No one does it quite like Christian Bale. There is no denying that he is one of the finest talents in the film industry right now and his name will surely be penned down in History books. Whether it is saving Gotham City as Batman or helping his brother reignite his boxing career in The Fighter, Christian Bale plays every role to utter perfection.
However, despite being a movie star of his caliber, Christian Bale has moments when he absolutely despises the film industry. Sure, this is the career path he has chosen for himself, but that does not mean he can’t have his ups and downs! Even though he is killing it in the industry, Christian Bale once opened up about the love-hate relationship he has with his career.
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Christian Bale Believes the Film Industry is Full of Vanity
During an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, all the way back in 2013, Christian Bale got candid about feeling rather appalled by the film industry. He stated that while at one moment he absolutely loves his job, the next moment he can be totally over it. There’s no grey area here!
Talking about how actors and other people involved in the industry can be totally self-absorbed, Bale confessed,
“[Acting] became something I felt like I had to do. You can’t enjoy something when you’re actually — not being forced to do it — but you feel that duty and obligation that if you don’t a lot of people are going to suffer. And so it became that, and it’s always been a love-hate thing for me because of that, you know? When I love it, I love it. When I hate it, I just can’t. It’s just disgusting, this vanity-fuelled profession. I just can’t stand it. I can’t stand the people, and I hate them all. And I hate the films, and I don’t want to see a film again in my life.”
But this feeling doesn’t last long. As soon as Bale finds a role he is interested in, he’s back on track. The American Hustle actor stated, “And then I’ll find something and I’ll go, ‘Yeah, forget everything I just said. I want to go back in. I want to go back into it.’ But it’s always like that for me. It’s a very black-and-white thing.” His feelings are absolutely valid as no one can be expected to love their job all the time, no matter how glamorous it may seem. He’s only human!
Christian Bale Doesn’t Believe He’s A Movie Star
Having the filmography that Bale does, anyone would say that he is a movie star; the best of the best, in fact! But please don’t say it in front of him as he is absolutely against the idea. In an interview with The Talks, Bale opened up about why he prefers doing small films over blockbusters stating,
“…You don’t have all this nonsense of people calling you a movie star and stuff like that. I don’t feel like that at all. People started offering me these roles that are thought of as ‘movie star’ roles, but I try to make a character out of it. I never felt myself to be that and I never really had any desire to be that.”
The New World actor continued that while he does sign up for huge roles, he doesn’t do it because he likes being the center of attention.
“I am not in it because I like being the center of attention. In fact I can’t stand it, unless I am acting – then I can do anything, I don’t care. But as myself, I like to be very low key in my life. I’ve always really admired actors, but I don’t know the history of movies very well and I am not really a movie buff in the slightest. So, I do just consider the bigger roles to be other acting jobs and then I am very surprised when people say, ‘Oh, you are a movie star now.’ I really don’t think I’m cut from that cloth.”
While this is quite humble of him, we as fans cannot deny that Bale is nothing less than a superstar. After all, have you seen him perform? The man changes personalities faster than you can change a channel on your T.V.!
