Christian Bale – Before Batman

                              June 2004 By Philip Berk

On the numerous occasions I’ve interviewed Christian Bale (for American Psycho, Shaft, and Reign of Fire) he’s not been easy to warm up to.

Condescending, distrustful, he’s gives the impression that he’d rather be somewhere else.

But at  the junket for for his latest, The Machinist, he’s surprisingly friendly and good humored.

Although not as happy and relieved as I am to see him looking robust and healthy.

For his role in The Machinist he lost a staggering 63 pounds.

Nothing can prepare you for the shock of seeing him in this emaciated state, accurately described by  the New York Times as “an authentic cinematic nightmare.”

After making his debut at thirteen in Steven Spielberg’s Empire of the Sun, he became a Hollywood heartthrob in Little Women and Portrait of a Lady, but looked for more challenging roles in England in films like Velvet Goldmine and Metroland. It was his role in American Psycho, however, as a Wall Street serial killer that made Hollywood take him seriously.

By casting him in forgettable supporting roles in bad movies.

Fortunately The Machinist breaks that mold.

And next up for him is the role of Bruce Wayne in Batman Begins.

At his press conference for The Machinist I remind him that when Matt Damon lost 40 pounds for Courage under Fire, he was told by a doctor he was lucky he hadn’t shrunk his heart. 

So how careful was he? I ask him.

“I wasn’t under medical supervision, if that’s what you mean, but I did consult a nutritionist as to which vitamins I should take. Because I felt okay, I assumed I was okay. Hopefully I was not wrong. On the other hand, when I put the weight back on again, and I started to feel terrible, I went to a doctor and, yeah, the numbers were all very bad. But that was because I had put the weight on too quickly and didn’t take the wise course there.”

How come?

“We ended filming The Machinist the end of July (2003) and I had to screen test for Batman Begins in early September. I had about five and a half, six weeks to put on the weight. Chris (Nolan, the director) felt it would be very difficult to convince the studio that I could play Batman if I was incredibly skinny, so I started gaining the weight.”

And that was a problem?

“Let me just say, I would not repeat it. I guess it was the excitement of being able to eat again. I just overdid it. I couldn’t stop. I was surprised because everybody had said to me, ‘You won’t be able to eat a whole lot because your stomach has shrunk, but that wasn’t true at all. I was like a bottomless pit, I kept shoveling it in, finishing everybody else’s leftover and then ordering desert.”

And in six weeks the weight returned?

“Actually by December I had put on 100 pounds. Chris had asked me to get as big as I could, but I had taken it too far because when I arrived, he looked at me and went, ‘Oh my God, you’re a bear, you can’t be this big. You have to lose a lot of weight.”

Which of course he did.

The role of Batman is a surprising choice for someone who’s always marched to a different drummer.

Doesn’t he worry that it might forever typecast him as a comic book hero?

“Certainly there’s a worry about that,” he replies, but jokingly he adds, “I think everybody has a slightly self destructive side to them. You play a character like Batman, and that’s all you ever are again. But I liked the challenge of proving that wrong, being able to do that and still create other characters, and because Chris was directing I knew it would be something very different. This Batman  is fueled by a great deal of rage. He has tremendous anger. He’s not a knight in shining armor.”

And then he reflects, “And because it’s probably the biggest film I will ever do, I wanted to make him more like a creature, more like a beast, than a human being. I didn’t want him to be just a funny bloke in a fancy-dress costume. And if I’m successful  hopefully I’ll be able  to get movies made that I genuinely love. It’s very much a wait and see thing.”

The character he plays in Machinist hasn’t slept or eaten in a year. 

Not even DeNiro went to that extreme for Raging Bull!

What  motivated him?

“I was at a point where I hadn’t worked in a year and a half. Then I received the script. Coincidentally I had watched Brad’s (the director Brad Anderson’s) earlier movie Session 9 a couple of weeks before, and that really impressed me. Usually when you read a script, you can become unfocused, but with the Machinist I found myself reading it very slowly, and I had to re-read it immediately. To me it was the perfect script and the character became an immediate challenge. But the  challenge was not just reducing body weight, I found it changed your mental state a great deal as well. The isolation that was needed in order to not be tempted by food and drink and everything that’s involved in socializing, helped me understand Trevor.(the character’s name.) I found that being that  skinny I was the calmest I’ve been in my entire life. Nothing would  make me anxious or angry or nervous, It was a real lesson to learn:  What you ingest affects your emotions.”

How long did it take him to lose the weight?

“About a year. From the time Brad asked me to do it until we started making the movie. But the last  four months were the most intensive. By that time you were  gradually shrinking your stomach, You ate less and less. You drank a lot of water to feel full, and you disciplined yourself mentally not to break the diet too often. I did on numerous occasions, but it actually got easier and easier as I became skinny.”

Did it change his personality?

“I certainly wasn’t the most exciting person to be around. But at the same time I was a very calming presence even though physically I was somewhat nerve-wracking to look at.”

Audiences would agree.

“I actually enjoyed being around people unless they were eating or drinking. It was a very comforting and happy time. I kind of miss it in a way.”

How did he cope with sleep deprivation?

“We shot the film in Spain, and before I left, I purposely stayed up for a few nights just to see how long I could stay awake. I don’t know if any of these things are really necessary, but I like to do them anyway, just to experience the state of mind. And I found that after two or three nights, I didn’t want to go back to sleep. Your mind’s in a whole different place. You’re thinking different thoughts. You’re feeling very different. In fact when I got down to the weight I needed for the role, I didn’t require much sleep. I appeared to be on the verge of sleep throughout the day, although it was really a way of relaxing my body, just sort  of sitting and thinking. Many of the crew thought I was asleep  but I never was. I was just sitting there with my eyes closed. And then come evening, I only needed to sit back, think, listen to music, or read, or draw. I would make do with two hours sleep a night. That was enough for the rest of the day.”

How did his wife react to the weight loss?

“She was concerned, but she was very supportive. She worried that I  might do permanent harm to my body, but she tried to make me feel fine about it although she did feel somewhat guilty when she was eating dinner in front of me. She lost some weight kind of in  sympathy, although I did catch her a couple of times putting her hand  in front of my mouth as I was waking up, testing to make sure I was still breathing. But in terms of the mental state, she’ll tell you  she misses Trevor. He was like her favorite character I’ve played.”

He usually won’t talk about his wife (they’ve been married almost five years) but two years ago he broke that rule after reading things about them that were “rude and upsetting.”

That’s when he told me she was “Yugoslavian, not in the business; incredibly stubborn and feisty, won’t take any crap whatsoever, and I love that.” 

They had met a a friend’s party and were married in Las Vegas because “they wouldn’t let us get married in a day in Ireland.”

What are some of her qualities he admires? I ask him this time,

“You know, I love her dearly. She’s done wonderful things in my life which has changed me incredibly, but I’d rather not talk about it.”

What about his family?

“My father (he passed away last year) had a kind of roaming spirit, and we always traveled. He had lived by himself since he was thirteen. He found Britain confining. So he moved around. Later I learned that much of it was actually forced on him. But it was always an exciting time of change and one that  prepared me for the lifestyle of an actor where you’re traveling a great deal  and dissatisfied to stay in one place for too long.”

And his sisters?  (He has three of them.)

“My sisters are very creative. One is a musician, the other one started acting long before I did. It wasn’t overly encouraged by my parents, but always seen as a possibility. My dad was quite an unconventional man. He liked that we had ideas and dreams about doing things other people laughed at and thought were crazy. He always encouraged that.”

For the record Christian  began acting when he was nine. His big break was winning the leading role over 4,000 other hopefuls in Steven Spielberg’s Empire of the Sun when he was thirteen. After that he did a number of forgettable films both in Hollywood and England. 

His breakthrough role was in American Psycho in which he played a Wall Street stockbroker who was also a serial killer. 

The Machinist is his best work yet.