Christian Bale Has 5 (or 6) Roles to Choose from After New Batman Movie
Posted 08.25.11 by Ryan
Christian Bale is currently working on his third outing as Bruce Wayne, a.k.a. Batman, in The Dark Knight Rises, and has a hefty decision to make once he's finished shooting.
Variety reports that Bale has five upcoming projects to chose from once The Dark Knight Rises wraps in November, including Warner Bros.' remake of A Star Is Born, which has Clint Eastwood at the helm, and Beyonce Knowles as the female lead. The story, about an alcoholic star on his way down who falls for a younger, female artist on the way up, has been made three times already, the first as a drama in 1937, and later as a musical in 1954 and, most recently (and infamously), in 1976. It would seem that Eastwood would be trying again for a musical version, hence Beyonce's involvement, and it would be Bale's first musical since 1993's Newsies, which reportedly Bale is not a fan of. "Time healed those wounds," Bale told EW in 2007. "But it took a while." We'll count A Star Is Born as a maybe then.
Bale could also play the villain in director Spike Lee's remake of Oldboy, based on the 2003 Korean thriller, or could play an ex-con in Indiana bent on avenging his brother's death in Crazy Heart director Scott Cooper's Out of the Furnace (formerly The Low Dweller).
Two other projects that seem like serious contenders are director Michael Mann's Gold, reportedly a contemporary story about prospectors and speculators involved in the chase for gold, and director Darren Aronofsky's Biblical "fantasy epic" Noah. Bale has worked with Mann on 2009's Public Enemies and Aronofsky has already tried to lure the actor into Noah, reportedly speaking with Bale about the movie in June.
The Variety piece makes no mention of another possible project, an untitled mystery project from director Terrence Malick (The Tree of Life), with whom Bale worked with previously on 2005's The New World. Twitch reports that the project would shoot in early 2012, which is precisely when Bale will be available after The Dark Knight Rises.
One project that Bale won't be in is The Last Photograph, a project from director Zack Snyder has been developing for years that the actor was reportedly attached to, but apparently, isn't.
Whatever project Bale chooses, and it's possible he may choose to do two of them if he has time, we won't know which until November, as Bale won't make any decisions until then. Some of the projects may not wait for Bale to make up his mind, but after two blockbuster Batman movies and an Academy Award for The Fighter, Bale is obviously a highly sought-after actor in Hollywood.