The Dark Knight Star Christian Bale Explains Why He Hasn’t Seen The Batman

Thor: Love and Thunder star Chrisitan Bale, who previously played Batman in The Dark Knight Trilogy, hasn’t seen Robert Pattinson’s performance in The Batman. Pattinson shouldn’t take it personally as, at last check, Bale hadn’t seen Ben Affleck as Batman either. Pattinson’s debut in the role, directed by Matt Reeves, opened in theaters in March and is now streaming on HBO Max, but Bale hasn’t taken the time to watch it. Bale explained to Variety while on the Thor: Love and Thunder premiere’s red carpet that he sees surprisingly few movies, something that always surprises the directors with whom he works, but he has only heard and expects good things from Pattinson in the role.

“I still haven’t seen it. I will see it,” Bale said. “Listen, mate, it’s amazing how few films I see. Every director I work with, I’ve seen a couple of their films and they’re always looking at me going, ‘Are you kidding?’ I like to really savor films and I don’t watch too many. But I will, I certainly will. Robert is an absolutely wonderful actor. We bumped into each other, talked a little bit about it ahead of time, and I heard wonderful things.”

Though Bale hasn’t seen The Batman, he’s been supportive of Pattinson’s casting from the start. He first told Variety “Good choice, he’s interesting,” upon hearing the news. He also offered Pattinson some advice: “Good for him. Just make it his own, don’t listen to the naysayers,” Bale told Extra TV. “That’s about it, everybody protested when Heath [Ledger] was cast as the Joker. Look what an absolutely brilliant performance he gave. Don’t listen to those guys, do his own thing. He’s a fascinating actor, he’s a great choice.”

According to Reeves, Bale also offered Pattinson some more practical advice: “One of the big things that Rob actually talked to Christian Bale, and [Bale said], ‘just make sure you’re going to be able to relieve yourself,’ so that was actually part of what was important to build into it. Like okay, he needs to be able to put it on. He also needs to be able to live as a human being,” Reeves revealed at DC FanDome.

Bale plays the villain Gorr the God-Butcher in Marvel Studios’ Thor: Love and Thunder. He’ll go up against Chris Hemsworth as Thor Odinson, Natalie Portman as Jane Foster/The Mighty Thor, and Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie in the film, opening in theaters on July 8th.