Enter the image-based Hollywood world of the Hawkes, Baldwins, and OâDonnells. You see the flashes pop, the emotionally unremarkable lauded, and the future plans for âslacker-esqueâ movies dancing in the eyes of these so-called stars. Yet you will witness the sensitive and shy, less worldly types we see on the silver screen usually having to settle for a position of less grandeur. High-profile is something that Christian Bale definitely is not. He is managed quietly by his father, an ex-pilot with scant Hollywood connections, he has no publicist, and has never been the focus of a major American magazine article. These elements would seem to be a drawback here. Yet his âin-the-biz-not-of-itâ stance may just have been the key to his âperformance rather than profileâ popularity.
His fans are a vocal bunch who flood their idol with mail, particularly e-mail. He was more than a bit shocked earlier this year when America Online informed him that he is the third most popular subject of conversation in its âHollywood Online, Talk about Actorsâ forum. Being just behind Brad Pitt and Keanu Reeves, and way ahead of more visible figures like Tom Cruise, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Hugh Grant. He has large, active fan clubs in such unlikely places as Harvard, Yale, and Stanford universities. And Baleâs official, Toronto-based fan club raised thousands of dollars for charity this June in an online auction of items he wore or used while making the bizarrely popular film Newsies. Not bad for one still paying his dues.
A tall, lanky, big-boned twenty-two-year-old with a broad, childlike face, sensual lips, and prematurely wise eyes, Christian is unconventionally handsome. And apart from the odd burst of hesitant laughter, he maintains an impassive, thoughtful expression, occasionally bending his mouth slightly to accommodate a mildly bemused smile. Why the excitement over someone so low-key?
In 1987âs critically acclaimed Spielberg film Empire of the Sun, Christian delivered an incredibly stellar portrayal of twelve-to-fourteen-year-old J. G. Ballard in the story of his experience as a young prisoner of war. Remarkably, at thirteen, Bale got the role despite his film inexperience and lack of formal training, and to this day he has only participated in a couple of workshops, when he was roughly twelve. The merits of his do-it-yourself method became especially evident in last yearâs Little Women. With his natural talent and charm, he stole most every scene he was in. While his experience between those two films included some box-office failures (Swing Kids, and Disneyâs failed attempt to repopularize musicals, Newsies), Christianâs realness and non-pretention shines through in what would be considered his weaker roles. He has never given less than a solid and touching performance, and has never gotten a bad review.
So now heâs got Little Women and the vocal role of âThomasâ in last summerâs Pocahontas under his belt, and his two upcoming films include Christopher (Carrington) Hamptonâs screen adaptation of Joseph Conradâs The Secret Agent, as well as the long-awaited Jane (The Piano) Campion project The Portrait of a Lady (set for release this spring and fall, respectively). Seems the world may be witnessing a larger stride being taken by Bale.
Normally very wary of publicity, Christian has given very few (if any) in-depth interviews. However, he agreed to give us a rare look into his experiences. Possibly to do his share of the necessary publicity for both films, but more likely because of the fact that weâve recently become friends as well.
A very knackered Christian had just returned to London after four months on location in England (Secret Agent) and Italy (PortraitâŠ) when we managed to snag him for an interview at two a.m. his time.
Joel Westendorf: So are you up to answering a few questions? Christian Bale: Yeah. [chuckle]
JW: Okay.
CB: All right (self-convincingly). This is an ordinary conversation. Letâs just start.
JW: Right.
Dennis Cooper: So whatâs the plot of The Secret Agent?
CB: Itâs set in the 1890s in Soho in London in an earlier porn shop, which is very tame by our standards. In fact, we had to do two versions. One for the cinema, and one for television. One where they scan the racks and thereâs loads of dildos. Then they scrape all the dildos off and do it again for TV.
DC: With troll dolls instead.
CB: [laughs] Exactly. No, thatâs even more indecent, isnât it? So, Joseph Conradâs novel The Secret Agent was one of the first thrillers in the style that we know them today. I heard that it inspired people like Graham Greene and John leCarrĂ©. Itâs a lot of characters, all up to no good basically. And they all end up dead. Thatâs the short of it.
JW: Could you give me an idea of your character âStevieâ?
CB: Well, most of the characters are caricatures. But I mean, very subtly done. My character is âinnocenceâ basically. Heâs the only one whoâs completely innocent in the whole thing. Heâs like nineteen or something with a mental age of letâs say seven or eight. So, heâs in his own little world, and heâs sort of fascinated with trying to solve the wrongs of what is going on in the world. And he has the advantage of his lack of perception really, he can see things as either purely good or purely bad. Whereas all the others have become quite mixed up, especially with Bob Hoskinsâs character, whoâs amoral. He just doesnât seem to have a grasp of good or bad at all. So youâve got this complete innocent trying to live in this world and he just canât.
JW: What are the other characters like?
CB: Well, thereâs Winnie, who is Patricia Arquette. In the film sheâs my sister, my mother, sheâs everything. Nobody else takes care of me. My mother, played by Elizabeth Spriggs, has gone a bit batty and isnât in any state to look after a handicapped kid. So Winnie is sort of his whole world. Sheâs the only one he can talk to. Verloc, who is the secret agent, is Bob Hoskins. Because Winnie is married to him, without thinking too much about it, Stevie believes that Verloc is a good man. Itâs one of the lines in the film that I always say. âGood man, Mr. Verloc.â
JW: Whatâs Bob Hoskins like?
CB: It was quite funny with Bob. My character is so submissive when heâs around, and treats him with such awe and respectânot to say I donât have that for Bob at all, Iâve got an awful lot of respect for himâbut I couldnât just be me sitting there talking with Bob. When Patricia, Bob, and I met out in Los Angeles for the first time, we had lunch and had a few drinks and got a bit drunk and everything. And I really couldnât see us doing that again once I had started playing my character. It would have felt a bit odd.
JW: How about Patricia Arquette?
CB: Of all the people on The Secret Agent, I sort of felt most comfortable with Patricia. Because with Stevie, she is the only one that he really chats with. She sort of adopted the sister attitude with me, and beat the shit out of me as soon as they shouted cut, doing kung fu kicks on me and shit, you know, in period costume.
DC: You told us a funny story about something that happened on the setâŠhaving to do with a bomb?
CB: Yeah, we were on Greenwich Hill in London, by the Observatory. I was doing a scene where a bomb went off in my face. It was a public place, and we cleared everybody out because there was this bomb and they could get hurt. Now I didnât actually see him, but there was this guy who was hiding in the bushes taking a piss when this frigging bomb went off. And he came running out of the bushes afterward, I donât know in what state of undress.
DC: How did you get on with Gerard Depardieu?
CB: Well, the first time I met him I was lying asleep in my dressing room, and I woke up because there was such a loud belch, and I sort of sat up and there was Gerard Depardieu standing there in his shorts sort of scratching himself. [laughs] And he said to me [adopting a French accent], âItâs okay? I can come in?â And he came in and we had a chat for ten minutes, and he was off again. We didnât talk much during the filming. Mostly leering at each other. Heâd come up and go [makes blubbery noise with his lips], âChristian!â And Iâd sort of go [same noise], âGerard!â And that was the extent of it really.
CB, JW, DC: [laughter]
DC: Youâve had no formal training as an actor, right?
CB: That is true! I did a couple of workshops when I was like twelve or something, but Iâve been able to work so, umâŠI just havenât needed to. I thought about going to drama school for a bit. I just started to think, âHm, this seems to be happening a bit easy.â I was in Kenneth Branaghâs film Henry the Fifth when I was fourteen, and Kennethâs mentor is Hugh Cruttwell, the ex-head of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. So I spoke with him about it, and he said wait until youâre older because you get a lot of people, they go along, they donât really have any of their own ideas, and so they come out being identical to each other. When I did Newsies I spoke with Robert Duvall about it as well, and he said essentially the same thing. So that basically decided me.
DC: You had to inhabit some pretty terrifying emotions in Empire of the Sun.
CB: I think what actually worked in Empire of the Sun was the fact that I didnât have any sort of preconceptions about acting or what it should be or what I should be doing. I just got out there and did it. I really wasnât a film fan at all, and Spielberg just makes everything incredibly easy.
DC: Your grandfather did some acting and stuntwork.
CB: Yeah, both of my granddads. Youâre talking about the one on my dadâs side. He was John Wayneâs double for a while. I havenât actually seen any of the films, but my dad watched one recently. I canât remember which one it was, but it was set in Africa.
DC: Hatari!?
CB: It may have been. I keep wanting to say Uhuru, but that was somebody on Star Trek, wasnât it? My dad says you can actually make out my granddadâs face in the shadows at some point, which you shouldnât be able to do, but you could.
DC: Did you know him as a kid?
CB: Not at all. I went to South Africa at the end of â92 to meet him. He had cancer, and he was basically hanging on to meet us. So only that one time.
DC: Was his being an actor an inspiration to you?
CB: Well, he wasnât exactly an actor. His brother was. All of them on my dadâs side are enormous. Theyâre like six feet four, six feet six, and built like brick shit houses. So my dadâs uncle Rex, who I met, though I donât remember it because I was so young, was an actor. I think he tended to play heavies all the time because he was so big. But Iâve never seen anything that he did. My granddad was more likeâŠwhat do you call it, a white hunter, which just means he was a park ranger in South Africa.
JW: When you did Empire of the Sun, were you aware how big of a deal it was to have a lead in a Spielberg movie?
CB: When youâre thirteenâŠItâs not as if I was running around banging on doors at that age. I didnât really care too much if I got the parts or not. Just sort of coincidences had happened and I was lucky. So I didnât have an idea of the whole âbig pictureâ of it. I mean now, when Iâve decided that I do like acting, and Iâd like to continue doing it, you start to get slightly more self-conscious, and realize what on earth youâre doing. But when youâre justâŠdoing whatâs in front of you, you donât think of that, you know?
DC: It was such a dream role. It was so expansive and involved such a range of emotions. Did it spoil you? Did it...