The Machinist

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Phate89

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Has anyone seen the Machinist with Christian Bale?

I bring up the movie, because i'm watching it and its a good movie, but Christian Bale is really really really thin

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"Christian Bale starved himself for over 4 months prior to filming, as his character needed to look drastically thin. Allegedly his eating consisted of one can of tuna and an apple each day (approximately 275 calories), although there are conflicting reports on this. According to the DVD commentary, he lost 62 pounds (28 kg), reducing his body weight to 120 pounds (54.4 kg). Bale wanted to go down to 100 pounds (45.3 kg) but the filmmakers would not let him due to health concerns. He later regained the weight, plus an additional 40 pounds (18 kg) due to weightlifting, in preparation for his role in Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins."

Thats pretty insane right there, didn't realize people went to that kind of extreme just for a movie.
 
That's creepy.

Especially 'cause of the whole gaining back 100 lbs in 5 months for Batman Begins. You can't tell me something strange isn't going on there.
 
Only 60. :p I'm pretty sure it was 100... didn't he gain back 40 lbs on top of the 60 he lost? Either way, that's a lot of weight to be losing and/or gaining in so short a time.

And "just to see if I could" is sort of a strange thing to say about it. Nothing against him, though. I'm actually a pretty big fan myself. I loved Equilibrium. It's a little worrying given what little I know of his personality and history, is all.
 
I didn't say that he did it for fun, but I do remember him saying that he pushed down to that weight because he could rather than because it was necessary. Not sure if that would be a case of the producers misrepresenting what they had said to him or what.

Honestly, I thought it was overdone. I had a hard time even watching The Machinist because I felt like his bones were going to shred his skin and/or cause him to explode in a spray of human shrapnel at any moment. I realize this was part of the character, to an extent, but yeah, bit excessive.

That (Bale in Batman Begins) didn't look like 180 lbs on a 6' frame to me. Then again, it doesn't look like 220, either. I guess I shouldn't have said "pretty sure". :p

P.S. 3:10 to Yuma rocked. Saw it a few days ago.
 
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Derwyddon said:
He said over and over it was 60. I believe him over you, sorry.

60 pounds is a lot to gain in 3 months, even he has said that. He said it was stupid and dangerous (he started going to doctors when he was gaining the weight back because he felt so bad) but that he had a real passion for the role of batman. He said he didn't gain, lose, and gain for the fun of it, but it was just a series of circumstances that the roles he really wanted demanded it.

Yeah, it's extream, but nothing to crap your pants over, IMO.
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Yea, im a huge Christian Bale fan myself. I loved American Psycho, Equiilbrium, and Batman Begins. Where did you see these interviews of him talking about it?
calcium said:
What's the machinist about anyways?
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"Trevor Reznik, a quiet and reserved loner who works as a machinist, is wasting away from lack of food and sleep deprivation leaving him gaunt and fatigued. After a year of suffering from severe insomnia, he is involved in an accident at the workplace that leaves a co-worker seriously injured. What follows is a dark descent into paranoia, as Trevor's downward spiral leaves him obsessed with finding out the meaning behind the strange and bizarre occurrences taking place around him. "
 
It was an interesting movie. And props to Bale for having the discipline to go down and up in weight like that for a role, when some people won't lost 10lbs just to be healthy.

I do think they shot his half naked shots all in a few days at his thinnest. I'd swear you can see some loss in continuity during the movie as his face looks less emaciated in some scenes compared to the topless shots of him at home.

Still...that had to be rough. You'd be so tired and cranky.
 
Was this just shot before or after American psycho? Because I remember in American Psycho he had a very nice lean, muscular physique. And that would have sucked to throw it all away. Whats his physique like nowadays anyway?
 
Phate89 said:
Was this just shot before or after American psycho? Because I remember in American Psycho he had a very nice lean, muscular physique. And that would have sucked to throw it all away. Whats his physique like nowadays anyway?
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American Psycho was released in 2000, and Machinist is 2004, so there was a gap there.

He didn't look too bad in Batman Begins though. I bet he looks real good in the Dark Knight that's coming out.
 
Apparently in the new batman "The dark Knight" he is more ripped than last time. Which figures as Batmans schedule is hectic to say the least :p
 
here's another movie with Bale apparently doing an extreme diet, as he is a POW in Vietnam, and thus is wasting away the entire movie.

its called Rescue Dawn, and just recently came out on DVD.
 
I think a lot of people do this. Like I know Renee Zalawegger (whatever her name) gained a lot of weight for her role in some movie that no one watched.

I think they mainly do this for the "Oscar" effect. Like if they could play their role really well, then they can make a name for themselves. Sort of like how Denzel Washington really overacts in all his movie by being Mr. Serious Business 99.9% of the time. It's like screaming, "Give me an Oscar, damn it!"

Of course, fat can easily be done with extra clothes and a fat suit, but skinny guy is probably really hard to do without actually starving yourself.
 
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