Christian Bale’s new film role was nearly terminated before it even began, as Shereen Low reports.

CHRISTIAN Bale is the epitome of confidence. Leaning forward on his elbows, reluctantly creasing his buttoned-up navy shirt, he gives the impression that his every move is carefully planned.

So it’s surprising to hear that he initially turned down his latest blockbuster Terminator Salvation – despite director McG flying across the world to meet him in Hong Kong, where he was filming The Dark Knight.

“I just didn’t see the point in making another chapter in this mythology, I just imagined there was never gonna be one,” admits the 35-year-old.

“We were in a teahouse in Hong Kong. There might be something in the tea, because I went in saying I wasn’t going to do it, and half an hour after leaving, I turned to my wife and said, ‘I’m going to go for it. I’m going to do this’.”

The Welsh-born star, who spent his childhood in England, Portugal and the US, and now lives with wife Sibi and four-year-old daughter Emmeline in Los Angeles, says his U-turn was mainly provoked by the reaction of others to the prospect of him starring in the film.

“What kind of nudged me was the number of people that were telling me, ‘You really shouldn’t touch that’. It always makes you think, ‘Why are you saying that? Now it’s making me more interested in it’.

“And what really swayed it were the people who tried to pay me a compliment by saying, ‘You’re too good for Terminator’. What do they mean I’m too good?

“There are so many different kinds of movies, and if I can make a great action movie that gives an audience the same excitement that I got from watching Terminator 2: Judgment Day, then I think that’s fantastic.”

In the fourth instalment of the series, made popular by Arnold Schwarzenegger in the late 80s and early 90s, Bale plays the adult John Connor, who was previously portrayed by Edward Furlong and Nick Stahl.

It’s his second foray into mainstream franchises, having played Batman in Christopher Nolan’s award-winning remakes.

While this film develops John’s story, its main focus is on Marcus Wright (newcomer Sam Worthington), a Death Row prisoner who undergoes a robotic transformation, and the war between the Terminators and humans.

“People come to a Terminator movie for the Terminators and the action. I don’t mind essentially playing second fiddle to a Terminator.”

The film had some unexpected publicity earlier this year, when a recording of Bale launching an expletive-laden tirade against a crew member on-set was leaked on YouTube.

The outburst, in July last year, happened around the same time that he was arrested for alleged assault on his mother and sister after the London premiere of The Dark Knight.

He has admitted he’s never been “laid back and cool” and always gets “very hot over things”.

Today though, Bale is on his best behaviour, even when asked about his penchant for mainstream action flicks.

“I think the human story has to be present (in Terminator), but I don’t want to be deluded and pretend this is supposed to be some analysis of the human condition. I mean it’s not.

“We’re making a movie that’s here to entertain people and give them a great, good time for 10 bucks for a couple of hours.

“I’ve got no shame whatsoever in doing that.”

The director McG has already signed up for another two sequels, with the next due in 2011, but Bale is reluctant to confirm his involvement.

“I don’t think about that,” he says with a shrug. And he insists he’s not interested in how the film performs at the box office.

He does, however, admit he’d love the chance to jump back into the Batsuit.

“I’m waiting to see if Chris Nolan is going to write a story that he feels is good enough that makes it worthwhile, so I’d be able to look ahead to that.

“It’s kind of a luxury as an actor to have any control over your time whatsoever, but in some small way, I’m starting to get there a little.”

Bale was born to be an actor and has family roots in the industry. He was cast by Steven Spielberg in Empire Of The Sun when he was eight, but made his mark as serial killer Patrick Bateman in American Psycho.

He has a reputation for not shying away from challenging roles. He lost 63lb to play an emaciated insomniac in The Machinist, he bulked up for the caped crusader, and then shed the pounds again for Rescue Dawn.

“I wouldn’t want to take it to that extreme again, because firstly it was necessary to lose weight for that role – not as much as I did – but it was a challenge mentally to see if I was capable of doing such a thing,” he says.

“I know that I can now, so there would need to be a certain gimmick if I was to do that all over again.”

His next film, The Fighter, sees him losing weight while staying fit.

But nor is he averse to gaining weight for a future role. “It sounds like so much more fun, getting to sit down with a big bowl of pasta and beer and wine, that sounds so good.

“Maybe we could do that if we do another Terminator - we could have a rotund John Connor!” he says, laughing.

People come to a Terminator movie for the action. I don’t mind playing second fiddle to a Terminator