Christian Bale’s physical transformation for movie roles is nothing like others. The method actor is purely dedicated to his role and always keen on delivering justice to the characters he plays. Bale’s gaining or losing weight for roles in between movies often creates buzz among fans.
While many consider the actor’s effort and dedication worth praising, it is not easy for the actor to tremendous body transformation. He does meet the demand of the character but sometimes he hates the process as well. Extreme diet and workout also took a serious toll on the actor’s lifestyle.
Christian Bale’s Insane Body Transformations
Christian Bale is notoriously famous for his body transformation for movie roles, he went into the extreme zone in Brad Anderson’s 2004 movie The Machinist. Reportedly, Bale dropped 120 pounds to play the factory worker struggling with insomnia in the psychological thriller. Right after the crazy transformation in The Machinist, the actor had to build a muscular physique of a superhero for his next role as Bruce Wayne aka Batman in Christopher Nolan’s 2005 movie Batman Begins, the first installment of The Dark Knight trilogy. After The Machinist, Bale had just six months in his hands to prepare himself for the Nolan movie. Rer reports, the actor gained his body mass up to 220 pounds but went down to 190 to meet the studio’s desired look for Batman.
Bale also went extreme for his most acclaimed role in 2010’s The Fighter where he plays Dicky Eklund who has issues with substance abuse. David O. Russell’s $129.2 million movie pushed him to win an Oscar.
Reuniting with Big Short director Adam McKay, Bale further gained 40 pounds to play Dick Cheney in the 2018 movie Vice. Later, for Ford v. Ferrari, he further dropped more than 70 pounds. However, after his Ford v. Ferrari role the actor said that he won’t be losing any more weight.
Christian Bale Hated Working Out For the American Psycho Role
Despite being famous for physical transformation and possessing the habit, Bale reportedly hated getting into shape to play the notorious character Patrick Bateman in American Psycho. Unlike his previous transformation, the role was not that much but he seemed tired of it and simply didn’t enjoy the process.
“[Patrick Bateman] is so vain and obsessed with his looks. While the psychology of the character was something that I could perform, you can’t fake the physicality. Working out is incredibly boring. I swear it’s true that the bigger your muscles get, the fewer brain cells you have,” Bale said.
“I found I had to stop thinking when I was in the gym because if I thought about it, I’d realize how ridiculous it was that I was pumping iron when I could’ve been out having a drink and a cigarette and enjoying some lunch. I did three hours a day for six weeks with a personal trainer and some time before that. I ate an awful lot during training and then almost nothing during filming.”
Eventually, The Fighter actor did put some extra effort to retain the role which was almost lost to Leonardo DiCaprio. Later, he gained a lot of recognition for the role in the $34.3 million movie which put him in the spot of A-listers for a while.
Bale last appeared in the 2023 movie The Pale Blue Eye. The movie is streaming on Netflix.
Source: Showbiz CheatSheet.
