Christian Bale has left viewers in complete awe with his extraordinary acting talent and versatility. He has an impressive portfolio consisting of numerous projects that are a testament to his dedication to his craft. However, his 2002 movie, Reign of Fire with another Hollywood gem, Matthew McConaughey initially left him concerned.
As the actor had never worked on a project that used special effects before this one, he was afraid that the movie might end up becoming an embarrassment if the tone was not appropriate.
Why Was Christian Bale Hesitant on Working in Reign of Fire?
In an interview with MoviePub, the American Psycho actor revealed that he was hesitant about taking this project, Reign of Fire due to its special effects. When asked why he was reluctant to get involved in the project at first, Christian Bale revealed,
“I needed convincing, really. I could see that this could be the movie that it has turned out to be, that it could be a great idea. But you’re looking at a script. I have no pictures of a dragon, nothing whatsoever.”
Given that he had almost nothing that could explain how dragons (an integral component of the movie) and other elements would be shown in the film, he knew it could come with certain consequences. He continued,
“And whilst I could see that it could turn out like this, I also could see that it could be a huge embarrassment to be involved with. If it wasn’t done in a certain tone.”
The Dark Knight actor further added that there have been many dragon movies made before it in which the terrifying creatures had been portrayed as “slightly comical sort of silly” which was something that bothered him quite a lot. However, he was highly impressed with the results as he added that the 2002 film turned out to be fantastic. But, the script indeed left a bad impression on the actor who admitted that it had several problems.
Christian Bale Revealed Reign of Fire‘s Initial Script Has Several Issues
In an interview with Phase 9, he revealed how Reign of Fire‘s initial script had many problems. Revealing a few, he admitted that film director, Rob Bowman was open to changing his character, Quinn Abercromby, which Bale portrayed in the movie.
However, he was stuck on having the movie portray human interest anyhow.
“There were many problems with the initial script; Quinn’s character was something of a lightweight at that time. Rob said it was completely open to what I wanted to do to that character.”
He continued,
He was adamant about not wanting the characters to be bland, action driven characters. He wanted to try and stick in some kind of human interest. I’m always also kind of attracted by movies where there is a real challenge and a real possibility of it going really badly wrong.”
Nevertheless, he was highly impressed with the final product, who in the MoviePub interview, praised the director for keeping quite a balance in its storyline. While the project brought him together with Matthew McConaughey, it ended up becoming a box-office disappointment, making its place in Bale’s most underrated projects.
Reign of Fire is available to watch on Apple TV.
