The Dark Knight star Christian Bale appeared on The Today Show this morning, looking pissed as hell. Seriously, the dude did not smile once. But Lauer almost put him over the edge, when he asked if Heath Ledger’s immersion into The Joker role might have led to his death. Bale shot back (in his strangely sexy, I-will-piss-down-your-Today Show-throat accent of indeterminate origins):
“Personally, I find it to be a complete lack of understanding of acting. I also find it very rude to try to create some kind of sound bite for such a tragedy.”
“The man was a complex man, he was a good man, but you know what—I saw him having nothing but the best time playing the Joker. … At the end of the day, he was having a wonderful time making this movie. I say he couldn’t have been happier during it.”
Here’s a brief clip with Bale’s comeback, as well as the longer interview which ends with Bale joking that if Lauer took the Batpod out for a spin, he’d end up underneath it. Did we detect an almost-smile, then?