Christian Bale Kept His Batman Mask

Christian Bale kept a special memento after filming his latest movie The Dark Knight -- his Batman mask.

The Hollywood hunk -- who reprises his role as the Caped Crusader alongside the late Heath Ledger in the new movie -- was desperate to keep the entire Batsuit, but only has room for the famous headgear.

He explains, "I kept the mask. I would love to keep the whole costume but I don't have room for the whole thing!"

Bale, 34, recently revealed he nearly turned down the role of the famed superhero because he felt the suit was too "claustrophobic".

He said, "I was standing on the back lot where they were creating the suit, and I had a few minutes to myself, staring up close in the mirror, just thinking, 'This isn't going to work. I'm claustrophobic, I can't breathe, I'm getting a headache already, and this is all going to go very badly.'

"I just said to myself, 'Breathe deeply for a few minutes. Try this out. Don't run around yelling and making an ass of yourself trying to pull the whole thing off.

"I just had flashes of saying, 'Well, I wasn't able to play that character, because I panicked every time I got in the suit.' "

The Dark Knight -- which also stars Michael Caine; Gary Oldman; Aaron Eckhart; Maggie Gyllenhaal; Morgan Freeman; and Heath Ledger -- is in theaters July 18.