The Dark Knight Rises Premiere: Christian Bale Says Goodbye

The Dark Knight Rises premiere was certainly a subtle affair in New York on Monday (July 16, 2012). In keeping with the nature of the movie, the stars of the film graced a black carpet at the AMC Loews Lincoln Square movie theatre, rather than the standard red one. The star of the movie, Christian Bale, who plays the dual role of Bruce Wayne / Batman, said that he's ready to say goodbye to the character, as Christopher Nolan's comic book adaptation franchise comes to an end.

Bale told E! Online "It's bittersweet, but I think though that Chris is such a good storyteller, if he says it's the right time to finish, it's the right time to finish. It's the only character I've played three times and there's certainly a lot more stories that could be told, he's a really interesting character, but enough's enough. It's nice to leave when we're out on top instead of leaving people wanting less."

Anne Hathaway graced the black carpet wearing a contrasting floor-length white gown; a far cry from the skin-tight black cat-suit that she squeezed her limbs into for the movie. Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who plays the role of John Blake was full of compliments for his co-star, saying "I'll tell you what-she's sexy as hell, but she's not doing the typical, like, 'Oh, I'm a vampy, sexy girl. She's strong. She's a badass, and I think that's cool that she's setting an example that you don't have to be a girly-girl to be sexy."