Christian Bale misses co-star Heath Ledger deeply, and that he hopes their movie will be a celebration of his friend's life and work, PEOPLE reports.

Christian Bale misses co-star Heath Ledger deeply

"I want to talk about Heath," Bale told PARADE. "When you miss somebody, you want to speak about him. He was a good man, and I was glad to have spent time with him."

Ledger died in a Manhattan apartment in January at the age of 28.

"He was somebody who I'd been seeing on a daily basis for months," Bale says. "It takes a long time to accept that someone's gone, when all body and mind are telling you that this is somebody you will know for a great deal of time. He was something of a kindred spirit to myself."

Bale and Ledger bonded over their daughters. Matilda, Ledger's daughter with Michelle Williams, turns 3 this fall. Bale's own daughter is 3 now.

"Much of it has to do with my respect for his daughter, whom he loved so dearly and whom he would talk about so often," Bale says of his closeness with Ledger. "For me, that is of incredible importance."

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