for attacking his own mother and sister in a hotel room, while just a month after
The Dark Knight
hit movie screens another actor would be involved in a near fatal car crash.

The first unfortunate accident happened in September 2007 when a special effects technician was killed while filming a stunt. Conway Wickliffe was operating a camera from the backseat of a Nissan 4x4 when the vehicle failed to negotiate a turn while driving alongside a stunt car at 20 mph.

The crew was setting up a test run for a scene where the Batmobile is blown up, and an old American police car, similar in size and weight, was being used as the unmanned “rocket car,” which was being fired off a ramp by a black powder cannon while pyrotechnic explosions inside the car were set off. Wickliffe was in the backseat leaning out of the window and facing backwards to capture the shot when the accident happened. The Nissan struck a tree and Wickliffe suffered severe injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene at the site at Longcross, near Chertsey in Surrey, U.K., where the stunt filming was taking place.

The cast and crew were devastated by the accident and the film's closing credits carried a dedication to the cameraman. But that wasn't the only shocking death to hit the movie.

Actor Heath Ledger was found dead of a drug overdose in his New York apartment on January 22, 2008—just two months after filming ended.

The hugely talented Ledger played The Joker in
The Dark Knight
—a role originally brought to life with full comic force by the legendary Jack Nicholson in Tim Burton's 1989
Batman
. When Ledger was first cast in the role, Hollywood was happily buzzing with the news that the critically acclaimed actor, who had earned great reviews and an Oscar nomination for his role as a gay cowboy in
Brokeback Mountain
, would face off against Christian.

Warner Bros. President of Production proclaimed: “We can't wait to see two such formidable actors as Christian and Heath face off with each other as Batman and The Joker.”

And as filming got under way, there were whispers on the set of exactly how formidable Ledger was. Unlike Nicholson's previous outing, Heath made The Joker a darker and more clearly disturbed character. Before the movie had even finished, people were talking Oscar nomination for Ledger and in one interview Christian told a reporter that his costar had done “one hell of a job,” as The Joker.

So it was a huge surprise, after production had wrapped, when the news broke that Ledger, just 28, had been found lying dead next to his bed surrounded by bottles of pills. He reportedly had six types of drugs prescribed in his name at his home—mainly generic versions of anti-anxiety medications. Two types of sleeping aids were also found next to his body.

He was found facedown at the foot of his bed by his masseuse, Diane Lee Wolozin, who tried to wake him for an appointment. As she failed to get a response she used Ledger's phone to call Mary Kate Olsen, telling the actress: “Heath's unconscious, I don't know what to do,” before screaming: “I think he's dead!” Both Olsen and Wolozin called 911 and Wolozin tried to resuscitate Ledger until paramedics arrived at 3:33 pm. However, nothing could be done and the actor was pronounced dead in his apartment at 3:36 pm.

The world mourned the loss of a great movie star as news of his untimely passing hit every newspaper, blog, radio, and TV show around the world. Yet his
Dark Knight
costar Christian refused to watch any coverage of Ledger's death.

Christian explained: “I paid no attention to it. I knew him, I knew the family and why the hell would I sit there listening to idiots who don't know anything at all? I literally didn't read or watch anything after he died. If I happened to be watching
anything that came on, I switched over straight away. It's incredible the way the voyeuristic outlook is accepted as news.”

But Christian and the rest of the cast and crew of
The Dark Knight
were in shock. No one had expected anything like that to happen to Ledger, who had seemed happy and stable and enjoying life as a dad to Matilda Rose, his daughter with ex-fiancée and former
Brokeback Mountain
costar Michelle Williams.

And when the coroner released his final report, proving Ledger died of an accidental overdose of prescription drugs, his family and friends were still struggling to cope with their loss. Ledger's father, Kim, said: “It's a pretty sad time, we're finding it difficult to cope.” While Michelle Williams released a statement that simply said: “My heart is broken.”

Just a few months later, Ledger became the second actor in history to win an Academy Award posthumously. Ledger's Best Supporting Actor Oscar was also a rare exception to the rule that Academy voters overlook action-hero movies.

But Ledger's compelling performance, together with worldwide interest in one of his final films, helped power
The Dark Knight
to a global box office gross of more than $1 billion, which made Academy members sit up and take notice. Eyebrows were raised at Warner Bros.' poster campaign, which featured a deranged Ledger as The Joker, looking corpselike in whiteface and smeared makeup, with the tagline “Why so serious?”

Accepting the Oscar on behalf of his son, Kim said: “This award tonight validated Heath's quiet determination to be truly accepted by you all here, his peers, in an industry that he so loved.”

While all of Ledger's family flew in from Sydney for the Oscars, one person noticeably absent was Christian, who also did not attend Ledger's funeral.

He did not attend the ceremony although he told a reporter: “Heath winning Best Supporting Actor was fantastic. He was a fantastic guy and we had a lot of fun on set. Heath was infectious;
his death makes me angry because I know our friendship would have blossomed had he not died.”

He went on to tell
Details
magazine, “He was incredibly intense in his performance but incredibly mellow and laid back. Certainly there was this great anarchistic streak to it, just getting dirtier than anybody's envisioned The Joker before. The film was something I wanted to share with him and expected to do so. And I can't do anything else now but hope that it will be an absolutely appropriate celebration of his work.”

But while Christian was praising his
Dark Knight
costar, a pal was telling other reporters that Christian was himself feeling especially cursed. According to the Famous Scandal blog, a pal claimed: “Christian's been more than gallant in praising Heath while promoting the film but privately he's telling close friends that the film had turned into more of a wake for Ledger than a career building blockbuster for him. Christian believes he gave the best performance of his life in Dark Knight—but no one's going to notice!”

That sentiment appeared to be true as Christian received no nominations at all for playing Bruce Wayne and his alter ego, while Ledger scooped up a number of trophies during the awards season. In addition to the Oscar he also won a Golden Globe, BAFTA, Screens Actors Guild, and a slew of American and Australian critics' awards. And movie actors, directors, and producers all greeted each win with standing ovations.

While praise for Ledger's portrayal of The Joker was unanimous and global, Christian's performance as Batman was being debated by the Bat-fans.
Screenrant
wrote, “A civil war has brewed amongst fans on whether Bale's husky voice work is good or bad since he first appeared as the Caped Crusader in
Batman Begins.”

A YouTube spoof of the Batman/Joker interrogation scene has attracted over 12.4 million views, and helped to popularize that
Christian sounded as if he had “throat cancer.” Christian's voice for Batman was, some fans complained, incomprehensible.

Voice actor Kevin Conroy has portrayed the Dark Knight longer than anyone else; be it animated series, film, or video games. He is considered by many fans to be the true voice of Batman.

Conroy commented on Christian's gravelly ‘throat cancer' Batman voice at the 2010 C2E2 convention in Chicago. “He just got steered wrong. Obviously, someone should have stopped him and said, ‘You sound ridiculous!'”

The fans erupted in cheers.

“I thought Christian was excellent as Bruce Wayne, but I didn't understand his choices (with his portrayal of Batman). I thought it was over the top and distracted from his scenes as Batman.”

Before Ryan Reynolds landed the lead as
Green Lantern
, Bradley Cooper had been up for the role but confessed that he blew his audition by imitating Christian's growl. Said Cooper, “The trouble was that when I auditioned, it being a superhero movie, I couldn't help but do my Christian Bale Batman voice. I don't know why. Needless to say I didn't get the job.”

With all the accolades being heaped on Ledger, it is perhaps easy to see why Christian would not be in the best of moods as the movie readied to debut. The movie was released on July 14, 2008, in the U.S., while the London premiere was scheduled to follow a week later.

Christian prepared to return to his native England a conquering hero—the young boy who had once been bullied at school for being in a Steven Spielberg movie was now back in the U.K. as one of the biggest A-list stars on the planet. The now-confident star had his face splashed all over the front of Britain's biggest tabloid newspapers the day after the London premiere, but it wasn't to promote the movie.

Instead the headlines blared:

BATMAN ON BAIL:
SUPERHERO STAR ARRESTED!

KAPOW COPS NAB BATMAN

BATMAN STAR BALE QUESTIONED BY POLICE
OVER ASSAULT CLAIM

Christian had been arrested for allegedly attacking his own mum and sister. He spent four hours being grilled by police over the family bust-up at the five-star Dorchester Hotel in central London. He had his fingerprints, mugshot, and DNA taken before being released on bail without charge although he had to return to the police station in September to find out his fate.

Police ended up allowing Christian to attend the glittering London premiere for
The Dark Knight
though, just hours after mum Jenny and sister Sharon accused him of assault. Jenny, sixty-three, claimed she was pushed during the row in the actor's suite at the hotel. Jenny and Sharon reported the alleged assault the morning after it happened, which left police with the dilemma of whether or not to arrest Bale before the premiere that night.

He was eventually allowed to walk the red carpet with wife Sibi as adoring fans screamed his name—unaware what had happened just hours earlier. But the next morning Bale voluntarily went to a police station in the posh Belgravia district of London to be questioned.

Different reports claimed different reasons for the row with everything from Christian being depressed over Ledger's death, to his marriage to Sibi being on the rocks, to his sister Sharon begging him for money.

The evening was supposed to be a happy night out before Christian's premiere. Jenny, Sharon, and Christian's three young
nieces made the four-hour journey from Bournemouth to see Christian and Sibi in London. His nieces, all under twelve, had been looking forward to the premiere for months and had saved up their own money to buy dresses for the premiere. In particular, Christian's eldest niece, Ruby, eleven, worshipped her uncle as a hero. Ruby had dreams of being an actress as well and was hoping to visit Christian on the set of
Terminator Salvation
.

The Sun
newspaper claimed that Christian had flipped out after Sharon, forty-three, asked him for £100,000 to help bring up her own three children. But when he refused, a row broke out in the hotel suite and Christian was alleged to then have pushed mum Jenny, who, sources claimed, inflamed the situation by hurling insults about his wife, Sibi.

Sharon tried to set the record straight in early 2010 when she was forced to file for bankruptcy. She refused to reveal how much debt she was in but gave an interview along with Jenny to the
Daily Mail
newspaper in which they revealed, they decided to report Christian to police because they were “so terrified” of his temper—especially in front of his nieces.

Jenny said in the same interview: “He just exploded with anger like I have never seen. He never gave us a chance to find out what it was all about before he frogmarched us out of his suite. We hadn't all been together for about a year. I was dying to see him and his family, especially his little girl. He'd e-mailed a few times. In the last one he signed off saying: ‘See you at the Dorchester for the premiere, perhaps we'll have dinner.' So that's what we were expecting.