Christian Bale was warned it'd be 'career suicide' to star in one of his most iconic movies

Christian Bale revealed he received 'lots of calls' trying to put him off playing one of his most iconic movie roles.

With a career spanning decades, Bale has played a plethora of roles from heroes to baddies - it seems like there's nothing he can't do.

However, there was one role the 49-year-old was warned against taking on, despite how the film the character is within has since become a cult classic.

But what role could it possibly be? Start guessing now.

In an interview with author Brett Easton Ellis and director Mary Herron in 2000, Bale revealed he had 'an awful lots of calls' warning him the role in the question 'was going to be career suicide'.

The role? That of a particularly wicked villain.

"[They said] once you play a villain like that you never get to play anything else, because you're stuck in everyone's imagination as that person," Bale explained.

Lions Gate Films

Bale has played a whole host of villains in his career, including Walter Wade Jr. in Shaft, Patrick Bateman in American Psycho and Gorr the God-Butcher in Thor: Love and Thunder.

None have killed Bale's career as he was warned - the actor still very much alive and kicking in the industry - recently starring in thriller The Pale Blue Eye.

However, which role was the most feared by his friends and work acquaintances as being a risky character to shake loose of and not be plagued by for the rest of his career?

Lions Gate Films

Bale was warned about taking on the role of banking executive and serial killer Patrick Bateman in 2000 movieAmerican Psycho.

The movie's synopsis as per IMDB reads: "A wealthy New York City investment banking executive, Patrick Bateman, hides his alternate psychopathic ego from his co-workers and friends as he delves deeper into his violent, hedonistic fantasies."

It's an iconic role and has become a favorite among fans of Bale - with an impressive 85 percent audience score on Rotten Tomatoes - but thankfully it hasn't prevented anyone from being able to see Bateman as any other character.

While Bateman is ultimately a psychopath and baddie, Bale argued in the interview: "But Bateman is not a... I could never really view him just as a villain pure and simple because he's so ridiculous. He's not your ordinary kind of Hannibal Lecter, scary villain because you laugh at him, never with him at all.

"So I was never really concerned and didn't take any of those 'career suicide' threats seriously. In fact, it was sort of exciting in many ways."