What a joker!
Flying higher than ever as Batman, “Dark Knight” star Christian Bale crashed to Earth today when he was arrested in London – for allegedly assaulting his mother and sister.
Bale, 34, was grilled by cops for about four hours after the women claimed he attacked them at the five-star Dorchester Hotel Sunday, the night before he attended the red-carpet gala for the blockbuster film’s London premiere.
Bale’s mother, Jenny, 61, and sister, Sharon, 40, filed a complaint with police on Monday. The actor appeared at a London police station for questioning today.
London’s Telegraph, citing sources, reported that Bale had shoved either his mother or sister in an argument over a long-running family dispute.
Police sources said investigators delayed questioning Bale for a day to avoid disrupting the opening of the box-office blockbuster.
“It would have been wrong to wreck the premiere over a complaint which we do not yet know is founded in truth,” the source said.
PHOTOS: Bale at London Premerie
Bale said in a statement released by his London attorneys that he “denies the allegation,” and that he cooperated with police, giving an “account in full of the events in question.”
He was not formally charged, but was asked to return in September, pending the results of the inquiry.
A police spokesman would only say – without referring to Bale by name – that “a 34-year-old man attended a central London police station this morning by appointment and was arrested in connection with an allegation of assault.”
British police do not name suspects until they have been formally charged, which – unlike the US legal system – does not always go hand-in-hand with an arrest.
After he was released, he was ushered back to the Dorchester Hotel in the back of a black SUV with heavily tinted windows.
At her home in Wimborne, Dorset, on England’s southern coast, Bales’ sister Sharon – who works in technology – at first denied anything had happened.
“I don’t know what you mean or what you are talking about,” she said.
Upon further questioning, she changed her tune.
“Well, OK, there was an incident, but the police are dealing with it. It is an extremely sensitive situation and I don’t know how the press got hold of it. We don’t want the press to affect the investigation,” she said. “There is nothing more I can say.”
Bale’s mother – a former circus clown – told reporters from her home in Bournemouth, also on the southern coast, that there, indeed, had been a “family situation.”
“Yes, I was there [at the Dorchester] and, yes, there was a family situation, but the police are handling it and I cannot say anymore at the moment,” she said. “We didn’t call the police to the scene. I can’t say anymore, but we didn’t call the police.”
The night before he turned himself in, the actor appeared unfazed – if a bit low-key – alongside his co-stars Michael Caine, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Aaron Eckhart at the Odeon West End cinema in Leicester Square, for the film’s European premiere.
But in the press run-up to the highly anticipated film’s release, Bale indicated that life inside Batman’s rubber suit had made him appreciate his character Bruce Wayne’s transformation from a respected businessman to a violent vigilante.
“He truly becomes a beast when he is inside the Batman costume. You feel like you can achieve great violence very easily. You feel very defended, as well, and protected by it. And so, consequently, you get very aggressive once you’re inside of the suit,” he told NPR.
The film opened to a record $158.4 million box-office haul in its opening weekend in the United States. It earned another $24.5 million on Monday for a record four-day total of $182.9 million.
The film has sparked intense attention because of the riveting performance by the late Heath Ledger as The Joker.
Bale is noted for his intense performances – most notably as a yuppie serial killer in “American Psycho,” and as a factory worker who suffers from insomnia and hasn’t slept in years in “The Machinist,” a role for which he lost 60 pounds.
He first came to the fore as a child star when at the age of 13 he was selected for the lead role in Steven Spielberg’s World War II epic, “Empire of the Sun.”
“Dark Knight” is the second in the Caped Crusader series to feature Bale as Batman. He first appeared in 2005’s “Batman Begins.”
Post Wire Services and The Times of London