Oscars: Christian Bale says after China, it’ll be all Batman, all the time
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After accepting his Oscar for actor in a supporting role, Christian Bale wasn’t sure if he remembered to thank all the right people -- like fellow ‘The Fighter’ actors Mark Wahlberg, Melissa Leo, Amy Adams and Jack McGee.
Backstage, he asked reporters: ‘I’ve got a question for you guys, actually ... Mark, Melissa and Amy and Jack. Did I mention them? I did? Fantastic. Good. That’s a huge relief!’
Bale actually missed Leo’s acceptance speech for supporting actress -- he was out at the bar with his wife and the real-life Dicky Ecklund (the character he played in ‘The Fighter’).
‘I was literally banging on the door’ asking to get back into the theater. ‘That was my mistake. I’ll know better if I ever return to the Academy Awards.’
Bale said he had just come back to California from China, where he has been filming Zhang Yimou’s ‘The 13 Women of Nanjing,’ so he missed most of the campaigning leading up to Sunday night -- not that he missed that part.
‘The beautiful thing about it is I’ve been in China ... so I actually haven’t had to deal with it,’ he said. ‘It really has to be the performance that stands by itself. If I had lost, I wouldn’t have regretted anything.’
Of course, he said that Oscars are subjective things, unlike motorcycle racing, which he referenced in his acceptance speech.
‘I love motorcycle racing. It’s all about who’s fastest,’ Bale explained afterward. ‘That guy went forward better. ... This is all just a matter of opinion. It’s so abstract. But, at the same time, I just can’t help but be touched so dearly by it. I just will treasure this moment.’
But it will be back to work quickly for Bale -- and just because he’s got an Oscar now, it doesn’t mean he won’t be doing comic book movies anymore. (He’s cast in Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ as Bruce Wayne/Batman.)
‘When I finish the movie in China, it’s straight to Batman,’ he said. ‘Much more Batman.’
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-- Yvonne Villareal