BATMAN BEGINS: MICHAEL CAINE AND KATIE HOLMES

The Continuum continues its series of features on Batman Begins today with a roundtable interview with stars Katie Holmes (Rachel) and Michael Caine (Alfred).

Following is an edited transcription of the interview.

Question: Were you a fan of the Batman franchise prior to being involved in this project?

Caine: Well, they were all sort of different. They all sort of came out at different times, so there was nothing to be a fan of. But I saw them all and liked most of them, I must say, yeah. But when I got this script, it was called "Batman Begins," and I wondered about that. And then when I read the script I realized it was true: Batman begins. It's a whole new thing and a whole new way, the way Christopher (Nolan, director) has done it. It's what made me do it. It wouldn't be much point to just playing an ordinary butler in another Batman, you know, coming in and saying, "Dinner is served." But the way it was written and the way it was treated and my respect for Christopher Nolan as a director, having seen the other two pictures he made. I was also intrigued that the man who directed Insomnia and Memento would be directing a big-budget movie like this, and they trusted him with $180 million. But I figured he could do it, and it was so different that I loved it. I've seen the picture now and I really love it.

Question: Alfred is a historical character from the comics and Rachel is unique to the film. How did you approach characters?

Holmes: : It was a thrill to get the role of Rachel. What I liked about her was her strength and she's the type of person that you can tell she's worked hard for everything she's ever gotten. She's very tough and she wants to save Gotham City and make a difference. There was so much back story already there: She grew up with Bruce; she grew up in that house; her mom was a servant. So it was pretty much all there on the page. It was fun to think about different experiences Rachel and Bruce had together growing up and how that came into play as they got older and added into their closeness.

Caine: My one, I did a back story on mine. I wanted to be the toughest butler you've ever seen, not the normal English, suave butler. And so I made him an SAS sergeant, which is a very, very tough British army unit. He's wounded; he didn't want to leave the army. He became the sergeant in charge of the sergeant's cantina or sergeant's mess as it's called in the British army. And he got found by Bruce Wayne's father, who wanted the toughest butler he could find, and that's what he got. And I used the voice of my original sergeant when I joined the British army. It's his voice. That's the back story, and I'm waiting for Christopher Nolan to do Alfred: The Beginning. (laughs)

Question: Are you signed for another installment?

Caine: Only mentally.

Holmes: : Yes, exactly.

Caine: We'd both do it in a minute. But we're not signed.

Question: How was the experience filming this movie?

Holmes: : Great.

Caine: It was great fun. It was a good movie to work on. And it was quiet. There's none of the shouting. He's a very quiet man, Christopher. When he directs -- you know, I'm a bit deaf -- I kept saying, "What did he say?"

Holmes: : I did the same. I know.

Caine: He's so quiet. You think, "I'm going deaf." But I'm not. He's just quiet. What you get from Christopher is he's very quiet, but you better do exactly what you're supposed to do, otherwise his voice might get louder. So you do it and hope he doesn't notice anything. And that's it. He's a wonderful director.

Holmes: : A wonderful leader on the set.

Question: Christian Bale said when he put on the costume for the first time he saw himself as an animal. What was your reaction when you saw him for the first time?

Caine: He looked like an animal, didn't he? He looked like a bat, and we made him. No, Alfred and Batman make the uniform. Obviously we didn't make the uniform. The first time I saw it, I opened a cupboard on the set, and it was in there and made me jump. It was just sitting there. I think it's the most sinister Batman outfit I've ever seen. It's very sinister. Very hard, and it's not shiny. Batman was always shiny. And the Batmobile was shiny. But this looks like, you know ...

Holmes: : Real.

Caine: The Batmobile, for instance, looks like you'd be safer on the outside than driving it. You could die driving the bloody thing. Better to run away from it.

Question: What do your characters fear, and what do you fear?

Holmes: : I don't think Rachel fears anything in this movie. And I don't fear anything, so it works out.

Caine: My main fear in the movie is that Batman will lose his moral convictions and get carried away with the power he has. In real life, I'm afraid of heights and people who get moral convictions, if they get carried away.

Question: Katie, how do you stay grounded?

Holmes: : I'm happy.

Question: What makes you happy?

Holmes: : I'm so excited about Batman coming up this summer. I just saw the movie last week and I'm thrilled with it and excited to be promoting it and happy for the world to see it. I'm really happy about my personal life and totally in love. I'm a very lucky woman.

Question: What did Tom Cruise think about "Batman"?

Holmes: : He loved it. He loved the movie.

Question: We saw him in the hotel. Did he come out to support you?

Holmes: : Yeah, yeah.

Caine: They were kissing in the corridor.

Holmes: : (giggles) Yes, we were.

Question: Did you say anything to them?

Caine: Oh, I've known Tom a long time. I know him pretty well.

Question: Michael, you literally wrote the book on acting. Is there anything left for you to learn on a movie set?

Caine: Oh, I learn the whole time. I think it would be dull if I thought I was going to work and wouldn't find something new. We always learn. What did I learn on this movie? Stay out of the way of the bats ... keep your head down.

Question: Katie, you said you were intimated with working with these actors and it was some of your best work. Where do you want to go from here?

Holmes: : I'm really proud of this film and I had such a great time working with these amazing actors. I like being part of good movies and telling stories that mean something to me. I also like playing characters that I look up to.

Question: The cast is almost entirely British. Why did he cast an American as the love interest?

Holmes: : You'll have to ask him.

Caine: The market.

Holmes: : But I'm glad ... It's me, Michael, it's me.

Caine: I didn't mean it like that.

Question: What was the first movie you saw Michael in? How do you get over the intimidation of working with him?

Holmes: : Alfie.

Caine: I've come up in the world because I'm now called Alfred.

Holmes: : Alfie was my first movie, and Michael, he made me laugh.

Caine: We had a lot of laughs on the movie. You have to.

Question: Any thoughts on how you'd like to see your characters developed for sequels?

Caine: Longer. Bigger, I'd like it to be a bigger character.

Holmes: : Yes, more screen time.

Caine: More screen time. Yes.

Question: What was it like working with Christian?

Caine: Oh, he's great to work with. Completely dedicated. Physically, if you saw what he did with himself. He's so big. I'd seen him in American Psycho and when they said, Chrisian, I said, ³He's kind of thin for Batman.²

Holmes: : And he got thinner.

Caine: I didn't know about it. Otherwise, I would have freaked out if I had seen that, The Machinist. But then when I walked on the set there's Arnold Schwarzenegger standing there.

Question: Katie, is there another comic-book franchise you would like to see yourself involved in? Wonder Woman or something like that?

Holmes: : I really likeŠ I loved working on this movie, Batman Begins. I loved this story and I'd love to do another Batman movie.

Question: Cillian was creepy in the movie. How was that acting opposite him?

Holmes: : He was creepy in the movie, wasn't he?

Caine: He was incredible, wasn't he. I'd never come across him before. I never even met him in the movie. I had no scenes with him. I met him the other day in London when we were doing this.

Question: It seemed like you hardly had any eye contact in your scenes together.

Holmes: : Well, that's because he was playing a criminal. That's why. It was wonderful working with Cillian. He's a great actor.

Caine: You see, I didn't work with him.

Holmes: : He was great. Yeah, we had a nice time.

Caine: Boy, he was creepy in the movie.

Holmes: : I didn't like that mask. I mean, I liked it, but I think it was creepy.

Question: For both, what was your most surreal moment on set?

Caine: For me, it was when I walked into the Batcave for the first time, which was a set at Shepperton Studios on this big sound stage, which, coincidentally, was the first place I ever played a scene anywhere in any movie. It was the same place. It was so weird. I made a tiny little film called A Hill in Korea, a British Army picture, when I was very young and I had eight lines in the picture and I screwed up six of them. It was on this stage that I said the very first line in a movie and then there was this great big bat place. And then, I said ³Those are great false bats in the ceiling.² He said, ³They're not false Michael, they're real. They're asleep. Don't wake them up, whatever you do.² And then the waterfalls started, and everything. It was this massive set, really massive.

Holmes: : I think the first time I walked into Gotham City, because that was in this huge hangerŠ

Caine: Oh, that was incredible. It was an airship hanger. Remember the old airships? That was big, that would take two airships and that massive Gotham set was about an eighth of that building, wasn't it? There was masses of it left over. It's an incredible place.

Holmes: : It was so much fun.

Caine: I've got news for you about the sequel and I haven't told anyone this. They haven't pulled that set down.

Holmes: : I know.

Caine: There may be a sequel. (Laughs)

Holmes: : We should just go hang there.

Caine: Yeah. The set is still there. And it's really Chicago. It was very funny. I'd just done a picture in Chicago called The Weather Man with Nicolas Cage, which is not out yet. And then I went straight back to Chicago to shoot, and I was in exactly the same place, but it was Gotham City. And it was quite weird. Quite strange.

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