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| Image Credit: LIA TOBY/GETTY IMAGES |
Christian Bale is a talented actor who leaves a different impression with each work, such as the Dark Knight trilogy, American Hustle (2013), and Vice (2018). Fans know that he thoroughly prepares for his roles, including weight gain and loss, but sometimes his co-stars seem to be scared of how deeply he gets into the role. Chloe Sevigny and Josh Lucas, who co-starred in American Psycho (2000), look back on the filming in an interview with Vanity Fair. American Psycho is a psychological horror film based on the novel of the same name. Bateman (Bale), a vice president at an investment bank, is an elite businessman who enjoys an elegant life but enjoys killing for no reason.
Bale had been a promising young actor after appearing in Empire of the Sun (1987) and Velvet Goldmine (1998), and this film was the catalyst for him becoming known as a method actor, with Sevigny playing Bateman's secretary and Lucas playing his colleague. Lucas revealed that he was nervous on the set of this film, which brought together Bale as well as other unique actors such as Willem Dafoe and Jared Leto, and said, "I still remember thinking Christian Bale was terrible," reflecting on how he didn't realize the power of Bale's method acting.
"I remember the first scene we did together, and he looked fake. I realize now that he had a really amazing way of doing it. He was already on a completely different level, and he was able to bring so many layers of insanity to his acting. I thought that wasn't real acting at the time, but it was the opposite."
Meanwhile, Sevigny felt that even though she was scared, she wanted to show her respect for Bale's approach to acting. Sevigny, who has a strong image of young people with dark secrets in films like Kids (1995) and Gummo (1997), seems to have a tendency to "unconsciously behave sociably and a little clumsy," and she was intimidated by Bale's acting and by Bale himself.
"It was a challenging change for me. It's not that I thought he was bad (laughs). But I was confused, and I thought, 'Why can't you be sociable? " I had no idea what method acting was. I had no formal acting training, and I think I was the type that was like, 'Just do it until you can do it.' It was intimidating, like, 'What is method acting?'"
Baer, who exudes an intimidating aura when preparing for a role, is also known for his warm and gentle personality in his private life, to the point that he asked those around him to postpone the start of filming of his latest starring role, "The Bride!", due to a project to build an orphanage that he is in charge of.