Fans left in tears as Christian Bale makes moving tribute to Heath Ledger

Christian Bale has left fans feeling emotional after paying tribute to Heath Ledger in an interview. In case you've never seen it, here's the trailer for the film in which they famously co-starred.

Ledger and Bale worked together on The Dark Knight, which was released in 2008. Ledger died just a few short months after production was completed.

The Australian actor’s role in the film was a huge critical success, leading to countless award nominations, including posthumously receiving the Oscar, Golden Globe and BAFTA awards for Best Supporting Actor.

In an interview with GQ, Bale spoke about many of his roles over the years, including that of Bruce Wayne – Batman.

Speaking about his co-star – Ledger played the Joker – Bale said: “Heath Ledger, oh my God what a performance and what a pleasure to have got to work with him and to see how much he put himself into the Joker.

“I was watching him going, 'This is absolutely fantastic. Are we in trouble here?'

“When Chris [director Christopher Nolan] and I first sat down we said, ‘You know the problem with Batman is that the villains are always more interesting."

Warner Bros.

“Batman is actually very close to being a villain himself, so let’s never let him become dull by comparison.

“Unfortunately, I was sitting there going, ‘I feel a little bit dull by comparison’, because Heath is just killing this.

“But I’m so proud of that film, I love it.

“The Dark Knight is absolutely extraordinary, and it was such a pleasure to have got to work with Heath.”

Bale's outpouring had fans feeling a bit teary themselves.

One said: "I'm still not over Heath Ledger dying."

Another commented: "Rest in Peace, a legend."

A third wrote: "RIP Heath Ledger. They always take the legends sooner."

In that same interview, Bale also explained how he got paid less for his iconic role in American Psycho than some of the make-up artists.

Discussing how he only bagged the part because Leonardo DiCaprio turned it down, Bale said: “Nobody wanted me to do it except the director,

“So they said they would only make it if they could pay me that amount.

“I was prepping for it when other people were playing the part.

“I was still prepping for it. And, you know, it moved on. I lost my mind. But I won it back.”

GQ

He added: “In honesty, the first thing was that I’d taken so long trying to do it, and they had paid me the absolute minimum they were legally allowed to pay me.

“And I had a house that I was sharing with my dad and my sister and that was getting repossessed.

“So the first thing was, ‘Holy crap. I’ve got to get a bit of money,’ because I’ve got American Psycho done, but I remember one time sitting in the make-up trailer and the make-up artists were laughing at me because I was getting paid less than any of them.

“And so that was my motivation after that, was just, ‘I got to get enough that the house doesn’t get repossessed.'”