Los Angeles, July 10 :  Actor Christian Bale says he had a panic attack when he tried his Batman costume for the first time.

The 38-year-old was doing a dress rehearsal for the Batman trilogy - "The Dark Knight Rises" - when he thought he was going to have a nervous breakdown.

"I think the very first time I put on the suit, it was at the audition. It was Val Kilmer's (outfit from 1995's 'Batman Forever') so it didn't fit very well and the claustrophobia was just unbelievable. I stood there and I thought, 'I can't breathe. I can't think. This is too tight, this is squeezing my head. I'm about to have a nervous breakdown. I'm about to have a panic attack,'" he told USmagazine.

"I asked for 20 minutes by myself... and I stood there and thought, 'I'd really like to make this movie.I have to get through this moment'," he added.

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