With speculation at fever pitch for the movie version of "Fifty Shades of Grey," everyday brings more and more actors either expressing their interest or being mentioned by fans as potential options to play E.L. James' S&M millionaire and philanthropist Christian Grey. No judgment here. Like Anastasia, we just can't help ourselves.

And while the past few days have seen strong fan-made trailers for versions with Ryan Gosling, Matt Bomer, Aleksander Skarsgard, and Henry Cavill, today we have a new fan favorite for the CEO of Grey enterprises: Christian Bale.

While Bale might be a little older than the other actors' names that've been mentioned for the part, he certainly fits the description for Grey. A train of thought we stumbled down when we watched the Ryan Gosling trailer, actually.

And it seems as though we haven't been the only ones to wonder how Bale would fit. A recent Facebook poll, for The Periscope Post, found Bale as the favorite to play Christian Grey with 33% of the vote (followed by Robert Pattinson with 17% and Gosling with 14% of the vote).

The poll, which surveyed 2,229 online users, also found some long shots, such as comedian Zack Galifianakis and actors Michael Fassbender, as supposed favorites to audition for the coveted role.

Thomas D. Gommes, Founder and Publisher of The Periscope Post said, "Handsome, young and charming Christian Bale has the ideal characteristics needed for the role of Christian Grey. "Men want to be him and women want to be with him - it is therefore no surprise he took 1/3 of the votes."

And though it is true that 38-year-old Bale is a little older for the role, there are two characteristics from this actor that distinguish him from the rest of the pack we've already mentioned: he's known for the radical physical transformations he can endure from one part to the next ("The Machinist," "The Dark Knight,"), and the actor previously played a very similar role to Christian Grey in the 2000 adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis' novel "American Psycho" -- where Bale played Patrick Bateman, a Wall Street investment banker with a serial killer's instincts.

Although, that's not the only connection between Bale and Fifty Shades of Grey, Easton Ellis, the author of "American Psycho," who had been bidding himself relentlessly on Twitter to adapt E.L. James' novel to the big screen, was involved in controversy when the producers of the film declined his offer. We're guessing they might have been turned off both by Ellis' self-promotion and his comments that the star of "White Collar," Matt Bomer - an openly gay actor who also has been mentioned extensively as a potential Christian Grey - could not play the coveted part precisely because he is gay.

What do you think? Is the poll accurate? Is Christian Bale the best choice for the role? Who would play his Anastasia Steele? Lets us know what you think in the comments.