20 Things You Didn't Know About Batman Begins
15. Christian Bale Was Told He Was Too Fat For Batman
Christian Bale is mainly known for two things; playing Batman and his yo-yo diet. Before working on Batman Begins, Bale had to play a skeletal insomniac in the 2004 film, The Machinist.
This was a problem since Christopher Nolan told Bale to be "as big as you can be" after he was cast in Batman Begins. Because Bale only weighed 120lbs while filming The Machinist and had less than a year to get into shape, you would assume Bale struggled bulking up in time.
Ironically, Bale had the opposite problem. After The Machinist wrapped, Bale put on 100lbs, nearly doubling his weight. It's also worth mentioning that this is the world record for the most weight gained for a movie role. He accomplished this by "doing weights and eating lots of pizza".
He put on so much weight, Christopher Nolan didn't recognise Bale when he arrived on set. Unsurprisingly, it wasn't long before he was nicknamed Fatman. (The nickname is not original but I think it's pretty justified.) Bale had to lose 20lbs of fat before he could fit into his costume.