Christian Bale cannot understand why anyone would cast him in a romantic comedy.

Christian Bale

Christian Bale

The 43-year-old actor has starred in a number of huge Hollywood successes, including 'American Psycho', 'The Big Short' and as Batman in Christopher Nolan's 'The Dark Knight' trilogy - but there is one genre he would never want to do.

Bale said: "I was asked to do a romantic comedy recently and I thought they'd lost their minds.

"Cats have those insane half hours every evening. I think it must have been that for the production company.

"I don't know why anyone would ever offer me a romantic comedy. I find 'American Psycho' very funny."

'American Psycho' was based on Bret Easton Ellis' novel and saw Bale play axe-wielding Patrick Bateman.

And the actor admitted he was "laughing straight away" when he read the book.

He told the Guardian newspaper: "When I read the book, I was laughing straight away. I'd no idea people saw it as anything other than satire."

Bale is known for his fluctuating waistline and while filming 'The Machinist', the actor was almost unrecognisable after losing 60lb for the role.

Despite this, Bale admitted it was an "amazing experience".

He said: "It's an amazing experience doing that. When you're so skinny that you can hardly walk up a flight of stairs... you're, like, this being of pure thought.

"It's like you've abandoned your body. That's the most Zen-like state I've ever been in my life. Two hours sleep, reading a book for 10 hours straight without stopping... unbelievable.

"You couldn't rile me up. No rollercoaster of emotions. As soon as you start putting the food back in your stomach, the rollercoaster comes back."