Will Christian Bale Play The Villain In Spike Lee's OLDBOY?

Could Christian Bale be playing the villain in Spike Lee's Oldboy? According to Variety that could very well happen. With Bale now hard at work on his third and final Batman film for Christopher Nolan the big players are lining up hoping to secure his services once that picture wraps. Some of the projects - such as Darren Aronofsky's Noah - have been circulating with Bale linked to them for some time now but there are some fascinating new titles in there, too.

Titles such as Michael Mann's Gold - produced but not written by Paul Haggis - Clint Eastwood's A Star Is Born, and - yes - Spike Lee's upcoming remake of Oldboy.

Now, it must be noted right up front that Bale has committed to precisely none of these - at least not publicly, though Noah seems pretty likely - and none may come through but the fact that his name is out there on them all does provide a bit of a glimpse into the thinking of the producers of each.

And, really, it's hard to come up with a name better than Bale for Oldboy. He possesses the smooth charm and simmering intensity that the role requires. Even his Terminator era real life bursts of temper would feed the image needed for the part. I like this. I like this a lot. If not Bale I would hope for maybe a Tom Hardy but beyond that the list gets thin fairly quickly.

So let's assume this is correct and happens. If we've got Bale in there who do people like as the lead? Me, I'm pulling for Josh Brolin or Idris Elba.