Christian Bale
'Dark Knight' star Christian Bale has been the center of cinematic buzz not just his for upcoming role as Batman in Christopher Nolan's "The Dark Knight Rises," but also for a China car chase after a visit to blind human rights activist Chen Guangcheng turned sour. Reuters

More theatrical: The Dark Knight Rises trailer or a real-life Christian Bale China car chase?

A Christian Bale China trip turned sour after the British actor and the star of the next spring's much-anticipated Dark Knight Rises attempted to visit blind lawyer and human rights activist Chen Guangcheng in the city of Linyi and got into a brief altercation with Chinese guards, according to reports.

As Bale approached the home of Guangcheng, who has been under house arrest in China for over a year after being released from serving a four-year prison sentence for damaging property and organizing a mob to disturb traffic according to reports, Chinese guards told Bale and the CNN camera crew that tagged along to go away.

Why can I not visit this free man? Bale asked repeatedly, and all of a sudden, punches were thrown as Bale and the crew tried to make their way past the guards. The fight ended cinematically to the say the least, almost Batman-like, with a car chase.

According to British newspaper Metro, Bale was in China to promote his most recent film The Flowers Of War, China's most expensive film ever made that will be entered into next year's Academy Awards. Bale also heard of the work Guangcheng has done and admired it so much that he had to visit him.

I'm not being brave doing this, Bale said during the car chase to the CNN crew. The local people who are standing up to the authorities and insisting on going to visit Chen and his family and getting beaten up for it and my understanding is getting detained for it, I want to support what they're doing.

He's been following the story and he was just really moved by the story and what this man's trying to do and it's impossible [to see him], said Bale's representative told to The Huffington Post, and he thought, he was there for work, and he would try and see if he could help. [It was] just really being moved on a personal level and that is what he chose to do.

Upon hearing of the escapade, Twitter users poked some fun at Bale and his Dark Knight, Batman alter-ego. One user wrote, Seems Christian Bale got manhandled by the Chinese cops. Should have known bats are considered a delicacy.

Another user, in China, posted: Our village authorities really are formidable. They can even stop Batman.

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