Inside Christian Bale’s on-screen transformations after finally reaching breaking point
Christian Bale has hinted that he is done performing major transformations (Picture: Harvey/Shutterstock)
He might be known for going to extreme lengths to embody each character that he plays, but for Christian Bale it appears he might have had enough.
The 52-year-old plays Frankenstein’s monster in Maggie Gyllenhaal’s new film, The Bride!, which also stars award-winning actress Jessie Buckley.
In order to become the creature, Christian was required to spend six hours every day in makeup.
However, sitting still for such a long period of time is said to have turned him ‘insane’.
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Christian explained how he would have to ‘scream like crazy every day’ to release the ‘despair’ and ‘restraint’ that you have to display to sit still for that long.
‘I didn’t want to do it driving into work because I thought I might cause a crash,’ he said.
The 52-year-old plays Frankenstein’s monster in Maggie Gyllenhaal’s new film, The Bride! (Picture: Warner Bros)
Christian is known for his dramatic transformations in between roles (Picture: Touchstone/Kobal/Shutterstock)
‘And I didn’t want to do it by myself because I thought everyone would just think I’m going nuts.’
The actor added: ‘I’m telling you, the whole crew got involved by the end, because people would hear us screaming.
‘We would open the doors, and gradually, a bit like the Bride’s revolution, a few people were going, “Can we do it too?” And then by the end, there were like 30 people who would hear us and run to the makeup trailer to be a part of it and scream.’
Despite Christian’s struggles on the set of The Bride!, the actor is famous for pushing himself to the absolute limit for a project.
For his 2004 film The Machinist, Christian lost 62lbs in just four months to play an insomniac factory worker.
The actor became dangerously thin in 2004’s The Machinist (Picture: Everett/Shutterstock)
He added the weight back on in 2013’s American Hustle, however (Picture: Col Pics/Everett/REX)
Surviving on just 200 calories a day while excercising, he manages to go from 182lbs to just 121lbs.
His diet would consist of a tin of tuna, an apple and a black coffee a day, while he also smoked cigarettes to help reduce his appetite.
At the opposite end of the spectrum, the actor was able to reach 180lbs for his role as Bruce Wayne in Batman Begins.
He previously said how gorging on pizza and ice cream actually made him feel very sick as he consumed too much food too quickly.
Taking things a step further, he then gained 43lbs to play an out of shape conman in 2013’s American Hustle, eating a diet of doughnuts and cheeseburgers.
The actor’s days of dramatic weight transformations could be over, however (Picture: Shutterstock)
Another role which saw Christian slim down was The Fighter (Picture: Paramount/Everett/Shutterstock)
After slimming down, he then repeated the feat again in the 2018 film Vice, where he added 40lbs to play the 46th US Vice President Dick Cheney.
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In 2019, he then told GQ in an interview that he was no longer able to keep transforming his body.
‘I just can’t keep doing it. I really can’t,’ he said. ‘My mortality is staring me in the face.
‘I’ve become a little bit more boring now, because I’m older and I feel like if I keep doing what I’ve done in the past, I’m going to die. So, I’d prefer not to die.’
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