Christian Bale plays former US VP Cheney in 'Vice'. You'll never recognise him
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Christian Bale shaved his head, bleached his eyebrows and put on 18 kgs to play Dick Cheney.
Christian Bale is like water as an actor -- fluid and adapts to any role given to him by his director. He is back to transforming for another important role, this time for ‘Vice’ in which he plays the former US Vice President Dick Cheney.
Dick Cheney is 77, American and a very different body type -- almost making you doubt whether Bale could play the man in his biopic. After all, Bale is 44, British and well, Batman!
The Oscar-winning actor underwent a dramatic transformation like shaving his head, bleaching his eyebrows and gaining more than 40 pounds (18 kg) for the role. He apparently did specific exercises to thicken his neck, so that he passes off as Dick Cheney on screen.
Talking about the work he put on the role, Bale said, “(I was) just trying to provide a blank canvas through which these incredible [hair and makeup] artists could create the various ages of Cheney. . . . They would shave my head every day, bleach and pluck eyebrows.”
While not revealing much about the topic of the film and Bale’s role, director Adam Mckay said in an earlier interview to Variety that Cheney is “a very secretive guy, so one of the big things with this script has been to really read every single thing that’s out there. I compare it to radio telescopy, where you kind of look at the gravitational pull on one star and go, ‘Wait a minute, there must be something there that’s causing that . . .’ It’s really like detective work. . . . So there’s just been a lot of minutiae and details that we’re constantly sifting through to try and put this story together. We know a lot about him, but there’s a lot most people don’t know, and it’s pretty jaw-dropping.”
Bale admitted that him being offered the role was crazy from the start and said, “I love crazy ideas!” and added, “Who would have thought Adam McKay would call me up one day and say, ‘Hey, what do you think about playing Dick Cheney?’ That’s just as crazy as playing a panther.” Also read: Christian Bale: Don't consider myself the master of my craft
For those who don’t know, Bale is also playing Bagheera, the panther in the upcoming film 'Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle,' Andy Serkis’ adaptation of 'The Jungle Book.' See pictures from the movie's world premiere in Mumbai, India. This is what he had to say about his trip to India.
This is not the first time when Bale has gone all bonkers with his roles. For his 2004 film ‘The Machinist’, he dropped a reported 60 pounds, only to regain the weight and then play Batman, in just six months. He became lean for ‘American Psycho’ and then developed a paunch for ‘American Hustle.'