Christian Charles Philip Bale (also known professionally as Christian Morgan Bale; born 30 January, 1974) is a British[2][3] method actor who is known for his roles in the films
American Psycho, Shaft,
Equilibrium, The Machinist,
Batman Begins, and The
Prestige, among others. Bale is also known for his versatility as an actor, including mimicking nearly any
English-language-based accent, harsh
regimens of shedding and gaining weight (particularly for The Machinist,
Batman Begins and, most recently, Rescue
Dawn), and generally inhabiting the characters he plays. Before he found success in playing Batman, he was heavily involved in independent films.
Bale first caught the public eye when he was cast in the starring role of Steven
Spielberg's Empire of the Sun at the age of 13, playing a British
boy who becomes separated from his parents and subsequently finds himself in a Japanese internment camp during World War
II. Since then, he has portrayed a wide range of characters. Bale is especially noted for his cult following. The tenth anniversary issue of Entertainment
Weekly hailed him as one of the "Top 8 Most Powerful Cult Figures of the Past Decade," citing his impressive cult
status on the Internet.[4] In a 2007 poll of IMDb users, he was voted their
favorite actor who is under 40.[5] Entertainment
Weekly also called Bale one of the "Most Creative People in Entertainment," after his performance in American Psycho.
Early life
Christian Bale was born in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, Wales. He is the youngest of four children. His parents are
entrepreneur, commercial pilot and talent manager David
Bale and circus clown and performer Jenny James, both
English.[6] Bale spent his
childhood in several countries, including the United Kingdom, Portugal, and the United States.[7] He lived in a house boat for a small amount of time. In 1976, when Christian
was two years old, the Bale family left Wales. Bale's family settled for four years in Bournemouth, where he attended Bournemouth School and
participated actively in rugby.[7] Christian has described his childhood, with respect to his mother being in the circus, as
interesting. He recalled his first kiss was with an acrobat named Barta.[7] As a child, he trained in ballet and guitar.[7] His sister Louise's work in theatre also influenced his decision to become an actor.[7] David Bale was very supportive of Christian’s acting.
He resigned from his job as a commercial pilot to travel and manage Christian's burgeoning career. [7] David Bale, later married feminist
icon Gloria Steinem on September 3, 2000. He died on December 30, 2003, from brain
lymphoma at the age of 62.
Christian Bale’s first foray into acting was a Lenor, or Downey, commercial in 1982, when he was eight years old.[8] He appeared in a Pac-Man
cereal commercial playing a child rock star a year
later.[9] In 1984, he made his stage debut in the
West End play The Nerd, opposite Rowan Atkinson.[10]
Career
Early work
He made his film debut as Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich of
Russia in the made-for-television film Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna in 1986, which was followed by leading roles
in the miniseries Heart of the Country and the fantasy adventure Mio in the Land
of Faraway, in which he appeared for the first time with Christopher Lee and
Nick Pickard. In 1987, Amy Irving, his co-star in
Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna, recommended Bale to her then-husband, Steven
Spielberg, for a role in Empire of the Sun, adapted from the
J.G. Ballard semi-autobiography. [7] Bale's performance as Jim Graham earned him widespread critical praise and the first ever "Best
Performance by a Juvenile Actor" award from the National Board of
Review of Motion Pictures; the Board created the award especially for him. The attention the press and his schoolmates
lavished upon him after this took a toll on Bale, and he contemplated giving up acting until Kenneth Branagh approached him and persuaded him to appear in Henry V in 1989. In 1990 he played the role of Jim Hawkins in 'Treasure Island', based on Robert
Louis Stevenson's classic book. Charles Heston played the role of Long John Silver. In 1992, Bale starred as Jack Kelly in the
Disney musical Newsies, and followed it up in 1993 with another Disney release,
Swing Kids, a movie about teenagers who secretly listened to forbidden
jazz during the rise of Nazi Germany. In 1994 Bale was
handpicked by Winona Ryder to star in Gillian
Armstrong's version of Louisa May Alcott's Little Women. In 1995. Bale provided the voice for Thomas, a young compatriot of Captain John Smith, in
Disney's Pocahontas. In 1997, Bale played the lead in Todd Haynes' tribute to glam rock, Velvet Goldmine. In 1999, Bale contributed to an all-star cast, including Kevin Kline, Michelle Pfeiffer, Stanley Tucci, and Rupert Everett (among others) in an updated
version of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.
2000-2001
In 1999, Bale prepared to undertake what would arguably be his most acclaimed role, as serial
killer Patrick Bateman in American
Psycho. Director Mary Harron, who had previously helmed the Valerie Solanas biopic I Shot Andy Warhol, was given the reins to the adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis’ controversial novel, but dropped out of
the project when she learned Leonardo DiCaprio was set to star instead of Bale, her
first choice. Harron cited budget concerns, believing DiCaprio to be too expensive for the production. Oliver Stone replaced Harron as director, but when DiCaprio abandoned the project for The Beach, Stone left as well, and a pregnant Harron [11] was contracted once more, this time with her wish for Bale to star
granted. Bale had never read the novel before being contacted about the film, but took on the role because he was surprised and
engaged by the script, which he described as “the opposite of anything I’d ever done before.”
Harron’s decision to cast Bale lay in that she thought he resembled a male Lili Taylor “in
the sense that there was a lot below the surface,” and that “he had a sense of mystery and depth in his face.”
The film diverged from the novel in some instances, but was generally faithful. Bateman was, on the outward, a
stereotypical yuppie, but underneath the public image he had
created for himself he was actually a murderous psychopath. Bale researched Bateman by
studying the novel. He prepared himself physically for the role by spending months tanning
and exercising rigorously in order to achieve Bateman’s Olympian physique, [12] even
going so far as to distance himself from the cast and crew in order to preserve the darker side of Bateman’s character. [13] American Psycho premiered at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival to much controversy. Famed American critic Roger Ebert seemed to condemn the film at first, calling it pornography” [14]
and “the most loathed film at Sundance,”[11]
but gave it a favorable review, writing that Harron “transformed a novel about bloodlust into a movie about men’s vanity.” Of
Bale’s performance, he wrote, “Christian Bale is heroic in the way he allows the character to leap joyfully into despicability;
there is no instinct for self-preservation here, and that is one mark of a good actor.” [15]
On April 14, 2000, Lions Gate Films
finally released American Psycho in theatres. The film’s overall budget and marketing costs amounted to US$17,000,000. It
made a tidy worldwide profit of US$34,266,564. More importantly, it strengthened Bale’s reputation as a committed and capable
actor, and further cemented his cult status. Bale was approached to make a cameo
appearance in another Bret Easton Ellis adaptation, The Rules of
Attraction, which was loosely connected to American Psycho. He declined out of loyalty to Mary Harron’s vision
of Bateman, which he felt could not be properly expressed by anyone else. [16] In the 2000 sequel to 1971's
Shaft, Bale played a villainous character similar to Patrick Bateman, an
unhinged racist yuppie named Walter Wade, Jr., a decision which generated observations about the
two roles being too alike. Bale acknowledged that perhaps taking on such a similar role so soon was a possible mistake on his
part. [14]
Bale played an assortment of diverse characters from 2001 onwards. His first role after American Psycho was in the
John Madden adaptation
of the best-selling novel Captain Corelli's Mandolin, which was a
significant departure from the novel. Bale played Mandras, a Greek fisherman who vied with Nicolas Cage’s title character for the
affections of the desirable Pelagia (Penelope Cruz). The Mandras of the novel was a more
developed character with his own subplot; Bale’s Mandras was relegated to a supporting character, and his subplot was eliminated,
much of the camera being devoted to Corelli and Pelagia. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin was Bale’s second time working with
John Hurt, after All the Little Animals.
2002-2003
He starred in three feature films, none of which were successful at the box office. Laurel Canyon (2002), an independent film about love and longing, divided critics. The film’s
script and the director’s ego were questioned, but critics, by and large, agreed that Frances
McDormand outshone the rest of the cast, including Bale. [17]
Reign of Fire was Bale’s first action vehicle. Compared to all his previous work it had an immense
budget (over US$90,000,000). The film’s plot involved a fire-breathing dragon that had been
awakened from hibernation, bringing with it thousands more that threatened the world. Bale
entered into negotiations about starring in the film with reservations, but director Rob
Bowman convinced him to take the lead role. [18] Bale starred as Quinn Abercromby opposite Matthew
McConaughey’s Denton Van Zan, two heroes with identical goals but different methods. Bale and McConaughey trained for
their respective roles by boxing and working out. [18] The film was largely panned by critics, failed at the U.S. box office and
contributed to Bale’s growing depression. [19] Equilibrium was
Bale’s third film of 2002 and it landed a potentially severe blow to his career, costing US$20,000,000 to produce but earning
just over US$5,000,000 worldwide. This commercial failure may at least in part have been due to Dimension Films not issuing Equilibrium a wide release, lacking faith in promoting it.
Nevertheless, it gained such a cult following upon its release on DVD that director Kurt
Wimmer was granted a US$30,000,000 budget to direct Ultraviolet. Bale
played John Preston, an elite lawman in a dystopian, post-apocalyptic society.
Equilibrium featured a fictional martial art called Gun Kata, inspired by
The Matrix and John Woo’s films that combined
gunfighting with hand-to-hand combat. Preston was a
master of Gun Kata, which made him a particularly memorable protagonist. Preston’s fanbase was so
strong that a number of fans banded together to develop a total conversion mod for
the computer game Max
Payne 2 dubbed Hall of Mirrors. [20]
According to moviebodycounts.com, the character of John Preston has the most onscreen kills in a single movie ever. His
kill-o-meter is set at 118, exactly half the movie total of 236. [21]
2004
After a year’s hiatus, Bale returned in 2004 to play Trevor Reznik, the title character in the psychological thriller The Machinist. Reznik was a
chronic insomniac, tormented by a mysterious stalker. Bale devoted himself to the
role to an extent he had never gone to, sacrificing his mental and physical well being to achieve Reznik’s emaciated, skeletal
appearance for the sake of an authentic, natural performance. (In one scene, Jennifer
Jason Leigh’s character quipped, “If you were any thinner, you wouldn’t exist.”) He went without proper rest for prolonged
periods, and placed himself on a crash diet that saw his weight dropping by a startling sixty
pounds (27 kilograms) in a matter of months. [22]
Bale wanted to lose more, but everyone from the director to his doctor forbade him (as it was, Bale only weighed a startling 120
lbs (54 kilograms) by the end of filming). He was compared to Robert De Niro, whose
alternate weight-gaining regimen saw him putting on fifty-five pounds for his role as Jake
LaMotta in Raging Bull. Bale took the Reznik role because the script
“intrigued” him, [22] and it helped him cope with his
depression.[19] The Machinist
garnered mostly positive reviews — critics were impressed by Bale’s dedication. It was a humble production, costing roughly
US$5,000,000 to produce. It was given only a limited U.S. release and made most of its profits overseas.
Bale, an admirer of Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited
Away, [16] was cast as the voice of
the title character, Howl, in the English language
dub of the Japanese director's
fantasy anime adventure Howl's Moving Castle, an adaptation
of Diana Wynne Jones’ children's novel.
Its profits in the United States made up a mere US$4,711,096 in of its staggering worldwide gross (US$230,458,788). Bale’s Howl,
a wizard who lived in a spectacular walking castle, was debonair, princely and ostentatious, a quality shared with one half of
Bale’s next role.
Batman
Bale had long been a contender to portray Batman, from as early as 2002. Earlier
on, he had auditioned for the role of Robin in Batman
Forever, but lost out to Chris O'Donnell.[23]
In 2004, after completing filming for The Machinist, Bale won the coveted role and was set to star with a mixed cast of
British, Irish, and American actors, that includes: Liam Neeson, Katie Holmes, Michael Caine, Morgan
Freeman, Tom Wilkinson, Gary Oldman,
Rutger Hauer, and Cillian Murphy in the
Christopher Nolan-helmed Batman Begins,
a complete restart of the Batman mythos without any ties to the Burton or Schumacher visions. Bale beat out Jake Gyllenhaal, the closest competition.[24] Though not quite evening the score, Bale lost the part of Anthony Swofford in Jarhead to Gyllenhaal [23]
Still fresh from The Machinist, it became necessary for Bale to bulk up to match the powerful physique of Batman. He
was given a deadline of six months to do this. Bale recalled it as far from a simple accomplishment: “…when it actually came to
building muscle, I was useless. I couldn’t do one push up the first day. All of the muscles were gone, so I had a real tough time
rebuilding all of that.”[22] With the help of a
personal trainer, Bale succeeded in meeting the deadline, gaining exactly one hundred
pounds (45kg) in six months. He then worked toward building muscle.[25]
In the "Fresh Air with Terry Gross" radio interview
first aired June 13, 2005, Bale admitted to Gross that because Batman is "such an American icon", he decided not to perform
promotional interviews for the movie Batman Begins(2005) in his natural mixed Welsh/British accent. He instead spoke to Gross in an almost-inflection
less mid-American accent, only revealing his dialectic roots with a few words.[26][2]
Bale had initial concerns about playing Batman, as he felt more ridiculous than intimidating in the Batman costume. He dealt
with this by depicting Batman as a savage beast in his portrayal.[22] To attain a deeper understanding of the character, Bale read various Batman comic books. He explained his interpretation of the Dark Knight: “Batman is his hidden, demonic rage-filled
side. The Batman creature [Bruce Wayne] creates is an absolutely sincere creature and one that he has to control but does so in a
very haphazard way. He's capable of enacting violence — and to kill — so he's constantly having to rein himself in.” For Bale,
the most grueling part about playing Batman was the costume. “You stick it on, you get hot, you sweat and you get a headache in
the cowl,” he said. “But I'm not going to bitch about it because I get to play Batman.”[27] When promoting the film in interviews and public events, Bale retained Bruce
Wayne’s American accent to avoid confusion with Batman being a Briton.[28]
Batman Begins was released domestically on June 15, 2005 to wide critical, fan and
public approval. Nolan was commended for choosing to film most of Begins more traditionally by opting for live-action special effects whenever possible in an age where
CGI was economical and believable. The cast was praised for its effective
portrayals, but Bale, along with Cillian Murphy (The
Scarecrow) drew the most acclaim for his dual portrayal of both Batman and Bruce Wayne. He earned the Best Hero award at
the 2006 MTV Movie Awards for his performance.
Batman Begins was a domestic and international triumph for Warner Bros., costing
approximately US$135,000,000 to produce and taking in over US$370,000,000 in returns worldwide. A Batman Begins video game was also developed for the GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox,
and Game Boy Advance; Bale provided the voice of Batman.
Christian Bale reprising his role as Batman in a publicity still for
The Dark
Knight (2008).
Bale is currently filming the Batman Begins sequel, The Dark Knight. The film will be once again directed by Christopher Nolan and will have a release date of July 18, 2008 in the United States.
Assuming Bale fulfills his contractual obligation to star in a third Batman film, he will be the first actor to portray the
character in three different feature films.
Justice League
Since the rebooting of the Batman franchise and the revival of the Superman movie franchise
with Superman Returns, fans have speculated as to the future production of a
Justice League movie. Bale was asked about the subject of reprising his role as Batman
for a possible Justice League movie:
"It's like I was saying to Chris -- I'll be probably doing this in dinner theatre somewhere in my 50s, so I won't knock it.
Because who knows where I'll end up?"[29]
During an interview with MTV, when asked about if he had been approached to play his role of Batman in Justice League, Bale
stated:
"No, there’s been no talk with me about ‘Justice League’; it’s only [reporters] who mention this to me."[30]
Bale also seemingly showed his sentiments towards a Justice League movie by also stating in the interview:
"We’ve done something very good with our Batman, and so I would not do anything that wasn’t in keeping with what we were
doing." And, "...that’d be a whole different world. And if it wasn’t part of [our] world, then it wouldn’t work."[31]
2006 and beyond
After starring in a big-budget film such as Batman Begins, Bale returned to
doing independent films. Bale was cast as one of the two leads in the South Central
David Ayer-helmed crime drama Harsh Times,
co-starring with Freddy Rodriguez. Bale played Jim Luther Davis, a grim
Afganistan War veteran afflicted with post-traumatic stress disorder, inexplicably approached by the Department of Homeland Security and hired as a federal agent.
Harsh Times premiered at the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival and had a wide release on November 10, 2006.
Terrence Malick directed The New World,
a period piece inspired by the stories of Pocahontas, and Bale was cast as John Rolfe, his second
time participating in a dramatization of Pocahontas. He shared the screen with
Colin Farrell and Q'Orianka Kilcher, who played
lovers John Smith and Pocahontas. The majority of screen time was devoted to Farrell and Kilcher; Bale was a secondary character,
and only appeared during the last third of the film. The New World left critics to contend whether its indulgence and the
dramatic liberties it took over historical accuracy made the film a champion or a dud. Opinions were extremely divided. Filmgoers
were uninterested. 'The film was a failure at the U.S. box office and its worldwide total (US$29,506,437) fell just short of
turning a profit (the production budget was placed at US$30,000,000).
| “ |
I kind of like movies where I just get to just be dirty and crawling in the
mud.[32] |
” |
In 2006, Bale took on a trio of projects. Rescue Dawn by German filmmaker Werner Herzog had him playing a U.S. Fighter pilot who has to fight for his life after being shot down
while on a mission during the Vietnam War. Bale left a strong impression on Herzog, with the
director complimenting his acting abilities: "I find him one of the greatest talents of his generation. We made up our own minds
long before he did Batman." [33] In The Prestige, an adaptation of the Christopher
Priest novel about a rivalry between two Victorian stage magicians, Bale reunites with Michael Caine and director Christopher Nolan. The cast of The Prestige also included
Hugh Jackman, Scarlett Johansson,
Piper Perabo, and David Bowie. I'm Not There, a film that has Bale working with Todd Haynes and Heath
Ledger once more (Ledger plays The Joker in the 2008 film The Dark Knight), is an
artistic reflection of the life of Bob Dylan, and also includes Cate Blanchett, Richard Gere, Julianne Moore and Charlotte Gainsbourg as part of the
cast. In an August edition of Entertainment Weekly, Matt Damon commented at how Bale
was able to handle so many different projects in one year, given his method ethic.
Personal life
On January 29, 2000, Bale married Sandra "Sibi" Blazic (born 1970), a one-time model,
make-up artist, and personal assistant to Winona Ryder, his Little Women co-star. He has a daughter with Blazic named Emmaline, who was born on
March 27, 2005, in Santa Monica,
California.[34]
Bale has three older sisters – Erin Bale, a musician; Sharon Bale, a computer professional; and Louise Bale, a theatre actress and director. The Bale family is deeply rooted in
show business, especially theatre. Bale is a distant relative of
British actress Lillie Langtry, while his uncle, Rex
Bale, and maternal grandfather were actors as well.[7]
Like his father, David, Bale is known as a conservationist and an animal lover, and is a supporter of
conservation and animal welfare groups like Greenpeace and the World Wildlife Fund.[8] The famous feminist activist, Gloria Steinem,
became a first-time bride (at age 66) and Bale's stepmother, when she married David on September
3, 2000, before the elder Bale's death in 2003.[35]
Christian Bale has never had formal acting training.[36]
Filmography
