Christian Bale Says He'd Never Been to a Gym Before 'American Psycho'
In the year 2000, Christian Bale was still seen as a former child actor, following his roles in Empire of the Sun, Newsies and Little Women. But that all changed with the release of American Psycho, an adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis' controversial novel. Bale played the film's protagonist and unreliable narrator, Patrick Bateman, an investment banker in the greed-is-good era whose vanity and rage drive him to increasingly reprehensible acts of violence.
In a new oral history of the film commemorating its 20th anniversay, Bale recalls how he fought hard for the role, which was originally supposed to go to Leonardo DiCaprio, who was fresh off his star-making role in Titanic. In fact, Bale was so sure that he was right for the part of Bateman that he threw himself into working out in order to attain his muscular physique.
"I had to. I'm English. I had never gone to a gym in my life," he says. "You lose that quicker than you gain it. I said to [director Mary Harron], 'I'm still gonna make this, and I'm still gonna keep prepping on it'... Everybody thought I was crazy, but it became a crusade for me."
Bale finally secured the role, and went full method for the duration of shooting, speaking in an American accent even when he wasn't on set, refusing to socialize with his co-stars, and training relentlessly to stay shredded.
"I also remember that after every day he would go work out for hours and hours and hours to get into that incredible shape," says Matt Ross, who played Bateman's colleague Luis Carruthers. "I remember Mary and I talking about just what an incredible work ethic he had."
Since American Psycho, Bale has undergone a series of dramatic physical transformations in order to prepare for roles. He lost 60 pounds and cultivated a gaunt, emaciated appearance for The Machinist by subsisting on "water, an apple, and one cup of coffee per day." He then bulked up considerably to play Batman in Christian Bale's Dark Knight trilogy, and gained 43 pounds by eating donuts and cheeseburgers for American Hustle.
Bale still changes his body to help him get into character, but the transformations are a little less drastic these days. "I've become a little bit more boring now, because I'm older and I feel like if I keep doing what I've done in the past I'm going to die," he says. "So, I'd prefer not to die."
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