The 2005 scene Christian Bale fell asleep shooting: “I’ve missed my cues”
As comfortable in a zany comedy as he is in an all-out action romp, Christian Bale is one of the most versatile and naturally gifted performers working today.
From his portrayal of Dick Cheney to his bone-chilling turn as Patrick Bateman in American Psycho, he’s been responsible for bringing some of the 21st century’s biggest characters (fictional or otherwise) to life.
An entire generation of fans will only know the Welshman for one role. He played Batman and his alter ego Bruce Wayne in all three of Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight films. Beginning in 2006 with Batman Begins, Bale battled Scarecrow, Bane, and, of course, Heath Ledger’s Joker in what many consider to be the best big-screen outings in the history of the ‘Caped Crusader’, and seeing how the character fell off a cliff prior to Bale relinquishing the role, they might have had a point.
Bale, who was a relative unknown at the time, had the unenviable task of being the first big-screen Batman since George Clooney almost killed the character forever, which is one of the reasons why Warner Bros were so hesitant to initially cast him, but Nolan had so much faith in him that he was able to eventually don the big black suit.
One of the other reasons Warner Bros might have been nervous is Bale’s habit of accidentally falling asleep on set. As he explained to Digital Spy, it happened more than once while he was playing the iconic vigilante.
“I’ve done it in the middle of scenes where they’ve had to shake me because I’ve missed my cues,” he confessed, “In Batman Begins, in the first scene I had with Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman, I fell asleep… I was meant to be waking up, so I laid down and just fell asleep. And I didn’t hear ‘action’. So Michael and Morgan were talking, and I was supposed to join in. 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!'”
It’s never ideal to fall asleep on the job, but when you have less stamina than two men in their 70s, that’s a real issue. Bale probably thought he’d blown his big chance then and there, but the gods of cinema were kind to him.
Not only was he not fired, but he also received rave reviews for his handling of a darker, more three-dimensional portrayal of Big Bruce. His performance helped spearhead the superhero revolution that would change modern cinema forever.
As anyone north of 30 will tell you, naps are an essential part of daily life. It’s nice to know that even Batman needs a little daytime snooze every now and then. If a siesta is good enough for one of the greatest superheroes of all time, then you can take 20 minutes on your lunch break and not feel guilty about it.
