Christian bale

Born on January 30, 1974, in Pembrokeshire, Wales (Great Britain), Christian Charles Philip Bale was the youngest son of aviation pilot David Bale and circus dancer Jenny James, who had had three daughters up to that point. As a child he spent a lot of time wandering around with the circus company where his mother worked. She had become obsessed with making her son a star, since she herself came from a family of artists (Christian’s grandfather came to voice John Wayne in a couple of movies). So she submitted him to various tests, until he made his stage debut at the age of ten, in a small role in London in The Nerd , alongside Rowan Atkinson ., comedian later known as Mr. Bean. From there he moved on to television, playing the protagonist’s brother in Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna , a miniseries.

Christian’s life changed completely when King Midas, Steven Spielberg , selected him to star in Empire of the Sun , out of four thousand British children who aspired for the role. Based on the novel by writer James G. Ballard, Christian Bale played this author when he was a boy who was separated from his family in World War II, and was interned in a Japanese prison camp. Brilliant anti-war plea filmed in Trebujena (Cádiz) in the old-school style, moviegoers still remember Bale with a toy plane, and the theme song Suo Gan , actually a cover by John Williamsof a traditional Gaelic lullaby, in honor of the Welshman Christian Bale, who came to sing it personally one of the times it was played. The boy also had such illustrious co-stars as Miranda Richardson , John Malkovich , Joe Pantoliano , and the then very young Ben Stiller in his film debut. ” It was a shocking experience , ” recalls Bale. “When I finished filming and came home, I remember that the girls were all interested in me, the other boys wanted to hit me, and they invited me to all the local parties, when all I wanted was to ride a bike. I remember telling my parents that I never wanted to act again.”

Shortly after, his compatriot Kenneth Branagh recruited him for a role in Henry V , his first film, which was received with worldwide applause. His next job was to play the leading boy on Treasure Island , in an adaptation for cable TV in which Charlton Heston was John Silver. His first adult role was in The Gang , a forgotten musical. More successful was Rebels of Swing , a product designed to take advantage of the pull of Robert Sean Leonard , star of The Dead Poets Club, and Bale himself. Both played young German fans of swing, during the Nazi regime. In 1994, Christian Bale played Amled, supposedly the character Shakespeare was inspired by, in The True Story of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark , a curious if modest historical production by Dane Gabriel Axel . That same year, Wynona Rider demanded that they call him for a film that they would both star in, the adaptation of Little Women , the famous novel by Louisa May Alcott .. Christian Bale was Laurie, the suitor of Wynona Rider’s Jo, and it just so happened that he fell in love, not with the actress, but with Sibi Blazic, his assistant and longtime friend of hers. Both married in 2000, and currently have a daughter, born on March 27 in Santa Monica (California), where they live.

Certainly, after Bale gave voice to one of the characters in Disney’s Pocahontas , there came a time of lean times cinematically speaking. It certainly cannot be said that his agent did a good job. Hardly anyone saw The Secret Agent , although the cast included Gérard Depardieu and Bob Hoskins . In Portrait of a Lady his character appeared very briefly. And with the exception of Velvet Goldmine , where he played a fan of rock music, it can be said that all of his films over the years were resounding flops, especially A Midsummer Night’s Dream , but also Metroland ., boring adaptation of a novel by Julian Barnes , All the Little Animals , Shaft , Captain Corelli’s Mandolin (one of the biggest fiascoes in living memory) and Empire of Fire . Especially disappointing was Temptation Street , a real mess, even though Frances McDormand was with him . Interestingly, she played Jesus, in Mary, Mother of God , a television production. Also worth mentioning is his elaborate portrayal of Patrick Bateman, the notorious murderer created by novelist  Bret Easton Ellis , in American Psycho , made into a film byMary Harron . Bale spent a season going an average of three hours a day to the gym, to acquire the musculature of the character, but the film was far from up to his effort.  Equilibrium was a modest but entertaining science fiction product, shamelessly plagiarizing Fahrenheit 451 with action sequences supposedly Matrix -like , but cheap, and it wasn’t even released in Spain.

From that moment on, it seems that Bale has set out to turn his career around. He lost 70 pounds for the title role of The Machinist , a tormented and sleepless milling cutter. For this, he was fed for a long time only with an apple and a can of tuna a day, which turned him into a bag of bones. “Even my voice changed and I stopped sleeping at night. In any case, all of this helped me to deepen my role, because I had no choice but to spend 24 hours in his shoes. When I looked in the mirror, it was him I saw,” says the actor. After the film was finished, he had to join the filming of Batman Begins. His character, Bruce Wayne, is a beefy man, so neither short nor lazy, Bale regained weight, eating non-stop and working hard in the gym to build muscles. “I worked with a lunatic ex-marine, who knew how to torture me at ease, based on exercises and taekwondo,” he says. In addition to physically becoming Wayne, the actor knew how to make believable a character with demons inside him, obsessed by the desire for revenge.

Christopher Nolan ‘s film was successful at the box office, so both the director and Bale himself will participate in the sequel. “We both signed for two installments, so I have no choice but to comply, but also, I’m excited to take the character to a darker place, and show his vulnerability, ” Bale explained. For the moment, the filming of The New World has just finished , the highly anticipated return to the cinema of Terrence Malick , director of The Thin Red Line , in which Christian Bale once again enters the story of Pocahontas .