With Chris Nolan having always said that the third Batman movie would complete his trilogy and then he’d step away, it had always been assumed (and hinted at), that Christian Bale would leave the character behind at the same time as well. Now that appears to have been confirmed, with Bale sitting down with E! and telling them that, “The thing is that this will be, I believe, unless Chris (Nolan) says different, this will be the last time I’m playing Batman.”
That does of course leave the door open if Nolan decides to make another Caped Crusader movie after The Dark Knight Rises, and it’s also possible Bale may be convinced by a giant wodge of cash from Warner Bros., even if Nolan isn’t on board, but at the moment it appears he’s staying loyal to the director and is following his lead.
He also suggests we shouldn’t believe any of the casting or character rumours that inevitably swirl around any Bat movie, as he doesn’t believe them himself. He says, “Until Chris (Nolan) tells me, I don’t believe it. It’s gotta be from his mouth, or else I don’t really know.”
The Dark Knight Rises starts shooting in April for release in 2012, and let’s hope before then a few more things do come from Nolan’s mouth, such as the character Tom Hardy is playing – indeed it’s been suggested the director is so secretive, even the actor didn’t know who he’d be playing when he signed his contract.