i watched an incredible movie this weekend, the machinist starring christian bale. you might recognize bale from the most recent batman movie or, if you’re john earl, american psycho.
the machinist is a powerful movie. the kind where you clench your jaw the entire time because of the psychological agony bale puts you through. this manifests itself through his insomniac induced hallucinations and most prominently through his skeletal frame.
for those that know him from batman and american psycho, they know a very physically fit and muscular actor. in the machinist, he is the exact opposite. bale weighed 120 pounds for the role, dropping 60 from his normal weight. for his next role as batman, he added one hundred pounds in six months:
Bale recalled it as far from a simple accomplishment: “…when it actually came to building muscle, I was useless. I couldn’t do one push up the first day. All of the muscles were gone, so I had a real tough time rebuilding all of that.” (wikipedia)
the contrast in these two pictures is crazy if you ask me. the machinist is a great movie though and i recommend it. i’m a bigger fan of bale now after watching this one. i can’t imagine being dedicated enough to anything to drop that much weight.
remember that time pants cooked the food you like, hosted the tailgate, let you stay over night, visited you too often at school, learned how to text, took you to practice, made you feel uncomfortable when asking you about a gf or bf, cried when you left home, loved you more than should be possible. you probably do. cause it happens everyday.
