Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Doogie]

This guy lost 63 pounds for the Machinist and went down to a scary 120 pounds (see link). Following that, he gained nearly 100 pounds of muscle for Batman Begins. As crazy as that was, he's done it again! He lost a ton of weight (45 pounds, I think?) for Rescue Dawn which is coming out soon. He plays a Vietnam POW. Now, he's gained back another huge amount of weight and muscle for The Dark Knight. I think he's a great actor and I admire his unbelievable willpower but that has got to be dangerous to the body. They said DeNiro was dedicated......he had nothing on this guy. Here's a link that shows some scary pictures of Bale from the Machinist.
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/53457/christian_bales_weight_loss_for_the.html

[Bibbitybop]

Not nuts. No more than David Blain (or is it Blane?)

[eddie1983man]

hes an amazing actor. Remember him from Tears of the Sun when he was a little boy?

[seoulsucker]

[Doogie]

[mcgeezer]

I agree he is the most dedicated, in-character actor next to Daniel Day Lewis

[eddie1983man]

[eddie1983man]

[itaewonguy]

what I want to know is how the hell can anymore lose that many pounds
what the hell do you do? not eat for 3 months...

[swetepete]

To lose so much weight, Bale follows a strict regimen of heroin, heroin, and more heroin, mixed with crystal meth to stay awake for long periods, and spending all his time with Korean girls who tell him he's too fat. Bulimia and crying burns a lot of calories.

No, just kidding; I read an interview with him post-'Machinist' and he said he had a nutritionist working with him the whole time. However, he was told to stop losing weight about twenty pounds before he actually took himself off the diet, against his doctors advice. What a nutjob. But quite aside from his predilection for extreme body alteration, he is still one of the best famous actors working today, IMHO.

Yeah, he was good in 'Empire of the Sun' as well. Kind of a cheesy flick, I thought, but that's because the book was so much better. J.G. Ballard, the superb weirdo British novelist, wrote that book as autobiography. He really did the ages of 7-13 in a POW camp...The second volume is excellent as well, about his early career as a pilot and a doctor, and eventually a novelist. "The Kindness of Women," it's called.

[Hollywoodaction]

I haven't seen The Machinist yet (local video stores suck).
While we're speaking about weight loss and Christian Bale, any of you seen 'Rescue Dawn'? I'm starting to feel deprived.

[Doogie]

[amberflannery]

oh dear lord- i consider myself a pretty small girl and he only weighs 6 more lbs then me. eeek!

[trigger123]

turns in a stunning performance in every role he plays.
a poor christian bale film? doesn't exist

[swetepete]

Oh, that's not true: what about the dragon one? You know, the one with Matthew McWhateverthehell. 'Firelung?' 'Dragonfart?' I dunno; but, the gay one, with dragons in it. That was B-movie for SURE. Coulda been better if it wanted to, but it didn't and it wasn't. It was 'B' all the way--and, really, it took pride in it. As it should've. It was a good chop-em-up hack-kneed sci-fi.
And that other one..you know, with the 'gun kata?' What was it called? uh...um...I can't remember. The '1984' + 'Brazil' one, where he cuts the bad guy in half in the end. Anyway, same thing; schlock, with one good actor.
Namely, Christian Bale.
But the presence of one good actor does not a good movie make...good schlock, yeah, but can you really call (and I remember the title now) 'Equilibrium' a good movie?
Still, Bale was the best part of the whole thing, and there's nothing bad I can say about his work in it; but still, it was pretty silly stuff, yeah?
Nothing against old Bale tho. That dude's the best part of every bad movie he's in.