Other Titles • Batman Begins (2005) • Batman 5 • Batman: Intimidation • Batman: Intimidation Game (2003) • Batman Begins: The IMAX Experience • The Intimidation Game
In Nolan and Goyer’s telling, Thomas Wayne instills in his young son a sense of philanthropy and a love for the city that has benefited greatly from the altruism of its wealthiest family, and lays a foundation for Bruce’s ideals of justice and fairness. His belief system is all but shattered when his parents are gunned down before his eyes, victims of the fear and desperation spawned by Gotham’s rampant crime and collapsing economy. To make matters worse, Bruce blames himself for their murders.
Consumed by guilt and anger, isolated by his status and pain, Bruce begins a lifelong struggle to reconcile his rage and thirst for vengeance with his need to honor his parents’ philanthropic legacy.
“This boy has everything ripped away from him in an instant,” Goyer muses. “As a result, he has to deal with intense guilt, anger, loneliness and confusion. He is so pained by what happened that he ultimately has to leave Gotham in search of answers.”
“It’s a journey that never ends,” says Christian Bale, the versatile actor known for deftly segueing between acclaimed performances in provocative independent films such as Laurel Canyon, American Psycho and Velvet Goldmine, and starring roles in large-scale action adventures like Shaft and Reign of Fire. “He is in a constant battle with himself internally. He must continually assess his actions and control his demons, overcoming the pull toward self-destruction and the negative emotions that will destroy his life if he allows them to.”
“Christian Bale was the ideal choice to play a young Bruce Wayne, particularly a Bruce Wayne still struggling very much with the demons that drive him to become Batman,” says Nolan. “He is a very complex character who exists on the razor’s edge between good and bad. Christian embodies that sense of danger and ambiguity that can be channeled into something very positive and very powerful. He has that kind of intensity, that fire burning inside. You look into his eyes and you believe that this man would go to those extremes.”
“Bruce Wayne is an ordinary man who has made himself extraordinary, through sheer determination and self-discipline,” producer Chuck Roven observes. “Christian exemplifies this kind of passion, dedication and commitment. He has a wonderful presence as Bruce Wayne and Batman, and brings an amazing power to his performance, both physically and emotionally.”
Bale was intrigued by Nolan’s vision for the film, both in his desire to explore the darker aspects of the Batman character and his goal to give audiences what the director deems “the cinematic equivalent of reading a great graphic novel.”
“Graphic novels like Arkham Asylum presented a Batman that I had never seen before,” says Bale, who discovered the Dark Knight several years ago at a comic book store in Santa Monica. “He was dark and dangerous and more interesting than any other comic book hero or villain.”
One way in which Nolan and Goyer grounded Bruce Wayne’s story in reality while marrying milestones in the mythology with their own interpretation of events is through the film’s theme of fear. In the story, young Bruce’s accidental discovery of the bat-filled caverns beneath Wayne Manor results in a harrowing encounter with the terrifying creatures, leaving him permanently haunted by the memory. Nolan and Goyer fused this seminal experience with Bruce’s subsequent guilt over his parents’ deaths, making his decision to remold himself in the image of a creature that wracks him with such fear and anxiety all the more remarkable and resonant.
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