'It wasn't very pleasant': Christian Bale’s extreme weight loss for ‘The Machinist’ alarmed even his wife
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Christian Bale is renowned for dramatic physical changes to play some of the most iconic roles in modern movies. From growing a paunch and going bald for 'American Hustler' to losing weight for his Oscar winning performance in 'The Fighter', the British actor has been chameleonic in his quest for acting perfection. However, there was one instance of physical transformation that even his wife found it challenging to observe as the actor seeemed to have pushed himself a little too far.
In his 2004 movie 'The Machinist', Bale demonstrated what he would be ready to do anything to enter a character fully. The 'Dark Knight' actor played a factory worker who was suffering from severe sleeplessness in the film. Bale lost weight to reach 121 pounds in order to depict the physically and mentally damaged character accurately. Bale previously said to Radio Free that he went on a diet where he ate almost nothing to accomplish the transformation.
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'Your face will expand again if you're really at that low point'
He said, "My daily thing was generally like a bit of a coffee and an apple if I felt like it. Well, I had to eat the pie in the scene, and then there was a scene eating chicken as well." He further added, "But I tried not to swallow. Because it's amazing how you can literally just have a couple of bites of something, and your face will expand again if you're really at that low point."
However, several expressed worry over Bale's tactics, with others urging the actor to see a doctor at this trying time. But possibly his wife Sibi Blazic, who had to see him deteriorate in front of her eyes, was the one who expressed the most worry for Bale's health. But Bale reassured his wife that he would give up the endeavor if he ever actually placed his health in danger.
'Although my wife was with me the whole way, so it was a gradual decline'
He once said, according to Female First, "It was tough. Although my wife was with me the whole way, so it was a gradual decline, it wasn't very pleasant for her to be around and witness. She did get pretty worried, and I promised her that if I ever felt something bad might happen, I'd just quit."
For 'The Machinist', Bale initially had no intention of losing as much weight as he did. The actor admitted that he first went beyond what he thought was essential for the role but quickly realized that he had done so. He said, "He read to me as though he should look as though he was on the brink of death. And I didn't set out to actually go as skinny as I did." He added, "I just found that I was being somewhat more successful at it than I had imagined. And I actually ended up being able to get to the weight that was specified in the script, which I never really thought was going to be possible at all."
'It ended up being a very nice place mentally to be when you get that skinny'
Others claimed Bale might have created the ideal look using CGI. But Bale wasn't confident that the technology at the time would accurately portray his persona to viewers. Aside from that, the Oscar-winning actor's drastic weight loss had a few advantages. He said, "It ended up being a very nice place mentally to be when you get that skinny. Man, you're calm, you know? Because you just can't waste any energy whatsoever. So you just do what's necessary. I was incredibly happy," as reported by CheatSheet.
The 'Machinist' could have been better liked when it initially came out in theaters. Bale was happy traveling far for his role, even if it wasn't as well received as some of his other films. Instead, he thought that dropping all that weight had been worthwhile.
'You're not going to get many people to go and see it'
Bale once told MovieWeb, "I understand that a number of people have also said to me, 'Well, this isn't going to be a mainstream movie. You're not going to get many people to go and see it. So why did you do it?' Well, look, it's not for that. To me, a movie doesn't become better just because a lot of people go see it at all. My primary satisfaction for making movies is actually in the making of the movie. So in those terms, absolutely, I feel like it was worth it."