Qwhen you see them together Christian Bale and his buddy David O’Russell they look like two friends who have been drafted together and, if they meet up occasionally, they have a lot of fun re-enacting shared adventures.
There is a big difference in age, history and experience between the British star – 48, born in Wales and raised between cities in Portugal and England – and the 64-year-old American director of Three Kings And American Hustle. But if you hear them chatting and laughing together, they are such a well-matched couple that you want to go for a drink with them.
Christian Bale and O’Russell in Amsterdam
At the presentation of their latest film, Amsterdam, they are both dressed in black, but to the classic and composed look of O ‘Russell, the Oscar-winning actor contrasts a wrinkled air, that of one who randomly chooses a shapeless shirt and a pair of worn breeches. Bale now has long hair on his neck and a sharp salt and pepper beard; when you ask him a question his gaze is sharp and concentrated.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – SEPTEMBER 27: (LR) David O. Russell and Christian Bale attend the Amsterdam Los Angeles Special Screening at El Capitan Theater in Hollywood, California on September 27, 2022. (Photo by Jesse Grant / Getty Images for 20th Century Studios)
Amsterdam – directed by O ‘Russell with Bale starring and co-producer – marks their third collaboration. It tells the story of a three-way friendship born during the First World War, when the Dutch capital offered them refuge: the trio – Bale’s two friends are played by Margot Robbie, a kind of Dadaist nurse-artist and John David Washington, a libertarian lawyer – is then to investigate years later in New York on the death of a general of their regiment.
Farcical, tragic, rambling, often irresistible, and with a very rich and eclectic cast – by Robert De Niro and – surprise! – Taylor Swift – the film tells a little known episode that really happened. But it is the story of this extraordinary friendship that immediately convinced Bale to be part of the project and to immerse himself in it with the enthusiasm of him who often – he admits – borders on obsession.
A vintage friendship
“In this film, I’m a doctor on probation, developing medicines for friends, ex-combatants and the poor, and with Harold, my partner-lawyer, and Valerie, a nurse, we help those in need. To me seduced the idea of building friendships with people you love, who you want to follow, and then collaborate with a gentleman and friend like David: I admire his work and I followed this script from the beginning, six years ago ». Expressions such as friendship, camaraderie, and kindness return frequently to the conversation. “Yes, to prepare myself I studied American history, I went through dozens of documentaries about the time but – he specifies – we have always and above all concentrated on that beautiful friendship ».
Christian Bale, Margot Robbie and John David Washington in Amsterdam. Photo by Merie Weismiller. © 2022 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.
If you ask him to describe his character, Burt Berendsen, the bewildered doctor with a glass eye and the always lost air that he interprets with ironic charm, Bale measures the words. “It’s never been my forte to analyze the work I do, and I don’t know what’s going to happen on set. When I hear that I am a “method actor” (who follows the Stanislavskij technique taught in the classes of Lee Strasberg and Stella Adler and adopted by Marlon Brando, James Dean, Al Pacino, ed) I don’t know how to react because I’m not. Robert De Niro it is, he studied Strasberg, I studied two days at the Ymca (the Christian associations created in the mid-1800s to assist young people at a recreational and cultural level, ed) “. And smiles.
Bale simply wanted to become Burt. “He’s one of those friends I wish I had. And in the film, that three-way friendship pact is so beautiful, “he insists. After a pause in search of words: “How have I prepared myself? I don’t know, I had a long time to think about it during the pandemic, then one day you are there, on set, and you become him. At first I didn’t know where I was going, I stumbled all the time, with that glass eye that kept coming off; I didn’t even see David’s face, I could only see his hair, the visor, the mask, the profile of his jacket. To be honest, he didn’t even seem there “(laughs). And then suddenly you try that pleasant feeling of really knowing him, Burt, of having him in his skin and bones; now, for example, I miss him very much. “
Christian Bale, Englishman in Los Angeles
He looks like a different actor from the one I knew: he himself, known for his somewhat bearish character, who forced the interviewer into an acrobatic ballet: making him say three words about himself was a feat, but today he is relaxed, almost talkative . He has lived in Los Angeles for thirty yearsit is not known exactly in which part of the city, and I have never met him at a screening, in Hollywood, or even on the street or in a sushi bar. On set he tends to isolate himself all the time of the shoot, he avoids colleagues and chatter; for this, turning Amsterdam he even apologized to John David Washington at the beginning of the film. I was therefore surprised to see him twice in ten days, here in Los Angeles, to talk about the film with an unusual enthusiasm and availability, he who for years he has been mulling over the possibility of abandoning the profession of actor forever, and then return to it with greater intensity. «I decide to give up, but then I have a wonderful day on set and I change my mind.
With Amy Adams as Dick Cheney in Vice.
In the end what I love most of all is behaving obsessively, acting like I never could in everyday life ( laughs): in this way you can discover a lot of things about yourself, everything is extraordinarily instructive. Sometimes, however, your motivations do not coincide with those of the people you work with, and they are continuous ups and downs, but I have resigned myself to living with my ups and downs ». And his family, with him: his personal life flows smoothly like oil. Christian has been happily married for 22 years to Sibi Blazic, and with her he has two children, 17-year-old Emmeline and seven-year-old Joseph. He speaks little of them but if he does, he struggles to hold back his emotions. “They are all three of my life, and if I live a bit as a recluse and I don’t socialize much with the people of the cinema, it’s because my life unfolds outside of work, it’s in my family”.
The debut with Steven Spielberg
It has behind four Oscar nominations, and a statuette for The Fighter, yet he never really wanted to be an actor, and often says he started acting professionally just to help his family. He was 13 when he made his debut with The empire of the sun by Steven Spielberg; since then we have followed him in ever-changing films, with eclectic and sensational interpretations.
The Fighter, Oscar winner.
It’s hard to forget his Patrick Bateman, the fatuous and fetishistic serial killer of American Psycho or the dark and problematic Bruce Wayne in the rigorous trilogy of Batman directed by Christopher Nolan (global box office of two and a half billion dollars), in which he transforms the comic superhero into a grieving character. He loves working with the same directors, with O’Russell and Nolan he has made three films and The Pale Blue Eyewhich we will see in the coming months, will be his third project with Scott Cooper (with him she turned Hostile And The fire of revengenot at all bothered by the modest collection of his films, 35 and 15 million respectively).
“What will I do in the future? I don’t know and I don’t want to know, in fact almost I cultivate this feeling of the unknown, of having no idea what I will doHe told me. “When I look back I see a lot of bad movies, you agree, don’t you? And there are some really good, good ones, but you never know at first. It’s a team effort, and when you join a team you don’t know what’s going to happen, or if you’ll be in tune with others. But I do not regret anything, I have traveled and met fantastic people, they all made my life incredibly interesting, who knows what life I would have had without my films. In the end, do you know what I tell you? Zero regrets! ».
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