Brad Anderson's THE MACHINIST remains one of the most nightmarish films of the last ten years and also a striking moment in the career of Christian Bale. Bale filmed the thriller just before Christopher Nolan's BATMAN BEGINS. For THE MACHINIST, Bale lost 62 pounds and appeared skeletal onscreen, a feat he would repeat for Werner Herzog's RESCUE DAWN. But, for BATMAN, Bale immediately bulked up to his original weight plus another 60 lbs. To say this is evidence of his acting dedication would be a major understatement.
I thought that was shocking enough until I read a story related by Bale's costar in THE MACHINIST, Michael Ironside. Ironside is a very recognizable actor having appeared in countless films, including SCANNERS, TOTAL RECALL, and TERMINATOR: SALVATION (also with Bale). During a recent Reddit AMA, Ironside related a story from the days shooting THE MACHINIST and just how much weight Bale actually lost. Be warned, it is pretty f*cked up.
"I remember on The Machinist,I came to work one day, and we were shooting in Barcelona, Spain, and our trailers were these little Spanish 2-wheeled cabanas that were parked in front of this actual working machine shop. And I heard "pssst…Michael!" from behind one of the cabanas.
And I went over, and it was Chris. And he said, "Can you look at this?" And he turned and dropped his overalls, which he was naked under. And he had lost an INCREDIBLE amount of weight for the character. And he said "Michael, there's something wrong with my ass, can you have a look?" And the muscles in his ass had literally dropped out of the sockets of his hips. The dignity of the muscles, his ass had literally dropped out of the hips and thigh bones. And I said, "Hey Chris, your ass has dropped." And he said, "What do you mean?" And I said, "You've stopped losing body fat, and now you're actually losing elasticity of muscles" – I forget the exact medical term for it, but I said, "You've gone beyond body fat, and now you're into actual muscle tissue and things are being affected."
And he turned – I wasn't sure how he was going to react – and he turned, and said, "Cool"
Christian Bale is absolutely a chameleon when it comes to his performances. Just look at his acting job in AMERICAN HUSTLE and THE FIGHTER and you can see how much he disappears into his roles. But, to drop that much weight on an average human body could be absolutely devastating and Bale's reaction seemed to be one of elation. This definitely takes my respect (and fear) for Bale to a whole new level.
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