Throughout the summer many have been buzzing on who they feel would make the perfect Christian Grey character in the movie version of E.L. James' "Fifty Shades of Grey." The newest potential candidate on the internet rumor mill for the role of the billionaire and philanthropist is Christian Bale from the "Dark Knight Rises."

Bale won a Christian Grey fan poll with 33% of the vote, according to the Periscope Post.  He even edged out Twilight's Robert Pattinson, who received 17% and had played the vampire role that the Grey character was apparently based off of.  Other favorite Ryan Gosling had only finished 3rd in the running with 14%.

The Founder and Publisher of the site commented on the results of the respective poll.

"Handsome, young and charming Christian Bale has the ideal characteristics needed for the role of Christian Grey.  Men want to be him - it is therefore no surprise he took 1/3 of the votes."

Although the 38-year-old would be a very shocking choice for the younger role, the age could always be modified for the right actor of the highly-anticipated flick.  An older actress could even potentially be cast to complement the British actor for the part, according to Gather.

Bale has been known to make drastic transformations in the past and even played a character much like Christian Grey in the big screen version of  another book in Bret Easton Ellis' "American Psycho." The psychological thriller had Bale donning the role of Patrick Bateman, a perfectionist Manhattan banker with hidden killer tendencies.

Up until this point, E.L. James and the producers attached to the future film version of the racy read have remained tight-lipped on the casting process.  However, only time will tell who ends up with the highly-anticipated role of Grey and also who will play his love interest, Anastasia Steele.

Tags: Christian Bale Fifty Shades Of Grey Movies