Despite his recent string of public embarrassments, Christian Bale is easily one of the most in-demand actors in Hollywood today. His gravel-voiced Batman helped The Dark Knight break the billion-dollar mark and he's about to help relaunch the Terminator franchise.
Hot on the heels of portraying John Connor, leader of the human resistance against the machines in Terminator Salvation, Bale will portray Melvin Purvis, Special Agent with the FBI in Public Enemies. Directed by Michael Mann (Heat), Public Enemies details the hunt for notorious bank robber and Depression-era folk hero, John Dillinger, played by Johnny Depp.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Bale had this to say about filming the famous FBI raid on the Little Bohemia Lodge in Wisconsin:
I fired so many bullets in those woods in the middle of the night, I was literally tasting metal for a week afterwards.
But, what has fans really chomping at the bit is the prospect of Bale reprising his role as Bruce Wayne/Batman in a sequel to The Dark Knight. Bale told TotalFilm.com:
Will we do a third movie? It's got to be the right story. You can't make something like The Dark Knight and then come out with something disappointing. The fact is, I have to! I've signed up! Chris doesn't. So I'm in a bit of a fix if he says he doesn't want to!
After Public Enemies, Bale will star in Bryan Singer's Prisoners alongside Mark Wahlberg.