Christian Bale's Rollercoaster Career

Why does everyone leave out Equlibrium when they make this kind of articles about Christian Bale's career. I think it's an incredible movie (albeit flawed) and his performance is just amazing. Anyway, his career has definitely more 'ups' than 'downs' to me. Christian Bale is one of the best actors around (the best, in my opinion) and has been for over 20 years.

It's completely unfair the backlash he's been suffering because two incidents that have nothing to do with his final performances onscreen (which, by the way, shouldn't have been included in the chart). Especially the first incident, which is definitely a family affair. One thing worth of notice: he was never arrested, instead he came forward to the police and they proceeded to question him about the incident (I don't know Bristish law, I had read somewhere that everyone, even those who present themselves, are arrested before questioning - I really don't know). And the incident was labelled a 'verbal assault' not battery, (completely different things, but the media doesn't care about that). As for the second incident, does anyone honestly believe that those kind of things never happen on a movie set? And who of us hasn't got really angry at someone some time and went on a rant? He just had the misfortune to be recorded on tape and later 'exposed'.

And now, because of that, everyone bashes him. And nothing he does these days seems “good enough”. He’s not leading man material anymore or his career is over. He does a blockbuster-type of film and he´s a sell-out. If that film fails to perform according to expectations, he’s a failure or box-office poison. Or worse, apparently now he’s an overrated actor who has limited range (a look at his filmography is enough to know that’s BS) and is often out-acted or out-shined by his co-stars (without noticing that his roles in some films, are definitely supporting or are of a different nature). Just because in some of his films, he doesn’t have the flashier or more-in-your-face kind of role, doesn’t mean he’s bland, dull, one-note or one-dimensional as I have read recently; i.e. the latest, Terminator Salvation (wasn’t nearly as bad as they are making out to be) or Public Enemies (Alston Purvis himself, Melvin Purvis’ son, said that Christian Bale played his father perfectly and it was as seing him come to life). He serves the role, not the other way around.

Sorry for my rant, but he's incredibly talented and totally commited to his work while he seems genuinely down-to-earth person who doesn't want anything to do with 'Hollywood lifestyle', he justs want to do his job and be with his family.

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Is it possible to enlarge the roller coaster image? I'm having a hard time reading it. It looks like you have the name of "Howl's Moving Castle" incorrect.

From what I can read, it looks like you are basing this roller coaster mostly on box office highs and lows, and then mixing in some personal issues that may or may not have hurt his career. I don't think Christian Bale cares about box office success. He has said that his focus is the process of movie making, committing himself to a role and seeing the world through someone else's eyes. He doesn't read the press or follow the profits or losses.

If you look at Christian's career from the start, it seems to me that each role he has chosen has helped him to grow and to develop his craft, and he keeps improving with each film. A little film called "All the Little Animals" (1998) is my favorite of his performances, and that was midway through his career to date.

I think we have seen only the tip of the iceberg of what's to come in his career. I believe he will keep choosing scripts that have an intriguing story and interesting characters, and he will continue to commit himself to each role.

My husband Doug and I met Christian at the "Public Enemies" L.A. premiere, and he was an absolute gentleman, going out of his way to cross the street to sign his autograph for us.

We wish him all the success, personally and professionally, with "The Fighter," box office hit or not.

Maria Hughes
New Ulm, MN

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The left off three films he was excellent in: "The Machinist" (clearly an Indie), "I'm Not There" (an Indie), and Nolan's "The Prestige" (not an Indie but an equally good film)...

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I found his performance in Harsh Times riveting as well.

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Christian Bale becomes too attached to his roles. His outbursts on set, his assault on his mother + sister, the fact that he hasn't got a defined accent but that it switches interchangeably between English and American is all evidence of this. He is an incredible actor but his performance will never be fully credited because of his inability to detach himself emotionally from the characters he plays.

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yes maria u described his performance perfectly in harsh times. i think harsh times was one of his greatest performances to date along with american psycho, empire of the sun, and the maschinist...

i just ingnore all of this "his voice is annoying" "hes overrated" mumbo jumbo now... its obvious to me that he is getting backlash from his rant and the fact he blew up so big in hollywood recently(AND that most people have only seen him as batman or john connor leads them to think he has "limited range" hahahaha)... time will show how greatly talented he is, wait for him to get an academy award or play some high profile "flashy" character in a movie thats not batman and the "haters" will have far less to say...

yet to come, i see FAR more ups in his career than downs.. and he really hasnt been apart of a truly awful film.. reign of fire is his worst and thats not overtly garbage... and hes yet to have given a bad performace, maybe some standard action flick performances (reign of fire/terminator) but nothing bad...

and the fighter sounds like material that will show off that true talent again.. rise and fall trajectory... goes from great boxer to crackhead/theif to prison to trainer and redemptive figure for his brother played by mark wahlberg... should have some good material for bale...

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I hate to say it, but it seems like the more I see his movies, the less I like him. I loved his performance in American Psycho, but I thought he was really dull in I'm Not There, and just kinda ok in The Dark Knight (Good as Bruce Wayne, but the Batman voice was especially off-putting... Why didn't the director tell him to cut back on the gruff voice a bit? Not even Wolverine growls that much.) I do think he has talent, but maybe I've just seen the wrong cross section of his performances or something.

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well not liking his voice as a number one complaint is pretty sad... that said i think nolan made it sound even crazier through some technological means and that being said i think its sound absolutely badass... sounds like some sort of beast which is exactly what batman should sound like.... bale is so creative and edgy his choices sometimes split people down the middle... yeah i said it.. and it makes him all the greater for it...

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He's one dimensional and he needs a chill pill. You can be a great actor and enjoy it. Didnt he learn from his buddy Ledger?

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Bale was only good in American Psycho...maybe because he's playing himself. Most of his works he gives a vanilla performance and has little presence just blending with the scenery or slips into a blackhole. He tries too hard.
I believe in karma and Bale got his comeuppance for the way he treated people. I read many people's stories from his cast-crew and both male and female fans how Bale is a first rate jerk.Ofcourse now with his leaked temper he smiles more on interviews,appears to be friendly and in a good mood even on premieres but I dont buy it because he was not like that before. No consistency.

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Just out of curiosity - what do people who dislike him now due to the Klaus Kinski-like outburst want from him? He already apologized and it seems it's not enough. He appears on premieres and he's called a hypocrite because of his friendly behaviour on them ('Oh no, he's not like that.' they all say). What else do you want him to do? Do you want him to quit acting completely?

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What were the stories about other cast and crew members not liking him and who were they? That would be interesting.

I remember in one interview when Katie Holmes was asked about whether Christian Would help her with the HD tech stuff because she was inexpirenced with it, all she said was "I didn't tell Christian I needed any help" or something. This was strange because it was only like a one line answer and for the rest of the interview her responses are really lengthy.

Probably over anaylzing, but I am curious to know if other celebs/crew etc have said anything about him.

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