Before he becomes Batman, the Welsh actor literally starves for his art in this month’s The Machinist. By now you may have heard that Christian Bale lost 63 pounds for his role as tormented insomniac Trevor Reznik in the new thriller The Machinist. Best to get that out of the way early, because when watching the film – in which Bale resembles a stick figure with skin – it takes a long time, and a strong stomach to get past it. Bale lost more weight than Tom Hanks (Castaway) and Adrien Brody (The Pianist) did combined. As shocking as it […]

Bale’s Hollywood saga is unique, a subtly managed trek up astonishingly steep acting challenges and neatly over the barbed hurdle of puberty, all transpiring more or less outside the eye of publicity and gossip. Bale has survived with his sanity, privacy and gift intact. He stands poised on the verge of one of the most promising adult careers of his generation. “I’ve never worked more than once a year,” Bale tells me in Paris, where I meet up with him. “In between I’ve had nothing written about me whatsoever. It was definitely a strategy. I like not being in magazines, […]