Anne Hathaway felt "somewhat overwhelmed" by Christian Bale on the set of The Dark Knight Rises.

The Hollywood actress stars as Selina Kyle/Catwoman in Christopher Nolan's hotly-anticipated action movie, which sees Christian play Batman.

Anne was thrilled to work alongside the experienced actor.

"I felt so lucky that most of my scenes were with Christian because he's one of the world's greatest actors and he and Chris do have a shorthand. They have such an ease working together that it helped me relax, especially in the early days," she told SFX magazine.

"Here I am working with Christian Bale and Chris Nolan is directing me and Wally Pfister is lighting me and I'm in a catsuit. It was somewhat overwhelming.

"I think because Christian had been there for so long, he just was so calm, always quick to laugh and have a good time but at the same time was really serious about work. He set such a great example and it was just really easy to kind of fall in step."

Anne has laughed off being an action star hero. The brunette beauty says the fantasy elements of the film were bizarre at times.

"It's funny, the things that are so far outside the norm that you get used to, like doing flips and walking alongside Christian Bale, who's dressed as Batman and I'm dressed as Catwoman... and we're just talking like people do," she quipped.