CHRISTIAN BALE - BALE SEES THE VILLAIN IN BATMAN

CHRISTIAN BALE nearly turned down the role of BATMAN because he only likes playing villains.

The British screen star was initially reluctant to step into the Caped Crusader's costume for BATMAN FOREVER, but soon found, after talking to director CHRISTOPHER NOLAN, Batman was not the squeaky clean superhero he thought he was.

He tells British movie magazine HOTDOG, "One of the reasons I was never a fan, I think, is because it always seemed that the villains were more interesting than Batman.

"After meeting with Christopher, I began looking at the graphic novels he liked, books like BATMAN: YEAR ONE and THE LONG HALLOWE'EN, and I saw that Batman was more interesting than the villains, and had a lot in common with the villains which I found intriguing."