The Batman Begins Scene That Christian Bale Slept Through On Set
Keeping track of all the Batman movies that have been made, are being made, and will be made — not to mention all the movies the Caped Crusader has co-featured in alongside other heroes, like Justice League – is strenuous enough to overload the Batcomputer's CPU. What ultimately matters is singling out the good from the bad, because there's plenty of both.
On the good side of things, many would say that Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy is some of the best on-screen Batman storytelling to date. The trilogy appropriately begins with Batman Begins, which effectively sets the grim, realistic tone that would carry over into both sequels. Gone were the days of Adam West-inspired camp and Arnold Schwarzenegger's endless array of embarrassing ice puns as Mr. Freeze. It was time for Bruce Wayne to grow up: No more silly jokes, no more crazy costumes, no more dampening of the source material.
That's exactly what happened, but it doesn't mean the actors didn't have their fair share of laughs on set. In fact, Batman actor Christian Bale himself was the focal point of one of these moments.
Superheroes can't rest, but actors can
"Bats are nocturnal, bats may be," Bruce's loyal butler Alfred Pennyworth (Michael Caine) says as he throws open the blinds and lets the sunlight in, waking Bruce up, "but even for billionaire playboys, three o'clock is pushing it." It's hard to blame Bruce for sleeping in, of course; leading a double life as a burgeoning superhero can't be easy on anyone, especially on someone without superpowers. In a different scene, however, it wasn't Bruce who was sleeping: It was Bale.
There's a scene in which Bruce wakes up to find Alfred and Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman) talking by his bed and joins the conversation. During an earlier take, however, Bale "laid down and just fell asleep," zonking out so completely that he "didn't hear 'action'" (via Uproxx).
Caine and Freeman weren't aware, of course — maybe because Bale wasn't snoring? — so they went on with the scene as if nothing were amiss. When Bale didn't take his turn to talk, however, they knew something was up, and Caine broke character to see exactly what was up. According to Bale, "I woke up with Michael Caine poking me in the ribs and going, 'Look at that! He's bloody fallen asleep, hasn't he? He's bloody fallen asleep!'"
Though the moment would've been funny to somehow work into the movie ("The Bat-Signal's been on for a while now... where is he?!"), it also would've broken the immersive world Nolan created. Nonetheless, it's a fond memory the three actors share, something to look back on and laugh at.