Christian Bale Almost Turned Down Role To Play Batman

Christian Bale almost turned down the chance to play Batman - because the skin-tight suit made him claustrophobic.

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The 34-year-old - who suffers from the crippling fear of confined spaces - admits he found the famous costume hard to cope with when he first tried it on.

Bale - who played the comic book superhero in 'Batman Begins' and reprises his role in 'The Dark Knight' - said: "I was standing on the back lot where they were creating the suit, and I had a few minutes to myself, staring up close in the mirror, just thinking, 'This isn't going to work. I'm claustrophobic, I can't breathe, I'm getting a headache already, and this is all going to go very badly.'"

However, Bale faced his fears because he was determined to take on the role.

He added to Details magazine: "I just said to myself, 'Breathe deeply for a few minutes. Try this out. Don't run around yelling and making an a** of yourself trying to pull the whole thing off.'"

"I wasn't going to get it off by myself. It takes three people. I just had flashes of what an a**-hole I would feel like saying, 'Well, I wasn't able to play that character, because I panicked every time I got in the suit.'"