Christian Bale

Christian Bale has been a very popular actor with a cult audience for many years but it was the 2005 hit batman begins that made christian bale a name with mainstream audiences. Christian Bale is known for his intense method acting, changing his body to fit every role he has played. Christian Bale has been acting since he was a child on the stage and in film. The most notable work from the early career of christian bale is Steven Spielberg’s Empire of the Sun, where Christian Bale played the lead at only thirteen years old. It was the 2000 cult hit american psycho that announced Christian Bale as an actor to be reckoned with. Since american psycho, christian bale has continued to have success with less mainstream features like The Machinist, as well as with Hollywood hits like batman begins and the prestige. What sets christian bale apart from other good-looking leading men is his dark intensity. With Christian Bale, there always seems to be something brewing underneath the surface of his characters. When american psycho was first released, christian bale certainly received a lot of attention but not all of it was positive.

 

The first screening of american psycho occurred at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival. Many critics found american psycho and Christian Bale disturbing and wrote reviews based on this reaction. Since the initial criticism, however, american psycho and christian bale have been heavily praised. Mary Harron, the director of american psycho, at first even refused to work on the film if Christian Bale was not the lead. In american psycho, christian bale plays a successful yuppie who appears handsome and charming on the surface but is really a serial killer. With Harron’s direction, american psycho became not just another serial killer movie but a critique on materialism and a man’s self-image. Christian Bale always speaks fondly of the american psycho director and her vision for the film. What makes american psycho so disturbing is not just the graphic murders but that throughout the film Christian Bale still remains attractive on the surface.

 

The viewer of american psycho fights between attraction and repulsion while watching christian bale. Christian Bale applied his method acting to american psycho through tanning and an exercise regimen so that he would have the perfect body. The film that made christian bale a Hollywood star was batman begins. Despite the fact that christian bale had appeared in Hollywood and indie movies since childhood, it was not until batman begins that Christian Bale became a household name. Christian Bale beat out Jake Gyllenhaal for the role of Batman in batman begins and this casting choice certainly helped give batman begins a darker feel. Christian Bale is known for playing dark and brooding characters and his Batman for batman begins was no different. A hit with audiences, batman begins will soon become a franchise with batman begins 2: The Dark Knight set for release in 2008. While batman begins and batman begins 3 indicate a continuing series, neither batman begins or batman begins 2 are in any way connected to the Tim Burton and Joel Schumacher Batman franchise. Internet buzz about batman begins 2 is already very high. Hopefully batman begins 2 will be as successful as batman begins for both audiences and critics. With batman begins and batman begins 2 Christian Bale has secured himself permanent fame in Hollywood history. In 2006, Christian Bale made a second film with Christopher Nolan (the director of batman begins and batman begins 2). When the prestige was released, there were big expectations for christian bale, as the prestige came out fairly soon after batman begins. In the prestige, christian bale plays a magician who rivals Hugh Jackman for audiences but their competition goes much further. What made the prestige so effective was the balance between good and evil that both the Hugh Jackman and the christian bale characters must confront.

 

At the beginning of the prestige, it seems that Hugh Jackman is the “good” magician, the magician who wants to play by the rules, and christian bale is the “evil” magician, the magician who plays by his own rules in which sometimes people get hurt. After the christian bale magician causes an accident that kills Hugh Jackman’s wife, the rivalry in the prestige is on and as the prestige continues it becomes clear that in both magicians exists a dark force that they must fight with their humanity. By the end of the prestige, it is no longer clear who is good or who is evil. The most talked about part of the prestige is the ending, which holds a very interesting twist. If you are interested in seeing the prestige starring Christian Bale, you should rent or buy the prestige dvd. On the prestige dvd are all sorts of special features, including behind the scenes featurettes. On Amazon, the prestige dvd was rated four and a half stars. I would probably give the prestige dvd the same rating, as the prestige was one of the best Hollywood features of 2006 and christian bale gives an amazing performance, not to mention the fact that Christian Bale is always a pleasure to look at on screen. Christian Bale is going to have a very long career ahead of him.

 

An IMDB poll even named christian bale the best actor under forty. With his good looks, dark intensity, and careful selection of film roles, christian bale is finally getting the critical acclaim and audience attention he has deserved for sometime. Christian Bale is a step above most other young actors today. Christian Bale has been compared to Robert De Niro for his method performances and it truly does seem like christian bale belongs to that group of method actors in the 1970s who changed the way acting was done. A Christian Bale performance is gritty, intense, and compelling. Christian Bale has always had a star quality that is just beginning to be recognized. When batman begins 2 comes out, we will see how christian bale has fared under the star pressure.