Christian Bale learned to sing and play guitar for his new film in which he plays Bob Dylan, he said at the premiere last night.

But the Welsh-born star of American Psycho and Batman Begins does not think he has a future as a musician.

The 33-year-old was speaking at the premiere of I'm Not There, an unconventional journey into the life and times of Dylan, which sees six actors portray the singer-songwriter.

Bale, who is famous for his method acting, said he had listened to CDs and seen DVDs, scrapbooks and pictures to research the role but never wanted to do an impersonation.

"(Director Todd Haynes) sent me the script - I saw that it was completely chaotic and confusing, I didn't bother reading it, I read little bits and said, 'yeah sure'."

He said he had been keen to work with the director who he also acted under in the film Velvet Goldmine.

He said Haynes had told him not to bother trying to do an impersonation but had sent him lots of materials to research the part.

"I had people teach me how to sing and play guitar and all that," he said.

When asked if he had learned guitar from scratch he replied: "I did but it was crap."

He said the director told him to play Dylan as "whatever you feel he represents".

Bale arrived for the premiere at the Odeon West End, London, to screams and cheers from hundreds of fans, along with his wife Sibi Blazic.

Dressed in a black shirt with black trousers and trainers, and with his hair swept back like Patrick Bateman, the yuppie serial killer in American Psycho, he spent more than five minutes talking to the crowd and signing autographs.

He is in London filming the fourth movie in the Batman series - The Dark Knight - but he did not want to talk about that project.

For Batman Begins he reportedly gained 45kg of muscle and for his role in The Machinist he is said to have lost 27kg, making him famous for his dedicated performances.

Art house director Haynes said working with Bale on Velvet Goldmine had been one of the highlights of his career.

He said he was an "amazing actor and such a generous person".

He added that as far as he was aware Dylan had not yet seen the film but was in possession of a DVD.

He said after the initial contact with Dylan the elusive star had not interfered at all with the film.

The film is released in the UK on December 21.

Last night's premiere was part of The Times BFI London Film Festival, which runs until November 1.

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