When an Actor Is Too Dedicated - Christian Bale

Christian Bale is dedicated he's easily one of the best lead actors this century and he's got the movies and performances to back that up but what sets him apart is his insane ability to just become the character he plays the amount of work he puts in behind the scenes is just unreal this guy goes from being super skinny to totally ripped to even sporting a full-on belly in no time and it's not just about his physical Transformations he Dives deep into each character studies them meticulously and fully immerses himself in them he gets so into it that stays in character even when the cameras aren't rolling speaking in the character's accent during interviews and even using that accent when flipping out at crew members and leaked behind the scenes audio I ain't walking on the shed if you're still hired it's like what RDJ said man I don't drop character till I've done a DVD commentary so let's take a trip through Christian Bale's career and highlight all those moments where he went above and beyond the crazy physical changes the behavioral changes and how he put himself through whatever the characters went through we'll be going chronologically starting with his breakout role in American psycho I guess it's a little unfair to label it as his breakout role because some point to 1987's Empire of the Sun instead where a 13-year-old Christian Bale snagged a major role in a Steven Spielberg film out of 4,000 auditions he got picked and even at that young age he already showed signs of his dedication his character was often out of breath or in a rush so Bale would run and jump around for minutes before each scene to also be breathless Spielberg wasn't initially sold on Bale's audition but after working with him he did a complete 180 his career took a sweet time to get going though in the '90s he appeared in a few notable films like newes Little Women and velvet Goldmine but in 200000 we got one of his most iconic performances as Patrick baitman an American Psycho surprisingly Bale almost missed out on playing baitman to Leonard DiCaprio the studio thought Bale wasn't famous enough but for various reasons including shielding Leo and his fang girls from a project like this it led to it falling through only the director Mary Heron was pushing for Bale people even warned him against taking the role saying that it would be career suicide to play such a villain but he dove in anyway and it wasn't for the money truth is they paid him the absolute minimum legally allowed since they didn't really want him it was a tough time financially for him and he even recalled sitting in the makeup trailer and the makeup artists were laughing at him because he was getting paid less than any of them but this didn't stop Bale from committing to the character if anything it did the exact opposite American Psycho was his first major physical transformation for a role he claimed that he never hit the gym before prepping for that part yet he whipped up a physique that had all of us taking notes of his morning routine but beyond the physique he was 100% committed to the role no socializing on set and his native Welsh accent didn't slip out until filming wrapped the whole time you're sort of uh just self-obsessed when he finally dropped the American accent everyone was shocked thinking he was an American the entire time to prepare for the character he drew inspiration from Tom Cruz's interview with Letterman where Cruz had an intense friendliness with nothing behind the eyes Khloe Savin felt he was so consumed by the role that she thought he didn't like her because he seemed like he didn't want to socialize at all and get this most of his co-stars thought he was a terrible actor one of the worst they've ever seen but their opinions changed after the film released and then there's the story that earned him the nickname Robo actor from the director during the famous business card scene Bale broke out into a sweat at the exact same moment in each take this guy somehow was able to control his sweat glands on Q we call it his breakout role but back then the film only did right with critics and nothing too crazy at the box office it wasn't until later thanks to DVD sales that it became a cult classic and these days it's gained a huge following especially among the sigma male crowd for his next handful of films Bale played it a bit safer but 2004 brought us The Machinist where Bale went all out really pushing his body to the extreme after a few films and performances that didn't quite satisfy him he was itching for a role to dive into head first and to obsess over money wasn't the driving Factor here as there was barely any involved he wanted to challenge a role that would push him to his limits so in The Machinist Bale stepped into the shoes of Trevor Resnik a machinist grappling with insomnia that's driven him to an extreme level of thinness for this part Bale standing at 6 ft tall lost 62 lbs dropping down to a weight of 120 lb that kind of weight loss considering his height is seriously unhealthy pretty much mirroring what his character was going through his diet well at first it was just whiskey and cigarettes but then it became a daily ration of black coffee an apple and a can of tuna he was described as a walking skeleton but surprisingly he wanted to go even further aiming for a weight as low as 99 lb he mentioned that he enjoyed the process of shedding weight feeling a Euphoria from pushing his body to the extreme but fortunately the filmmaker stepped in to stop him from going any lower seeing how frightening he looked at 120 lbs on set that Target weight was initially intended for a shorter actor but Bale really wanted to test his limits however dropping that much weight had its downsides Bale struggled with action scenes admitting watching me run is a joke because I have no leg muscles he found himself sleeping only 2 hours a night but had a lot more mental energy spending many hours reading he could even read for 10 hours straight with no problem despite the challenges the film received positive reviews with much of the praise directed at Bale's incredible performance but for his next role he wouldn't just need to reverse the weight loss he'd have to pack on much more in 2005 Batman Begins hit the screens with Christian Bale Dawning the roles of both Bruce Wayne and Batman now we all know Bruce Wayne being a superhero means he's pretty jacked so it's no surprise that those behind the movie were a bit nervous after seeing Bale's weight in The Machinist there were about six months between rapping The Machinist and Bale's screen test for Batman Begins and Christopher Nolan had only one piece of advice for him become as big as you could be Bale hired a personal trainer and spent the next half a year weightlifting and binging on pizza and ice cream he took it a bit too far actually putting on a whopping 100 lb except the weight was too much for the role and because of the diet he was on a lot of it was F fat so before filming kicked off he trimmed down shedding around 30 lb of that excess weight to hit a more muscular 190 lb frame a pretty stark contrast from the look in his previous movie keeping in line with his dedication Bale fully embraced the character reportedly even having Bruce Wayne written on his trailer instead of his own name and you can bet his Welsh accent was on the download during all the interviews promoting the film he was using Bruce Wayne's American accent there's no need to have a dumb movie who knows why he does it maybe to avoid people wondering why Batman sounds well sure perhaps to help stay in character or maybe he's just waiting until they finish the DVD commentary as for Batman's grally voice that was somewhat Bale's idea he played Batman as a rage filled Monster not like the typical Batman performances we've seen before Nolan liked the concept and they went for it giving Batman a growling voice that made Bale lose his own voice a few times during filming and the bat suit Bale hated it from day one he found it constrictive and uncomfortable which oddly enough added to his performance keeping him in a perpetually foul mood perfect for Batman Bale went all in performing many of his own stunts and prepping for weapons training Wing Chung Kong Fu and the kez fighting method the film ended up scoring rave reviews and did decently at the box office surprising Skeptics who doubted Bale star power in the absence of classic Batman villains but we now know that two more sequels with bale will be green lit that will go on to become huge box office hits in 2006 Christian Bale took one of his wildest film Productions with Rescue Dawn directed by wner Herzog having herzog's name on your resume automatically puts you in the running for the most dedicated actor award for those who don't know her Sox's Productions are downright crazy sure they've toned down now with all the industry safety rules but Rescue Dawn felt like a throwback to the Wilder days you know what production is going to be nuts when your first sit down with Herzog involves him asking how you feel about swimming in snake infested waters sleeping in the jungle at night waking up with leeches on you and biting off a snake's head and Christian Bale being Christian Bale took the part he stars as deer dangler a US pilot shot down in the Vietnam war and taken as a prisoner a true story that Herzog even made a documentary about beforehand to get into the role of a p Bale only had to lose 55 lb slimming down to a mere 135 lb to show the prisoners losing weight while Starving in captivity they shot the film in reverse because it's easier to gain weight than it is to lose it but losing the weight was just the tip of the iceberg they filmed in Thailand over 44 in tense days Herzog put Bale through all sorts of things that would make most of us cringe just thinking about them Bale often went into snake infested waters wrestled with a real snake before switching it out for a fake one when biting its head treed Barefoot Through the Jungle dealt with leeches ate real maggots and got tied up and yanked around by a buffalo and here's the kicker every unpleasant thing Herzog asked the actors to do he offered to do it himself to prove that it was safe he's known as one of the most Hands-On directors earning heaps of Praise from everyone except maybe Claus kinsky there were scenes where the actors including Bale were chained up for hours causing in a lot of anxiety and while Bale took the brunt of it the whole casting crew in Thailand faced a lot of challenges to wrap up the film not many actors these days go all in like Bale did for this film I mean how many would hang upside down by their feet with an ant nest on their face and get spun around during this wild stunt non-native English speakers spun baale but when Herzog tried to get them to stop they thought he was urging them to speed up with ants crawling over his face Bale endured this mishap leaving him unable to stand straight for days despite all the madness the film did well at the box office and earned some pretty great reviews with most of the praise going to both Herzog and Bale critics lauded Bale for completely immersing himself in the role and Herzog enjoyed his time working with bale saying that he recognized him as one of this generation's best talents long before he played Batman bal's career really started to hit its stride getting all sorts of interesting roles in 2008 he suited up once again as Batman in The Dark KN but this time around he barely had to gain weight although still fit he didn't pack on as much muscle to fit in the leaner more flexible back bat suit design this new suit allowed him to pull off the keyy fighting method way better than in Batman Begins he continued to do a ton of his own stunts even having to persuade the filmmakers to let him perform the scenes where Batman surveys the city on the rooftop instead of using a stunt double but let's face it Bale's dedication to the role kind of took a backseat to Heath Ledger's iconic performance as the Joker he absolutely stole the show in that film now this next part doesn't show his dedication as an actor that well but in the summer of 2008 while filming Terminator Salvation a leaked audio recording caught Bale cussing and going off on the cinematographer Shane hurlbut poor hurlbut was wandering into the scene to fiddle with the lighting until Bale had enough and took it out on him verbally even threatening to quit Bale has apologized since then but it was kind of funny hearing most of his rant in the American accent he used for the film no no don't shut me up now that's some Next Level commitment in 2010 Bale once again transformed his weight for the fighter Bale lost an additional 30 lbs on top of the waight he had already lost for Terminator Salvation to play Dicky Eckland boxer Mickey Ward's half brother and trainer Dicky was a crack addict during the movie's timeline hence Bale's weight loss he hung out a lot with the real Dicky to nail down the behavior and state in character the whole time on set the film did very well at the box office and with critics especially praising Bale's performance so much so that he snagged the best supporting actor Oscar for this role and unlike many Oscar winners who might take it easy after winning or kind of get unlucky Bale's career wasn't slowing down he was about to become much bigger literally fast forward to 2013 and we got American Hustle where Bale played sleazy conman Irving Rosenfield who was roped into a sting operation involving the government to slip into character he put on a hefty 43 lbs but unlike his previous weight gains he wasn't aiming for a muscular frame from his 135 lbs in the fighter he went up to 190 lb for The Dark Knight Rises and then up again to over 230 lb for this roll and it wasn't just the weight gain though Bale shaved his head rocked a comb over and SP sported a slouched posture that even led to a herniated disc Bale was so transformed that Robert dairo had to pull the director aside to ask who he was even though he had already met Bale before besides the physical overhaul he spent loads of time dissecting footage of con artist Mel Weinberg and all that hard work paid off the film was a hit at the box office and wowed critics scoring Bale a best actor Oscar nomination but the weight gain did put him at risk of losing his next role as Moses in Exodus God and Kings he managed to shed the excess weight in time for the film but it wouldn't have been the end of the world if he skipped out on that one in 2015 Christian Bale starred as Michael bur and Adam McKay's The Big Short bur the hedge fund manager who foresaw the impending crash of the US housing market might not have required any physical Transformations but Bale still nailed the role he spent loads of time with the real bu picking up his quirks like walking barefoot in the office and even borrowed his cargo shorts and t-shirt to wear in the film talk about getting into character but his physical dedication to the role was seen with the drumming scene where he performed it himself self despite having a terrible knee injury McKay had to have doctors on standby when filming it the movie did great on all fronts and even scored Bale and Oscar nod for best supporting actor and just 3 years later Bale teamed up with McKay again for vice he played former US vice president Dick Cheney before and during the bush presidency and man he looked nothing like himself he bulked up around 40 lb weighing at around 225 bleached his eyebrows shaved his head and even splurged on a $3,000 neck extra exercise machine to beef up his neck for the part then came the intense research mannerisms OD Libs and policies he knew at any given moment in his life so he could keep up with McKay's improvisational directing style bal's deep dive into Cheney's world even saved McKay's life Cheney had a lot of heart problems and Bale's research on heart attacks gave McKay the heads up on symptoms like feeling queasy and stomach pain well not long after that conversation McKay who's been very out of shape as of late began to feel these symptoms and was rushed to the hospital luckily because he got there so soon any heart damage was averted the film though not a hit at the box office or with critics got Bale another Oscar nod and a Golden Globe win but just a year later B stunned everyone in Ford V Ferrari losing a jaw-dropping 70 lbs to become Ken miles Ford's leemon driver during the 60s when he turned up on set looking skinny just 7 months after vice's filming wrapped up Matt Damon was shocked Damon asked him about his diet and Bale just casually answered I didn't eat this drop in weight was one of his biggest and after it he declared that he'd know longer do these kind of weight fluctuations for rolls as it was becoming more and more unhealthy as he was getting older Bale also took race driving lessons at a school whose founder was friends with the real Ken miles so he was getting a two for one deal in preparing for the role by hearing some old stories about miles but despite the lessons Bale didn't do most of the driving scenes the purpose of these lessons were to give him an understanding of the mental and physical challenges a driver goes through the movie did pretty good with the crowds and critics though no Oscar nod this time despite all the praise he got and that was really his last performance that showed us how dedicated he can be but that's not to say more won't come he only appeared in three films since then but he still gave each of his performances his all he really stood out in Amsterdam and Thor love and thunder as Gore even though both films were poorly reviewed but it seems his wild physical Transformations are a thing of the past even his staying character Antics tone down a bit where Natalie Portman mentioned he'd show up as Gore looking scary and then just go hey what's up but acting like Gore 24/7 off camera takes a special kind of dedication and almost an insanity that maybe Jared Leto could pull off so there you have it all the times Christian Bale went all out for his roles what's your take on it think there's an actor who's even more dedicated share your thoughts below if you enjoyed the video make sure to leave a like And subscribe and check out our patreon for even more content but until next time have a good one

Channel: FilmStack

Views: 1,433,797

Keywords: christian bale, american psycho, christian bale jacked, christian bale muscles, christian bale skinny, christian bale fat, american psycho sigma, the machinist, batman begins, the dark knight, rescue dawn, real stunts, the fighter, christian bale oscar, american hustle, the big short, christian bale on set, bale angry rant, bale real accent, vice, ford v ferrari, Patrick Bateman bale, Gorr bale, amsterdam, David o russel, physical transformations

Id: 300kfi9AE-s

Length: 15min 50sec (950 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 04 2024