chameleon actors: Christian Bale

Christian Bale riding a scooter.

Christian Bale and Amy Adams on the set of David O. Russell’s Untitled Project.

It cracks and pops as the record round unevenly for a moment…and then, issuing from the horn, something he has never in his life heard before. Music. And not just music, but the most heartfelt, profoundly created music ever made. The very soul of mankind rent open, bleeding forth melody…. Preston’s throat knots as the first notes of the bassoon distantly sound, building…mounting… And it only gets worse from there. After a moment, he must sit, he has begun to shake so badly. Helpless in its spell, he can only listen, astonished, as the towering magnificence of the first movement washes over him. It is unfair, that music which moves even the most hardened human soul should be the first heard by this defenseless man. Tears flow unblocked down his face as he realizes for the first time, all at once, what death, life and love.

LIFE RUINERS FROM THE UK (2/30) Christian Bale (Wales/England)

“At first, I was somewhat hesitant to do the role. I mean, after all, Batman is an icon. But I remember, as clear as day, being at the grocery store the day the movie opened, and this little boy saw me. He couldn’t have been more than five years old. He just walked right up to me and hugged me. He hugged me, and I was so moved by it that I hugged him back. Then he looked up at me and said “You’re my hero.” And in that moment, I knew that not only as an actor that I had done my job, but that I had made the right decision to play Batman. And I’ve never looked back on my the decision to play Batman since.”

HAPPY 39TH BIRTHDAY CHRISTIAN CHARLES PHILIP BALE!