There are many actors who are known to go to extreme lengths for their movie roles but Christian Bale is a mile ahead of them due to his extreme dedication to his craft. Not only has he undergone extreme physical transformations, but the actor is not afraid to venture into unknown territories for the sake of his roles.
However, there was a time that almost cost Bale his life. The movie was Rescue Dawn and the director was Werner Herzog. Known for his unique and insane filmmaking, Herzog’s method came close to putting the Dark Knight star’s life in serious trouble. But that hardly seems surprising for the director-actor once wanted to dig up a real-life serial killer’s mother’s grave to test a weird theory
Christian Bale Once Nearly Died On Sets Of Werner Herzog’s Movie
Werner Herzog‘s $10M movie Rescue Dawn was based on the real life story of Dieter Dengler, a USS flyer who was shot down during the Vietnam War and as stuck in Laos for over six months, undergone extreme starvation. Although the movie was a terrible failure, Christian Bale was exceptional, eating maggots and even catching live snakes.
However, there was one scene that ended up almost putting Bale’s life in jeopardy thanks to the Star Wars actor’s unique methods. In an interview with GQ, the star revealed,
“We were in the helicopter… And we’re in the jungle on top of that. It was flown by these pilots that were crazy and they would take off in these crazy manoeuvres and you’d take out half a tree as you went. And I was standing, you know, on the rail, just hanging on from it. It was something else. I can’t remember what he suggested, but obviously in that moment I didn’t agree.”
Thankfully, nothing happened and they made amends.
Werner Herzog Once Wanted To Dig Up A Grave
Werner Herzog in a fortunate twist of fate ended up meeting with Errol Morris. While some might describe them as being similar, from their film making approach to the way they approach ther respective projects, both began their careers at different times. But one thing they connected on was the story of Ed Gein, a real life serial killer who has inspired multiple movies and books thanks to his many crimes.
Morris had a crazy theory about Gein’s mother’s grave. He reckoned that instead of digging a grave directly, he had digged around the surrounding graves, tunneling through them to reach the grave. While Herzog ended up going to the grave, ready with his shovels, Morris backtracked at the last moment (via Collider).
Rescue Dawn can be streamed on Showtime.
