<p> The seeds of Christian Bale's intimidating reputation were planted early. Harrison Cheung's <em>Christian Bale: The Inside Story of the Darkest Batman</em> (published by Benbella Books) recounts how, in 1988, the 14-year old star of <em>Empire of the Sun </em>was consistently rude and uncooperative during press interviews. Already in adolescence, he hated the business and marketing side of movies. But the seeds would not grow to prominence for many years as Bale's career fell into dormancy or into widely scattered performances in movies running from awesome to awful. Who is this Englishman usually cast as a Yank? Is he <em>American Psycho</em> or the sensitive boy-next-door in <em>Little Women</em>? Perhaps he was always just a talented actor with good range and a career that zigzagged precariously until he became unassailable after <em>Batman Begins</em>? </p> <p>Cheung probably agrees with that assessment; moreover, he would also claim a share of credit for the actor's success. In his memoir, the author (who “lived and worked with Bale and his father for 10 years”) recounts his early '90s campaign to stir interest in the still obscure actor by promoting chatter on the nascent worldwide web. He includes some funny anecdotes from Hollywood before the Internet: Bale's father convinced his reluctant son to star in the failed Disney musical <em>Newsies</em> by claiming Al Pacino got his start singing and dancing on screen. Before Wikipedia, young Christian might have been forced into a library to uncover the ruse. Of course, as Cheung crows, in the Internet era even <em>Newsies </em>eventually found its fandom. However, the same can be said for obscure leaders of doomsday cults. </p> <p>One of the most interesting threads in Cheung's dishy, fan-driven narrative concerns David Bale, stage-dad extraordinaire and man of a dozen faces. The elder Bale was happy to leave a trail of misinformation about himself, but was evidently the life of every cocktail party, and his tireless devotion to promoting his son pushed the boy into the limelight and kept him there. As for becoming Batman, Cheung claims: “After a ton of cajoling, I finally managed to convince Christian to at least consider Batman.” Apparently, Cheung also seeded the Internet with rumors and chatter about Bale's impending star turn. What effect did all this actually have on director Christopher Nolan's decision? I anxiously await a memoir from Nolan's webmaster and gopher for more information. </p>
