There's a lot of news surrounding the role of Batman lately, but it wasn't that long ago that Christian Bale was the only Bruce Wayne that people could talk about, except for the mighty Michael Keaton. Bale brought an even darker psychology to the character and together, with director Christopher Nolan, they made 3 of the best Batman movies ever produced. Christian Bale was recently doing press for his latest project Hostiles and the subject of Batman was brought up, leading the actor to indulge in some rare reflection on The Dark Knight trilogy and what it means for his career.

The Academy Award winning actor was interviewed for Variety's Playback podcast where he went into detail about his time as Bruce Wayne while revealing that a component of his method acting may have backfired on him while filming the movies. In addition, Christian Bale also talked about what the collaboration with Christopher Nolan did for his career. As it turns out, Bale is still coming to grips with the success that it brought him. He had this to say about his mixed emotions about the role.

"[I have] mixed emotions about it. I'm always eternally grateful to Chris. For instance, Rescue Dawn, Werner (Herzog) and I had been trying to put that together for a few years. American Psycho, Mary Harron and I had been trying to put that together for a few years. No one was interested. Why? Because of me. Chris cast me in Batman and suddenly everyone said, 'Yeah, alright. We'll go with him.' It did change everything. It was the first time I had done a film of that magnitude. That was a real learning curve for me. I wrestled with it for a long time. I still do on occasions. But I'm just learning, hey, accept the good things."

When it comes to his method acting, Christian Bale recalled that he suggested he should always be seen with the famous Batman cowl on, while on set, to keep it a mystery for when people saw it for the first time while filming. The idea seems like a good practice, if not a little much. Bale admits that it may have worked, but it also led to him spending a lot of time to himself. He explains.

"At my suggestion I said, 'no one can ever see me without the cowl on. They cannot. You cannot bust, blow apart that mystery. So we must not.' So, I've got to be in a tent the whole time and seven months later I'm like, 'oh my god, this was my idea, wasn't it? I'm still in it.'"

In addition, Christian Bale also spoke about how his role as Patrick Bateman in American Psycho prepared him for the Bruce Wayne's psychology. He noted that "true fans" of the Dark Knight recognized the darkness in the character, therefore making it an okay choice to cast Bale in the role in the public's eye. Christian Bale also went into the duality of the character talking about the philanthropy as well as the darkness within. He had this to say.

"Well, I guess the true fans always saw that Bruce Wayne had this great darkness to him. There is a philanthropy, obviously, hopefully there but it is something... he's having a battle, a monster within himself. And so, I suppose that in that respect, Bateman/Batman, they started to see that, 'well, maybe this guy can do it.'"

Christian Bale is currently almost unrecognizable due to his weight gain and shaved head that he has to play Dick Cheney in Adam McKay's upcoming movie, a far cry from his ripped days as Bruce Wayne. Whatever the role is, Bale is going to take it to the extreme as the weight gain and shaved head demonstrate, so his Dick Cheney is probably going to be pretty intense. In other Batman news, it's not clear whether or not Ben Affleck is still going to carry on with the role now that Justice League has come and go in theaters. You can read more about Christian Bale's reflection on the Dark Knight trilogy and his career courtesy of Variety.