History Creator / ChristianBale

Although he likes to keep details of his personal life away from the public eye, he's not immune to some controversy. In 2008, he was charged for verbal assault on his mother and sister, but he denied the allegations and the charges were dropped on the grounds of lack of evidence. On February 2009, an audio recording of Christian's lengthy tirade on the set of ''Film/TerminatorSalvation'', in which he verbally assaulted Director of Photography Shane Hurlburt for wandering about the set during the shooting of a pivotal scene one time too many, was leaked online. Following the leak, Christian issued a public apology, saying that his actions were "inexcusable" and that he "acted like a punk"; prior to the leak, Bale and Hurlburt talked out their problems almost immediately after the rant.

The rant was turned into various [[StupidStatementDanceMix dance mixes]], such as [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcSUonLW4t4 "Bale Out"]] (with an obligatory cameo by Music/BarbraStreisand), which is quite an earworm even by Bale's admission.

Although he likes to keep details of his personal life away from the public eye, he's not immune to some controversy. In 2008, he was charged for verbal assault on his mother and sister, but he denied the allegations and the charges were dropped on the grounds of lack of evidence. On February 2009, an audio recording of Christian's lengthy tirade on the set of ''Film/TerminatorSalvation'', in which he verbally assaulted Director of Photography Shane Hurlburt for wandering about during the shooting of a pivotal scene one time too many, was leaked online. Following the leak, Christian issued a public apology, saying that his actions were "inexcusable" and that he "acted like a punk"; prior to the leak, Bale and Hurlburt talked out their problems almost immediately after the rant.

[[caption-width-right:285:"You fancy my acting prowess, huh? [[MemeticMutation OH,\\
GOOD FOR YOU!!]]"]]

[[quoteright:248:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bale.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:248:"You fancy my acting prowess, huh? [[MemeticMutation OH, GOOD FOR YOU!!]]"]]

Bale is a former child star turned very versatile leading man, with a reputation for taking any role that challenged him. While his most famous role prior to the Batman films was his performance as Patrick Bateman in the film adaptation of ''Literature/AmericanPsycho'', he's also known for being willing to [[DyeingForYourArt radically transform his body]] for a role. He lost 63 pounds for ''Film/TheMachinist'', immediately gained it back and then some (100) to play everyone's favorite masked vigilante in ''Film/BatmanBegins'', ''then'' went skeletal again to star in ''Rescue Dawn'', ''then'' gained it back for ''Film/TheDarkKnight'', ''then'' went skeletal '''''again''''' to star in ''Film/TheFighter''. And then made ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises''. And then put on 43 pounds to play an overweight man in ''Film/AmericanHustle''. '''''Then''''', he gained ''even more'' weight to [[https://consequenceofsound.files.wordpress.com/2018/10/christian-bale-dick-cheney-adam-mckay-vice.png?w=807 play]] former US Vice-President Dick Cheney in ''[[Film/Vice2018 Vice]]'' with terrifying accuracy.

Bale is a former child star turned very versatile leading man, with a reputation for taking any role that challenged him. While his most famous role prior to the Batman films was his performance as Patrick Bateman in the film adaptation of ''Literature/AmericanPsycho'', he's also known for being willing to [[DyeingForYourArt radically transform his body]] for a role. He lost 63 pounds for ''Film/TheMachinist'', immediately gained it back and then some (100) to play everyone's favorite masked vigilante in ''Film/BatmanBegins'', ''then'' went skeletal again to star in ''Rescue Dawn'', ''then'' gained it back for ''Film/TheDarkKnight'', ''then'' went skeletal '''''again''''' to star in ''Film/TheFighter''. And then made ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises''. And then put on 43 pounds to play an overweight man in ''Film/AmericanHustle''. '''''Then''''', he gained ''even more'' weight to [[https://consequenceofsound.files.wordpress.com/2018/10/christian-bale-dick-cheney-adam-mckay-vice.png?w=807 play]] former US Vice-President Dick Cheney in ''[[Film/Vice2018 Vice]]'' with [[UncannyValley terrifying accuracy.]]

Bale is a former child star turned very versatile leading man, with a reputation for taking any role that challenged him. While his most famous role prior to the Batman films was his performance as Patrick Bateman in the film adaptation of ''Literature/AmericanPsycho'', he's also known for being willing to [[DyeingForYourArt radically transform his body]] for a role. He lost 63 pounds for ''Film/TheMachinist'', immediately gained it back and then some (100) to play everyone's favorite masked vigilante in ''Film/BatmanBegins'', ''then'' went skeletal again to star in ''Rescue Dawn'', ''then'' gained it back for ''Film/TheDarkKnight'', ''then'' went skeletal '''''again''''' to star in ''Film/TheFighter''. And then made ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises''. And then put on 43 pounds to play an overweight man in ''Film/AmericanHustle''. Most recently, he's put on ''even more'' weight to [[https://consequenceofsound.files.wordpress.com/2018/10/christian-bale-dick-cheney-adam-mckay-vice.png?w=807 play]] former US Vice-President Dick Cheney in ''[[Film/Vice2018 Vice]]'' with [[UncannyValley terrifying accuracy.]]

* OldShame: He's still embarrassed by ''Film/{{Newsies}}'' but he does show some appreciation for the film's cult audience, and even wished the Broadway cast good luck with the show when it first opened.
** To say he has very little, if anything good, to say about Thor: Love and Thunder, would be kind and charitable, at best. He himself put it best “Filming this movie was the definition of “monotonous”. They told me to go to stage 5, then 7, but they were all the same, pure green screen. You couldn’t tell one day’s work from the next. I don’t really plan on working again on a project related to Disney or Marvel, if one day I work again on something related to superheroes I would do it with DC and WB, there I felt like I could show off my artistic talents.”

* Dan Evans, ''Film/{{ThreeTen to Yuma|2007}}'' (2007)

* ProductionPosse: Previously with Creator/ToddHaynes (''Film/VelvetGoldmine'' and ''Film/ImNotThere''), more recently with Creator/ChristopherNolan (''Film/TheDarkKnightTrilogy'' and ''Film/ThePrestige'') and Creator/DavidORussell (''Film/TheFighter'' and ''Film/AmericanHustle''), Creator/JamesMangold (''Film/ThreeTenToYuma2007'' and ''Film/FordVFerrari''), Terrence Malick (''Film/TheNewWorld2005'' and ''Knight of Cups'') and Adam [=McKay=] (''Film/TheBigShort'' and ''Film/Vice2018'').

Although he likes to keep details of his personal life away from the public eye, he's not immune to some controversy. In 2008, he was charged for verbal assault on his mother and sister, but he denied the allegations and the charges were dropped on the grounds of lack of evidence. On February 2009, an audio recording of Christian's lengthy tirade on the set of ''Film/TerminatorSalvation'', in which he verbally assaulted Director of Photography Shane Hurlburt for wandering about during the shooting of a pivotal scene one time too many, was leaked online. Following the leak, Christian issued a public apology, saying that his actions were "inexcusable" and that he "acted like a punk"; prior to the leak, Christian and Hurlburt talked out their problems almost immediately after the rant.

* Dan Evans, ''Film/{{3:10 to Yuma|2007}}'' (2007)

* Dan Evans, ''Film/ThreeTenToYuma2007'' (2007)

* Jim Luther Davis, ''Harsh Times'' (2006)
* Dieter Dengler, ''Film/RescueDawn'' (2007)

* Laurie, ''Film/LittleWomen1994'' (1994)

* Jim Luther Davis, ''Film/HarshTimes'' (2006)

* Rick, ''Film/KnightOfCups'' (2015)

* ActionHero: As John Connor and Batman.

* LargeHam: A few of his few roles.

* ProductionPosse: Previously with Creator/ToddHaynes (''Film/VelvetGoldmine'' and ''Film/ImNotThere''), more recently with Creator/ChristopherNolan (''Film/TheDarkKnightTrilogy'' and ''Film/ThePrestige'') and Creator/DavidORussell (''Film/TheFighter'' and ''Film/AmericanHustle''), Creator/JamesMangold (''Film/ThreeTenToYuma2007'' and ''Film/FordVFerrari''), Terrence Malick (''The New World'' and ''Knight of Cups'') and Adam [=McKay=] (''Film/TheBigShort'' and ''Vice'').

* SirSwearsALot: He's got quite a foul mouth in real life.

* TallDarkAndHandsome: He stands 6 feet tall.

* Laurie, ''Film/LittleWomen'' (1994)

Although he likes to keep details of his personal life away from the public eye, he's not immune to some controversy. In 2008, he was charged for verbal assault on his mother and sister, but he denied the allegations and the charges were dropped on the grounds of lack of evidence. On February 2009, an audio recording of Christian's [[RantInducingSlight lengthy tirade]] on the set of ''Film/TerminatorSalvation'', in which he verbally assaulted Director of Photography Shane Hurlburt for wandering about during the shooting of a pivotal scene one time too many, was leaked online. Following the leak, Christian issued a public apology, saying that his actions were "inexcusable" and that he "acted like a punk"; prior to the leak, Christian and Hurlburt talked out their problems almost immediately after the rant.

The rant was turned into various [[StupidStatementDanceMix dance mixes]], such as [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcSUonLW4t4 "Bale Out"]] (with an obligatory cameo by Music/BarbraStreisand), which is quite an ear worm even by Bale's admission.

* ClusterFBomb: His infamous rant is this.

* Gorr the God Butcher, ''[[Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse Thor: Love and Thunder]]'' (2022)

* BadassBeard: He often has one, both for roles and in real life.

* OohMeAccentsSlipping: ''Averted''. He even will keep using whatever accent used in the film even during promotional work.
** His accent in ''Film/ExodusGodsAndKings'' makes many ''many'' trips across the Atlantic Ocean throughout the film. Even during the course of a single sentence.
** During his massive rant, he does slip back into his natural accent but keeps up the American accent through most of it.

* UsefulNotes/DickCheney, ''[[Film/Vice2018 Vice]]''

* Christopher "Chris" Myers, ''[[Film/ThePromise The Promise]]'' (2016)

* Howl, ''[[Anime/HowlsMovingCastle Howl's Moving Castle]]'' (Originally released in Japan in 2004, 2005 English Dub)

* ProductionPosse: Previously with Creator/ToddHaynes (''Film/VelvetGoldmine'' and ''Film/ImNotThere''), more recently with Creator/ChristopherNolan (''Film/TheDarkKnightTrilogy'' and ''Film/ThePrestige'') and Creator/DavidORussell (''Film/TheFighter'' and ''Film/AmericanHustle''), Terrence Malick (''The New World'' and ''Knight of Cups'') and Adam [=McKay=] (''Film/TheBigShort'' and ''Vice'').

* ''[[Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse Thor: Love and Thunder]]'' (2022) as Gorr the God Butcher

Christian Charles Philip Bale (born January 30, 1974) is an actor born in Wales, of English extraction, and a naturalized citizen of the USA since 2014.