Christian Bale reveals he was in talks for a role in Solo: A Star Wars Story

While appearing on Josh Horowitz's  podcast Happy Sad Confused, Christian Bale revealed that, not long ago, he was in talks for a role in SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY. The story goes that, during the film's early development stages, Lucasfilm had been eyeing THE DARK KNIGHT actor to play the part of Han Solo's mentor in the film. Ultimately, the part went to Woody Harrelson.

When asked about his interest in being a part of the Star Wars cinematic universe, Bale explained to Horowitz that, "“Yes, [it was] very tempting. I not only love the films going back to my childhood but also have a very long relationship with Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall because they did Empire of the Sun many years back. There was discussion, [and] I hope there will be future discussions.”

While Bale neglected to share the reason as to why the casting fell through, it sounds as if he's leaving the door wide open for the possibility of participating in the saga, sometime down the road. As it turns out, Bale is a huge fan of the Star Wars franchise, and wasn't shy about his expressing his love for the Lucasfilm characters during recent podcast interview:

“Star Wars I’m a huge fan. Yeah Star Wars really interests me. I’ve still got the Millennium Falcon, I’ve got the AT-AT. My daughter, her first love was Darth Vader. She absolutely adored Darth Maul. [She] stood near him at Disneyland and he growled and he’s got those teeth and he stayed in character, really wonderful performance, and she was teeny and I thought, ‘This is gonna scare the crap out of her, this is such a bad idea.’ And then she stopped and she said, ‘Daddy, I’m in love.’” Adorable.

Also while sharing a chin-wag on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Bale confessed that he has yet to see Ben Affleck's take on Batman. In fact, this next bit makes it sound like Bale isn't much of a superhero movie fan, even if his children truly are. “I have not [seen Ben Affleck’s Batman]. Yes I’m interested [in seeing it], my son seemed like he was really interested, but then I realized he just wanted to see the trailer and that was it—I tend to go see films that [my kids] want to see. I have to confess I’m not a huge superhero film fan. People seem surprised at that, I don’t know why. I’ve not seen any of the Avengers films or any of those films at all. I hear they’re very good, but I’m quite happy just hearing they’re very good.” 

Alright, that does it, Marvel Movie Marathon at Bale's house! 

Source: MTV Podcast Network w/ Josh Horowitz

About the Author

Born and raised in New York, then immigrated to Canada, Steve Seigh has been a JoBlo.com editor, columnist, and critic since 2012. He started with Ink & Pixel, a column celebrating the magic and evolution of animation, before launching the companion YouTube series Animation Movies Revisited. He's also the host of the Talking Comics Podcast, a personality-driven audio show focusing on comic books, film, music, and more. You'll rarely catch him without headphones on his head and pancakes on his breath.