Back in March, I included Christian Bale in my 10 Best Actors of the 21st Century list. It was a no-brainer. Bale is a well-respected and mostly admired acting craftsman.
Bale has been in the game now since the ‘80s . His acting in “Amsterdam” is also pretty damn great, no matter the flaws that movie might have, and it’s got plenty. Now it’s just become routine to get great performances out of him.
His finest work,: Dicky Eklund in “The Fighter,” Patrick Bateman in “American Psycho,” Dick Cheney in “Vice,” Trevor Reznik in “The Machinist,” Dieter Dengler in “Rescue Dawn,” Michael Blurry in “The Big Short,” and Ken Miles in “Ford v Ferrari.”
Jim in “Empire of the Sun” can be included as well, that was a 13-year-old Bale giving one of the great child performances of all-time.
That’s 8 bonafide great performances. Let’s forget Bale ever appeared in “Thor: Love and Thunder,” that was pretty embarrassing and he basically shares in the embarrassment via a new GQ interview.
That GQ interview is actually worth a read. In it, Bale admits he was paid peanuts for “American Psycho,” how he was a “mediator” when Amy Adams and David O. Russell fought on the set of “American Hustle,” and admits that he lost, at least, five roles to Leonardo Dicaprio in his career.