Last week, the city of San Francisco and Make-A-Wish Foundation teamed up to bring a young boy's dream of being Batman for a day to life. Earning him the nickname of "batkid," young Miles Scott, who is battling Leukemia, took to the city in a crime-fighting adventure that garnered more than 12,000 volunteers around the city and proved that humanity can be a beautiful thing and that grown men can cry (not that I did, but this guy I know did…sniffle). Someone who knows Batman quite well is Christian Bale, star of The DARK KNIGHT Trilogy and all around ambassador of good will (unless you're adjusting lights on set).
Bale has shown his heart numerous times while wearing the mantle of the bat, from visiting victims of the Aurora shooting to calling kids suffering from Leukemia on the phone and the actor weighed in on the recent "batkid" event and then went on to offer his advice and support to the new Batman, Ben Affleck.
On "batkid":
"I just think it's great. It's a great day for the little guy. I just think Make-A-Wish and San Francisco did such an amazing thing to organize that. You just think of the delight in that little fella's heart, running around doing that. Then also as someone who has played Batman, it's great to see that the symbol of Batman is so much bigger than any one person, than any film, than any comic book, any TV series, that's really what it's all about. It's irrelevant which actor is playing it, we're irrelevant in that sense. But for little Miles to have such a great day is just delightful."
On Affleck taking on the role of Batman:
"I wish him all the best. He's a very experienced actor and filmmaker and he'll make it his own. Our thing's finished, we've always declared it was finished and it should be passed on to another actor and it will be again after him."
His advice to Affleck as the new Dark Knight:
"The only thing I said to him is just make sure he can take a piss without anyone having to help him. Because it's a little bit humiliating, at least what I went through, when you have to have someone help you out of the costume. That was my main piece of advice for him."
I think Bale has been distancing himself from the whole Batman thing for a while now and he seems ready to move on, yet still very proud of the work he's done (as he should be, in my opinion). It's great that he sees the big picture of the character and is able to acknowledge his place in the timeline of Batman's existence on film, but without retaining a lifelong ownership of the character.
Bale will next be seen in OUT OF THE FURNACE, which opens wide on December 6, 2013. BATMAN VS SUPERMAN opens on July 17, 2015.