This Is Why Christian Bale Rules, Going All “Machinist” For His Next Role

Don’t worry. That’s not Christian Bale on the left acting in his next film The Fighter. Not yet, at least. It IS, a picture from Bale’s brilliant work as Trevor Reznik in the 2004 psychological thriller, The Machinist. In that film, Trevor Reznik has severe insomnia and has not slept for over a year. This unhealthydisruption in his life has caused him to become sickly thin. Bale did The Machinist right after doing Equilibrium in 2002, an unfortunately “straight to DVD” Sci-Fi action epic, that has some of the coolest fight scenes ever created. It’s seriously one of the sweetest action movies and one of my favorites. Check it out ASAP if you have not seen it yet. In that film he was the lead Grammaton Cleric, John Preston. He was jacked, he was ripped, he was buff. See HERE. He then landed the role as Trevor Reznik in The Machinist and had to lose nearly 70 lbs. and transform his physique from in-shape to near-death.

It looks lik he’s going the same route for his next film. The Fighter is currently filming and is being directed by David O. Russell (I Heart Huckabees, Three Kings). The cast in this film is pretty great. Along with Bale, the film features: Mark Wahlberg, Amy Adams and Melissa Leo. It is a true story of two incredibly gifted boxers who were half brothers. The one, Dicky Ecklund (Bale), who fought Sugar Ray Leonard at a very young age, when he was twenty one, was an incredible natural talent. He lived a very hard life. Then he came to train his brother, Irish Mickey Ward (Wahlberg), to the world title. The film was originally supposed to be helmed by The Wrestler director Darren Aronofsky, but due to scheduling and creative disputes, he passed on the project.

Bale’s character Dicky Ecklund is an athletic powerhouse boxer in his hay-day, but eventually develops a sever drug habit, which would explain his skinny look. Check out a couple pics of Bale on the set of The Fighter, looking really, really skinny and even his hair seems very thinned; via JustJared via SlashFilm.

Now it’s not like he’s near Trevor Reznik…yet. But he is his visibly much skinnier than he was in Terminator Salvation and Public Enemies.  And this brings me to the reason of why Christian Bale rules. It’s because of this. He is so committed to bringing the most truthful character to life, that he is willing to lose 70 lbs., then gain it right back at the drop of the hat. During filming for The Machinist, all he did for three months was eat apples, drink coffee and smoke cigarettes. THAT’S DEDICATION, or is also known as “method acting.” Method acting is when an actor subjects him or herself to unusual or unhealthy habits to “get in the mind” of their character more effectively. Heath Ledger did this for The Joker in The Dark Knight. He locked himself in a hotel room in London for a month and didn’t come out until he had the voice, facial expressions and mannerisms down to his likings.

Bale is one of the few actors out there, in his prime, that is willing to sacrifice his body and his mind for his craft. You know how many offers he’s gotten for romantic comedies and other popcorn action flicks? A lot. But time and again, he chooses to do the gritty drama (in between the action flicks) that requires him to change his appearance so he can give the best performance he is capable of. Bale is a handsome fellow, and from a PR standpoint, this isn’t always a good image for a hot A-list actor to look like an anorexic bulimic. But this is what sets Bale apart. Yeah okay, so he freaked out on the set of Terminator Salvation. That’s because he was SOOOOO into the scene, into his character, into the emotion, that it got the best of him. He is an intense actor who takes his artistry seriously. Is this not something that we should encourage, praise and admire? An actor who is seriously committed to the craft to the point of misinterpreted intensity? Would you rather him be an average or poor actor, but be really nice and friendly? Or would you rather him be serious and intense and knock your socks off with his performance?

The Fighter just began production and won’t be out for a while, not until the beginning of 2011 unfortunately. But, rest assured, The Movie Mash will bring you detailed updates on the progress of The Fighter as it occurs. Stay tuned.

What Do You Think? Discuss.