Christian Bale Explains the Origins of His Bat-Voice

[The.Bard]

For what it's worth some people, such as myself, can't stop laughing at how preposterously ridiculous he sounds every time he opens his mouth.

I could get that, except the whole concept of a real Batman is ridiculous. The voice fits it so well that I never questioned it, never even thought to think it was odd until the internet rose up in a rage.

As much as I loved Batman comics as a kid, it's a ridiculous concept in practice and I don't think you can play the guy and do it justice without an appropriately harsh, gruff and menacing voice.

They (mostly) did such a good job in those movies of making as "realistic" a Batman as you could ever expect, that the utter lunacy of the voice just completely knocked me out of the fantasy, every single time. I liked the first half of the first film (the non-Batman portion, basically), and despised the rest of the trilogy (except for Heath Ledger's Joker, of course).

The effect the voice had on me was that he was just looney bins. I couldn't get even a whiff of menace. It was like some drunk homeless guy found the bat suit and put it on before stumbling down the street mumbling incoherently. Rorschach, to come back to that comparison, had the same inherent problem, but he had the benefit of being PSYCHOTIC. He would bite off your tongue and eat it raw without hesitating. He benefitted from being looney bins, where for me, Batman suffers grievously in that light. Especially since Bruce needs to be able to take the mask off and pretend to be normal.

And don't even get me started on the last movie. My wife & I were on the floor dying in those scenes with Bane; we had NO IDEA what either of them were saying.

Bane: Bargledy shmargledy Jimminy Bimminy Scottish Brogue Nonsense!

Batman: HRARRRRR!!!!!!! ROO RAAHH RURRRR!!!! HURRR RUHH!!!!! RARRRR!!!!!

Bane: Scooby dooby Tartan Spartan!

Batman: RARRR HRURRR!!! RAH!!!! ROOH RAHH RARRRR!!!!!

 

[KissingSunlight]

The fact Christian Bale got the role using that voice. It proved that Christopher Nolan had no clue about Batman. The whole Dark Knight trilogy was really disappointing. To be fair, the 2nd movie was fun in a brainless blockbuster way. It was all the people I ran into claiming that "The Dark Knight" was deep and meaningful made me hate it. The first movie was unmemorable. Something about The Scarecrow and Liam Neeson. The last movie was a giant dung heap of suck. Nothing redeemable about that movie. OK. Anne Hathaway as Catwoman. End of list.

 

[BoredAussieGamer]

"I'm Batman! And I never thought throat cancer could happen to me."

Honestly, I think that's a better excuse.

 

[Vrach]

Had to post this...

OT- I didn't mind the voice. I think it could have been more understandable at times, but overall I think it did fit with the setting.

Thanks for the video, it's brilliant xD

And yeah, I didn't mind Bale's voice either, I thought it actually fit perfectly with the whole dark/gritty/realistic Batman. Don't get me wrong, I get why people like making fun of it, but I don't think it's actually bad, just easy to make fun of (just like the concept of Batman itself, particularly cast into a realistic setting, see Yahtzee's comments on it for what I mean).

 

[Scrythe]

I didn't mind the voice when he was SUPPOSED to be intimidating.

But it got weird when he would have regular conversations with people (Rachel, Gordon, Catwoman, etc), some of which who knows who the fuck he is, and he still insists on sounding like a blender. It was nearly impossible to take what he said seriously.

Think about how much less narmy the "It's what you do that defines you." speech from Begins would have been if he just dropped the Batvoice.

I don't blame Bale, however. I completely blame Nolan and anyone who had close contact with him who never did the Batvoice in his presence.