Christian Bale Breaks Down His Most Iconic Characters

I don't really know how to do this sort of prep stuff

without it being somewhat intensive

because otherwise I just don't feel I have the confidence.

I always imagine that I'm gonna get to set

and the director's gonna go,

I don't even like this scene. Make it up.

And I've gotta be ready for that.

And if I'm not ready for that,

I feel very insecure arriving on the set.

[upbeat music]

American Psycho.

New card, what do you think?

Whoa, very nice. Look at that.

Picked them up from the printers yesterday.

Good coloring. That's bone.

Any scene we were doing every single day,

I had the book by my side

and I would read through it every single time

because Brett had just had so many wonderful descriptions.

And I think that was why Mary and I clicked

was because when I first went and auditioned for her,

I just went to her apartment

and it was just her with a little camera.

And I didn't approach it like she said,

the other actors had where they were talking

about what's his childhood,

what's the reason he's become this?

I was like, ah, none of that really matters.

He's just like this alien.

And so as we were doing the scene,

I started laughing and she started cracking up

and we both realized

we had the same very sick sense of humor.

And we were like, oh yeah, right, this will work between us.

She really put herself on the line, you know?

And I so appreciate that

because she had so many known actors

who were stepping up and wanted to do it.

And she just said, no, I want Christian,

even though all the financiers were saying

we're gonna give you no money.

And then actually kicked the two of us off.

You know, we went

and we did a stage reading in New York for it.

William Defoe was there, Chloe Sevigny was there,

and Brace and Ellis was there.

And then we got the money. Yay!

But what our agents forgot to do,

our agents at the time forgot to do

was to include us in the package.

And so we raised the money and then they said,

right, and the two of you bye-bye.

But I went a little bit psycho myself in that

and I just said, no, I'm still making the film.

And even though other people were cast,

other directors were on board,

I just kept on prepping and I would call Mary up

and she would say,

Christian, they've given it to other people.

And I was like, yeah yeah yeah, no, it doesn't matter.

We're still gonna make it.

And she was like, oh, he is lost the plot.

And all my friends were saying that to me like,

what are you doing?

And I was turning down.

This wasn't like I was getting offered much, but you know,

couple of projects, not very good ones,

I turned them down. And kept on going.

And lo and behold, look at that it did eventually come back.

So that felt like a great victory.

Don't doubt. You got instincts.

You know, always listen, always be aware of the style

that the director's looking for,

but understand you always gonna bring

something unique from anybody else.

When there's still was the Wall Street trading floors

and everything, I went and visited, you know,

all different levels of people at Wall Street,

but the guys on the trading floor,

when I arrived there before making the film,

I got there and a bunch of 'em, they were going,

Patrick Bateman had patted me on the back and going,

oh yeah, we love him.

And I was like, yeah, ironically, right?

And they were like, what do you mean?

So it was always worrying even back then.

But you know, clearly, look,

it's a satire on capitalism in the 80s

and as such is so bloody far fetched and ridiculous

that you know, to me, I can't help but think it's hilarious.

♪ You know I love you but I just can't take this ♪

Do you like Phil Collins?

Been a big Genesis fan,

ever since the release of their 1980 album, Duke.

I'm not gonna ruin anyone's enjoyment

and say that I'm not a huge fan

and that they're not life changing songs.

Of course they are for everyone, right?

Come on when you admit it.

For me, music's so much a part of

actually building characters as well.

You know, like for Amsterdam,

David and I were listening to and watching

a lot of jazz documentaries, et cetera.

And I use all sorts of different music to help me, you know,

get into the mood when I'm working.

'Cause emotion really comes through the ears.

You know, something that you notice

when you're in the edit room,

you really see how you can see the visual,

keep that the same, but change the music

and it absolutely changes the way you feel about it.

So it's such a, you know, joy of life.

Get a goddamn job, Al.

You got a negative attitude. That's what's stopping you.

I remember somebody threatening me on the street

'cause some people did object to the film getting made

and all that.

And I remember people saying that they were gonna do me harm

and stuff like that, you know?

And I would actually go, like,

I remember somebody warned me,

must have been a friend of mine

who was crazy early on the internet.

And they warned me, they called me up

and they went, there's some person,

and they know where you walk every single day and you go

down this back alley and they say

that they're gonna jump on you and they're gonna rip

your cerebral cortex out of your head.

So please don't go down that alley.

So of course I was like, I'm going to that alley,

I wanna see what happens.

Unfortunately, nothing.

I kept walking up and down it going, where are they?

Come on, what's, [laughing]

but nothing ever happened.

[upbeat music]

Batman.

[funky music]

I'm Batman. [man grunts]

[eerie music]

What a weirdo, right?

Jumping around town at night in a bat outfit in many ways

in the same way that people were telling me, hey,

you can't go play Patrick Bateman, it's career suicide.

And I was like, bring it on. I'd definitely wanna do that.

Other people also said, hey, you know,

if you play Batman, that's it.

You never gonna play anything else again.

You will always be Batman.

And I went, bring it on.

Let's see if that happens 'cause I just always felt like,

look, if I don't have the skill

to be able to rise above that,

then I don't deserve to either.

I absolutely know and cherish the fact that will be the role

I'm probably remembered for most, you know, every reason.

Iconic, you know, larger than life role.

But I don't view it really as being stopped in the street

and for me it was, ah, I could pay off my house.

That's a huge relief. You know.

That was a dream of mine since being a kid.

So, I really appreciate that.

I thank Chris Nolan, no end for that.

You know, the experience of actually working

with him, of course.

And we went on to make, you know, four films together.

But the fact that that allowed me

to make so many other films, you know, for instance,

it took Mary a Herculean effort,

which I so appreciate to get me cast

in American Psycho post Batman.

It got a little bit easier for directors to suggest me

and financiers to say, okay, yeah, we'll take him.

You've got the wounded child who never moved on

from the atrocity and tragedy that happens to him

and he loses his parents.

And then the kind of monster that represents,

you know, all this anger and that he, you know,

concentrates focuses into this character of the Batman.

And then the kind of charade,

which is the Playboy apparently vacant

and that no one would ever suspect of having

any beliefs or causes ever in his life.

Most of my recollection of making Batman is sitting doing

crosswords by myself in a blue tent with very uncomfortable

stuff on because they wanna be ready

in 15 minutes at any given go.

So, I was always sitting there

and these things going 4 down.

Hello, is anyone out there?

Yeah, I want you to know what I want you to do.

Come at me, me.

[Batman yelling]

Heath Ledger, who, oh my God,

you know, what a performance,

what a pleasure to have gotten to work with him

and just to see him, you know,

and how much he put himself into the Joker.

And I, and I was watching it going,

yeah, this is absolutely fantastic.

Are we in trouble here of when Chris and I first sat down,

we said, not the problem.

What Batman is, is that the villains

are always more interesting, right?

And so Batman actually,

he's very close to being a villain himself.

So, let's never let him become dull by comparison.

And unfortunately now sitting there go,

I'm feeling a little bit dull

but in comparison 'cause Heath is just

like killing this and, but I'm so proud of that film.

I love it. The Dark Night is absolutely extraordinary,

you know, and it was such a pleasure

to have gotten to work with Heath.

I don't wanna kill you.

What would I do without you?

Go back to a ripping off mob dealers?

No, no, no, no, you, you complete me.

You're garbage, you kills for money.

Don't talk like one of them.

You're not! Even if you'd like to be.

He, he was a wonderful go-kart driver racer.

Yeah, we went, we went and raced the go-karts and holy crap,

he beat all the stunt guys and everything. He was quick.

When we went to the track,

we thought of course the stunt guys are gonna win and

there's suddenly Heath wins, gets top place,

and then very quietly mentions,

you know, my dad was a go-kart racer.

Very talented individual and a great soul to be around.

Yeah, I miss him greatly.

[upbeat music]

The Fighter

[crowd cheering]

Dicky, he's such a character.

Like he makes his presence felt all the time.

I mean I spent so much time hanging out

with Dicky beforehand and still in touch

and still in touch with Dicky Jr.

Being in Lowell, hanging out with him,

going walking around, getting kicked out of bars,

having almost every cop stopping a gun, Hey, hey Dicky.

And then telling me about a story about

when they arrested him, going to the boxing gym,

jumping in the ring, and sparring with him and oh my God,

it's really quite something when you,

you might think you can, ah, I'll be a decent boxer,

you spar with other amateurs and whatnot.

I've done that a few times.

but when you get in the ring with a pro, bloody hell.

I remember one time he was sitting

and he was reading the script

and I was busy doing something else

and suddenly I see him like, stand up

and he starts walking over to David like,

I could see, you know,

something had happened and I went, Weed this ain't good.

Jumped over and said Dicky, Dicky Dicky what?

And just kind of talked him down because it was about

sort of, you know, hey look, when you tell someone's story,

you gotta tell the good stuff

and you gotta tell the bad stuff,

otherwise make no story there at all.

It was the first film that I've made with David.

And so getting to understand his process more.

And then, and then he's kind of enhanced that

as we've made more films together and I loved it.

I loved playing Dicky so much.

There were hilarious things and there was, you know,

stuff to do with just sort of almost being

shut down by the local cops and things like that.

But to me, that's all part of the fun of it.

[upbeat music]

The Machinist.

You okay.

Don't I look okay.

Brad, when I turned up was really stunned

at how much weight I'd lost.

He went, oh you really did it.

Like he didn't think I really was going to,

that was just a, a outward show of his guilt

and being eaten alive, literally, you know, by guilt.

I'd come off of making a couple of films that I'd been less

than satisfied with and just really wanted something where

I could become immersed and obsessed with it. You know?

I mean I remember at the time it was like

not the smart thing to do

because there was no money in it

and it was like, oh bloody hell,

I'm gonna lose my place or I'm living

and I was quite newly married and all that,

so it wasn't the business smart thing to do.

But, I've never been smart in a business way.

But, it was something that I really wanted to

challenge myself and kind of see could I achieve that?

Could I fulfill how I imagined the part

Trevor should be played?

You know? And te- and tested myself.

Eh. Perfect fit

A lot of times actually I would sit there

with headphones in, but I wasn't listening to anything.

I was just pretending to listen

so that I could actually hear everything that was going on,

but nobody thought I could.

Also, at the time I was engaged in a

very filthy habit of smoking.

So, I was rolling my own cigarettes

and sitting there puffing away.

I did read numerous things.

I remember because the conversation with Brad, the director,

was I read Crime and Punishment,

but then I was reading a lot Lighter Affair as well.

The main point was that somehow

losing all the physical weight

put all the energy into my brain.

And so I only slept two hours a night

and all I wanted to do was read.

And so I would just sit and read endlessly

and I found that I could read without stopping

and needing to move or get a distraction.

I could ju- I could just sit and read for 10 hours straight

without moving a muscle. Yeah, I can't do that now.

[upbeat music]

The Big Short.

I've been very clear

People will withdraw their money.

Watch. That would be so stupid.

I mean if, if, if, if

if the funds capitals drop too much,

then the swaps contracts are avoided and then the banks get

to keep all of the, all of it

Wait a minute The contracts avoided?

The contracts avoided?

I had a wonderful day

where we sat in his darkened office together

and just chatted and they had scheduled all these things

for us to go out and about and do different stuff

and we ended up doing none of that

'cause we just enjoyed talking with each other so much

and had just an extraordinary day.

And he was so helpful.

And then he came to visit the set and then, you know, we,

we keep in touch from time to time

and he's an extraordinarily special guy

and wow, what a role.

And also my first time working with Adam,

which I just loved, you know, he's, he, he's something else,

you know, he's like with David, you know,

when you get really great directors, they're very unique in,

in the way that they work.

[drums slamming]

Anyone who plays drums can look and go,

Christian doesn't play drums.

But that to me was not the point.

The point was not that Michael Burry was a [beep] drummer,

it was that he took his anger out on these drums and I did.

I was just shattering the drumsticks.

They were flying across. The crew had to all put shields up

because so many of them were flying at speed.

Everybody, I love to get to interview people.

I love to get to really study them in an obsessive way

that you wouldn't get to usually that's part of

the joy of, of the job for me.

[upbeat music]

Vice.

Sense that the, you're a kinetic leader,

you make decisions based on instinct.

I am. People always said that.

Yeah, yeah. Very different.

Very different from uh from your father in that regard.

All right,

let's dig a bit deeper and go do the very unlikely thing of

me played Dick Chaney, which I was like, what Adam? Them?

Are you high?

Usually they don't allow special effects makeup artists

that much time to prep.

But I said, no, wait, we've gotta have,

you know, months and months and months to,

to get anywhere close to something that can work here

because it's, it's the movement.

You know, thank God, you know,

had people who were patient enough with me to just kind of

keep going and keep going and keep going until eventually

go all right I think, I think we're in the realm.

A wonderful experience working, you know, with Adam,

he uses a mic and we'll kind of just chuck out lines

and chuck out ideas and try saying this instead.

Not improvising, but like, you know,

suggesting lines and nudging you in the right direction.

But you gotta be prepared to pivot and be on your toes

even though Chaney's very not somebody

who you would think of as being on his toes.

He's very much like flat footed.

But yeah, no, really enjoyed the immersion that that took,

you know, even though

it was like four hours in the chair and whatnot,

I had never believed that it, it,

it could be possible that I could play him.

And to, to, to give it a shot

is just a, was a wonderful risk.

You have authorization to shoot down

any aircraft deemed a threat.

Presidential authority.

That is correct. All orders are UNODIR.

UNODIR?

Unless otherwise directed.

Mr. Vice president, are we sure these

are the proper rules of engagement?

The country is under attack, the ROE is fluid.

Well, he was very brilliant, you know, he is,

he he is a brilliant man.

You know, he, whether, whether you agree with

what he, his intent, you know, was and is,

is absolute brilliance in intelligence there.

You know, he rose incredibly quickly for good reason.

He, he understood the machinery of,

of politics better than anyone else did.

And so he could manipulate that.

And for someone who was absolutely awful

at like retail politics, you know,

he had no interested in kissing babies or whatever.

He was very interested in the true mechanics of power

and, and how that works.

And he's, he is nobody better at it than him,

[upbeat music]

Empire of the Sun

[eerie music]

Mom?

Mom?

Mom!

Mommy!

Man. What an adventure. Yeah, it was something else.

I got to not go to school and travel about by myself

and I had no idea just how unique

that experience was at the time because I didn't realize

that every film didn't build a bloody runway.

The planes could land on in the middle of a marshland

in Spain or build a pagoda or build a, you know,

huge hospitals to build literally

half a full size stadium out there.

I didn't realize every film didn't travel to China

and have, you know, 10,000 extras up and down the bun.

You know, it wasn't until later

when I was on much smaller films,

I went, oh yeah, oh, that was a big one.

[laughing]

Which I think was great in that way because I didn't really

feel any pressure and at that age I didn't really feel like

an actual film was gonna come out of it at the end.

I was just in the moment doing it.

Animals and children are the best actors.

You can't compete with them.

And the reason is because

they don't give a [beep] about the consequences.

And in many ways that was how I felt

when I was making a part of the sun, you know,

not through any intentional thing,

it just didn't even enter my mind.

Three twenty nines? Yeah, the super fortress,

what we call a hemisphere defense weapon.

Where from? Okinawa, Philippines,

Tokyo is in bombing range now Tokyo?

Time to think of going home soon.

There's a great purity to just play in a role.

And that's it. Because every kid does it.

Every, every kid I still consider that I,

I play dress up for a living, you know?

And kids do that naturally.

It only gets spoiled when adults come in

and ruin it by bringing money and expectations

and you should do more, et cetera.

That's when things go wrong.

I never felt that while I was filming, you know, I mean,

there were times because I left my family, et cetera, they,

they weren't able to come with me.

So I, you know, I'd be like in the airport, you know,

I'd cry my eyes out going, I don't want to go.

But when I got there, man, I was loving it

and I was enjoying it. No end.

But then it was, it was when I started doing the press,

I didn't get that.

I couldn't understand that and I didn't understand why

I had to keep talking about the same thing all day long

and I was starting to go insane

and then people follow me around or whatever.

And so that was when I went,

oh no, this isn't, this isn't for me.

But I always focused on going, yeah,

but I really did love doing it itself,

so let's try to figure it out

so I can deal with this part of it

and not have to stop doing the,

the bit that I really do enjoy.

There's a price for everything and it's a, it's a,

once you get your head around it,

it's a very small price to pay for getting to tell stories.

And I recognize and I'm so grateful

for what I do get to, to do

[upbeat music]

Amsterdam

How can I know this is you really in the picture?

Yes sir. So, well I'm the dog there, she's the nurse,

he's the attorney. We all met in Belgium,

which if you recall is where we met for the first time.

To Burt someone who's in, in experimental medicine

and likewise so with his brace, you know,

it's something that he hates but he can't be without because

he's got such terrible injuries, you know,

to his back and his spine and everything like that.

So, nah, I just kept on all the time because you see,

you see it through the, the suit you know,

it's kind of like two little bumps of the metal

sticking out, you know?

And, and if I can avoid acting, I do avoid acting.

Like if you can just really do it and be uncomfortable,

why bother pretending to be uncomfortable?

Just be uncomfortable.

It was a practical thing because you know, these,

these were very rudimentary back braces.

Not like anything he would get today.

These were things that he had kind of made himself

in the same way that he's working

on creating medicine that can help these returning war vets

who weren't given a damn bit of help.

You know, they were meant to be returning heroes

and absolutely nobody treated him like that.

He was despicable and who were all suffering from PTSD,

but nobody recognized that at all.

And terrible, terrible injuries,

but didn't have the right painkillers or,

or anxiety pills or whatever.

David and I, we wanted to create characters that we loved,

that we wanted to hang out with,

characters that just refused to be beaten down by life

despite everything that life was thrown at them,

that they remained optimistic,

refused to be cynical whatsoever.

Eyebrows up was kind of our mantra.

Where is my eye, Harold?

Right here. Yes.

You leave me here with this invalid

when you know very well

that I think she should be hospitalized.

It's for her own good.

I, I do remember that both of them

looked a bit shell shocked on the very first day of work

because they haven't worked with David before.

We'll film the script,

but then he will just throw different lines of people

or he'll just change the lines.

No, don't you say that. You're gonna say that now.

And he'll be laying on the floor underneath here

and then he'll crawl you in the scene over there

and then he'll be up behind the camera over here

and then he'll just say, change everything and go do that.

And I love it.

But, David would occasionally come to me

when he saw someone was just sort of looking

like a deer calling headlights and say,

Oh, can you go be the ambassador

and just explain how we're gonna do this?

And then everyone got into it and,

and then it's really joyful and,

and just a very, very satisfying experience.

And Margo and JD just embraced it.

You know, and then I would go off and, you know,

telephone him and go sound like a stalker, but I'll be like,

he's a dude, I'm following down the street.

Oh my god, but he's fantastic.

I'm gonna use this for Bernie. He's like, great.

And then I tell him that mannerisms from different people,

attitudes, you know,

it was all kind of very baked in and over years.

So it was wonderful about that is

that by the time you're actually filming,

it's really in your bones.

[upbeat music]

Pale Blue Eye.

There's so many good actors.

I tell you lately I've been so blessed with the different

amount of talented actors I've gotten to work with.

And so it was a real pleasure to work with all them,

but let me just focus on one and that would be Harry Melling

'cause Harry is just a really superb actor.

And so I, I just, I just enjoy it any day

that we got to do scenes together,

Scott Cooper and I have worked together

now is our third film.

I love working with Scott and this was something that we've

been talking about since like 2012

that he had been putting together.

He is prolific beyond belief in terms of his writing.

He went and did different things.

I went and did different things, but just the period of it,

the gothic sort of crime nature of it,

the sort of fun origin story of Edgar Allen Poe

and what might have made him into

such a Master of the Macabre

and why he was so comfortable

and enjoyed that way of thinking

and trying to think about, okay, well what, what,

let's create a character

that could have inspired all of that.

And that also keeps in the vein of an

Edgar Allen Poe's story itself as well.

So, and I think Scott Stanley's superb job again with that.