Christian Bale starred in a film.
Christian Bale . Bale went on to receive greater commercial recognition for his starring role as Batman in Christopher Nolan 's Batman Begins ( 2005 ) , The Dark Knight ( 2008 ) and The Dark Knight Rises ( 2012 ) . His portrayal of Dicky Eklund in the David O. Russell-directed biographical film The Fighter ( 2010 ) , earned him critical acclaim and a number of awards , including the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor . Empire of the Sun is a 1987 American epic coming-of-age war film based on J. G. Ballard 's semi-autobiographical novel of the same name . It was directed by Steven Spielberg and stars John Malkovich , Miranda Richardson , Nigel Havers , and Christian Bale .