Christian Bale reveals why 'people laughed' at him before the Batman trilogy

Starting with 'Batman Begins' and most notably in 'The Dark Knight', Bale and Nolan grounded the character in a level of realism the comic book movie genre had never seen. Bale's serious approach was the opposite of the campier take on Batman as seen in Joel Schumacher's 'Batman Forever' and 'Batman & Robin,' as per Variety.