When it comes to transforming his body for a role, very few actors are willing to go where Christian Bale goes. He’s gotten ripped for roles in The Dark Knight and American Psycho. He’s lost over sixty pounds to play Trevor Reznik in The Machinist. He’s let himself go to get into character for American Hustle.
However, Bale has never quite gone as far as he’s going to play Dick Cheney in Adam McKay’s Backseat. Given that the former Vice President is a larger proportion, to put it kindly, Bale has needed to “make weight” in order to portray him properly. Sure, he could have just worn prosthetics and a fat suit, but if you think that was ever going to fly, you don’t know Christian Bale.
Bale revealed his new look recently on the TIFF red carpet and when asked what he’s doing to pack on the pounds, the mercurial actor was pretty upfront about his strategy. He’s eating a lot of pies.
Christian Bale says he’s been eating “lots of pies” to look like former VP Dick Cheney for upcoming film #VarietyStudio presented by @att pic.twitter.com/kc6jxINLZZ
— Variety (@Variety) September 12, 2017
“I’ve just been eating a lot of pies.”
Christian Bale talks "getting his hands dirty" for the making of #Hostiles & preparing for his upcoming role as Dick Cheney #THRatTIFF pic.twitter.com/my2vYRMYuD
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) September 11, 2017
Still, Bale is a pretty unusual choice for the role of Cheney, perhaps matched only by the casting of Steve Carell as Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. The Big Short duo will be joined by Amy Adams (Lynne Cheney), Sam Rockwell (George W. Bush) and Bill Pullman (Nelson Rockefeller). The film is supposed to be a biopic of Cheney, so perhaps we’ll see Bale portraying him at various points in his life, and as such, at various weights.
