'Batman Begins' press conference, part one

Hear why the director decided to make the film and find out what it's like to wear that suit.

Jun 15 2005

Earlier in the week the cast, producers and director of 'Batman Begins' assembled at the Dorchester Hotel in London to discuss the film. The following is an edited transcript of what they had to say.

Christopher, when was the decision reached to go back to the beginning and start again from scratch with the story?

Christopher Nolan: I think that the studio had been thinking about it for some time, thinking about ways to re-introduce the character into cinemas. The point when I got interested in becoming more involved, they didn't seem to have a specific idea of how to do it - a fresh approach. It seemed to me that to tell the origin story would be pretty fascinating, because it's has never been told on screen and hasn't been definitively addressed in any of the comics. It's a story that has always been treated in montage and flashback in the past, but we wanted to flesh it out to tell the whole story.

Christian, how difficult is it to act in the Batsuit?

Christian Bale: I think I probably had the easiest time of any actor, well probably apart from Adam West – that looked a pretty flimsy outfit he had there – but an easier time than any of the others in the feature films. The designers came up with the lightest weight Batsuit so far, with much more mobility. I don't know if people noticed, but our Batman was actually able to turn his head, which has never been done before – everyone else has been very robotic. And yes, it's hot, it's sweaty, it gives you a headache, but I didn't complain about it because I'm getting to play Batman.

I think this is the first time that Batman hasn't been a guest star in his own movie – was that the attraction of doing this?
 
Christopher Nolan: For me, Batman is the character of most interest in the film. I felt it would be perfectly possible to have interesting and colourful villains that wouldn't overshadow the focus of the film: Bruce Wayne and Batman himself. In my mind I was thinking of the best of the Bond films, where there have been some wonderful villains and criminal masterminds, but they never get in the way of the focus of the story. I felt that we could do something similar.

Christian Bale: I never realised from seeing the other movies just how interesting Batman was, because I was so fascinated by the villains. And in many ways it felt like they were just treading water when Batman arrived. It wasn't until reading the graphic novels, and I first did that in 2000 because I'm not a comic book fan, that I saw just how interesting the character Batman could be, and was surprised that had never been seen in a feature film.

Christian, how hard was it for you to get back to physical fitness again after 'The Machinist', and were any scenes postponed until you were physically ready?

Christian Bale: I don't believe we had to postpone anything... unless these guys weren't telling me everything. It was a great deal of weight I had to put on, but that was necessary for the character. He has no superpowers whatsoever, so you have to really believe that he's capable of doing what he does. I kind of knew that I was able to do it, so I think Chris [Nolan] was worrying far more than me. I spoke to him one time on the telephone while we were doing 'The Machinist'. He asked how I was doing and it was frankly pathetic – 121 pounds and I couldn’t do a single push-up – maybe not the guy you want to cast as Batman. We had enough time, but it was a pretty arduous journey to get there. But my feeling was that I just managed to get into appropriate shape by the time we started filming.

Michael, did you base the character of Alfred on anyone from your own past?

Michael Caine: My mother used to be a cook during the war in rich houses, so there were many, many butlers that we worked with. I was only a little boy, but they were always rather scary figures. In the back story, I made him a soldier as well. The two main things about Alfred are that he is tough and he is loyal, so the voice is the voice of my first sergeant in the army. I made him an infantry soldier, who is tough and loyal by nature.

Did you have any preconceptions about what making a comic book movie would be like?

Christian Bale: I think we've seen what a comic book movie could be like with the last two Batman movies. And very definitely we tried to create something completely different. I'd like to think of this a graphic novel-based movie much more than one based on a comic book.

Christopher, there were so many great characters in the film played by so many great actors, how was it dealing with all those different personalities?

Christopher Nolan: For me, being a director is about trying to figure out what an actor you're working with requires from you, because I think every actor is different and has unique requirements. I think as far as this film goes, it was very large and there were lots of things going on, so the actors would come – other than Christian who was sort of there the whole time – people would come and go and do a few days here and there, which was refreshing for everybody. Michael would turn up and raise people's spirits a little bit and then Morgan would come, and it sort of keeps everybody going to have a lot of personalities coming and going. The thing I've always noticed from great actors – and I have been very fortunate to work with a lot of great actors – is how naturally and easily they accommodate one another's needs, even though they are performing stars and they are very different. The way you'd expect them to approach things might be very different, but they seem effortlessly able to mesh with the other performers. I think that’s part of their talent. So I found it very helpful to have so many great creative allies on the set, because the other thing a great actor does – and we worked with great actors on this film – is develop an entire life for their character off-screen. They've worked out their character's place in the world, and in the story as well, so they become very useful creative allies for me making my job a lot easier.

Why did you shoot in Britain?

Christopher Nolan: I think there are a lot of different reasons, but from my point of view, I wanted to achieve a degree of texture and reality in the film by doing a set amount location shooting in an American city and then studio work elsewhere. The model that I'd been looking at, and that I first discussed with Warner Brothers, was the 1978 'Superman' that Richard Donner made. They did a certain amount of location shooting in New York, but everything else was done at Pinewood Studios. So we shot at Shepperton Studios and certain London locations, and then went to Chicago, which is a city I knew, having lived there as a kid. That, for me, was the jumping-off point. I was looking back to a great era of blockbuster filmmaking from the late '70s, when I think Hollywood was making some marvellous escapist entertainment on a grand scale, and all those films were made over here; 'Raiders of the Lost Ark', the first 'Star Wars' and 'Superman'. So I think it was a fairly natural thing to just look at this model of doing things.

Batman is the ultimate hero. Do you have any heroes that have inspired you in your lives?

Michael Caine: When I was six my father was a soldier who went away to war, so he was my big hero. I thought he was the greatest thing.

Katie Holmes: I would say that my parents are my heroes.

Morgan Freeman: My step-dad.

Katie, why did you accept the role of Rachael Dawes, and are you getting married?

Katie Holmes: Well, I really enjoyed playing Rachael, I loved her strength and her integrity; it was a wonderful experience. And there is nothing official to be quoted on your second question, but thank you.

Christopher, why did you feel that you have to make the film realistic when it is just a comic book?

Christopher Nolan: To me, to say the story is just a comic book is to miss the whole point. But accepting that point – to say the story is just a comic book – when you talk about realism in film you're talking about issues of texture and look as much as anything more substantial. For me, the idea of grabbing a form of reality is about making the audience believe more deeply in the events of the story. And I think that the more people are invested in the story, both in terms of character and in terms of the actual events and physicality of what's going on, if those things can be believed, I think the narrative effects of the story are amplified. To me it’s all about creating the most involving experience possible.

Part two is here.

• 
•