Christian Bale discusses James Mottram about his latest picture, The Pale Blue Eye, and how he’s embracing the small screen.
We’ve all heard about Christian Bale. The British actor, a perfectionist who makes films for the big screen, does not do television, radio, podcasts, or write kiss-and-tell autobiographies. He’s that that because he’s old-fashioned. But, despite having played Batman, a Marvel villain, and John Connor in The Terminator, don’t ask him what makes a smash.
‘I have no wisdom whatsoever about that… well, other than superhero films, which seem to be a slam dunk,’ he says, when we meet one cold winter day in London. ‘I’m not a good businessman or salesman, whatsoever!’
Even he recognises that streaming has changed the game. Especially if you have two children. ‘I have to say, as a father myself, finding time to go to the movies is difficult, especially when you have a damned beautiful TV at home,’ he says.
‘Maybe that’ll change for me as my kids get older, and they’re off doing their own thing. I mean, I still do [go the cinema] as often as I can, but it’s as often as I can, which is not that regularly. And when you can just watch it anytime you want, why not?’
Perhaps it’s not what Tom Cruise or Bale’s Batman director pal Christopher Nolan want to hear, given their devotion to the cinematic experience. However, Bale, 48, is a realist.
His most recent film, The Pale Blue Eye, will be released on Netflix on January 6 following a limited theatrical run. He plays Augustus Landor, a (fictional) investigator investigating a brutal murder who stumbles across real-life novelist Edgar Allan Poe.
It’s based on the book by Louis Bayard, who was a fan of Poe’s dark tales like The Raven. ‘He was curious as to why Poe became Poe. And thus was born the character of Augustus Landor, Poe’s mentor and inspiration.’
It’s hardly the kind of film studios make anymore: a gripping murder-mystery set in the 1830s. Fortunately, it has received support from Netflix, which implies that a large number of people will be able to watch it in their living rooms.
Even in unlikely locations on the planet. ‘I was in Indonesia, on the island of Sumba,’ Bale recalls.
‘And it’s the last place on earth that you’d expect to see flat screen TVs. Oh, they’re all over! It’s what people spend their money on and it’s incredible. No movie theatres on that island, right? So that is something you got to consider. This film… we potentially get people to watch it there on Sumba. What a remarkable thing.’
Bale, who values his privacy, could like a trip to a small Indonesian island. He’s been an actor since he was a boy growing up in Bournemouth, and he shot to fame in Steven Spielberg’s 1987 World War II film Empire Of The Sun.
Bale the pro
Christian Bale and writer-director Scott Cooper’s bromance is just getting stronger. After Out Of The Furnace and Hostiles, The Pale Blue Eye is their third feature together, and it’s simple to see why.
‘Christian sets the tone for the rest of the actors,’ says Cooper. ‘He’s the first to arrive on set. He’s the last leave. Doesn’t even bring his telephone on set. You never see him texting in between setups or checking his social media account… although actually he doesn’t have one! He’s fully committed to the performance and the character.’
Even in the dead of winter in Pittsburgh, when temperatures plummeted, Bale led the line. ‘If it’s minus eight degrees Fahrenheit, and Christian isn’t complaining, well, no one else will.’ Now that warms the heart.
Thirty five years later, he’s still out there making movies – and in person, he’s charming and chatty. But he could do without the spotlight. Like when he went to Australia to film his first Marvel outing, 2022’s Thor: Love And Thunder, during the pandemic, and had to quarantine for two weeks.
‘Nobody could bother you. I was there just with my family and a friend of my daughter’s. It was bliss. I loved it!’ He even enjoyed the slightly prison-like conditions. ‘They sent government food,’ he says, with glee.
‘My understanding was none of the other actors ate it. I loved it. I got on the set and said, ‘Oh my god, didn’t you love all the brown boxes of food that arrived from the government?’ And everyone went, ‘We just didn’t even eat it. We ordered in.’ Oh, you could order in? I loved the government food. It was great.’
Bale, who has been married to wife Sibi for 22 years, was also pleased to see his two children, Emmeline, 17, and Joseph, 8, in cameo appearances in the Thor film. ‘I even had my daughter design one of the creatures in the movie,’ he says.
So has Bale’s long career in movies stirred an interest in the arts for them? ‘Not really stirred an interest in the arts. Certainly, they enjoy the travel, as they’ve gotten older, realising the novelty of it. And then they’re just sort of amazed that anybody would actually pay me!’ They might be the only ones.
The Pale Blue Eye is in cinemas now and on Netflix from January 6.
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