Transformer Man: Christian Bale’s amazing metamorphosis

Some celebrities easily change their acting roles, transforming from villains to positive characters and back again. Such transformations are a commendable example, but Oscar-winning Christian Bale has gone further: his transformations are directly reflected in the actor’s figure. Shocking metamorphosis of Bale’s body many times surprised not only the audience, but also directors. And not everyone can repeat such a thing. We tell about the most impressive changes of the actor for the sake of cult roles.

“American Psycho”. The goal – a relief body

Christian got his first serious role in the movie “American Psycho”, where he played a narcissistic maniac. For this role before the actor was a serious task – to turn into an ideal looking man for a year and a half. In those days, Bale was not a fan of grueling workouts and therefore classes in the gym periodically replaced by going to the pub with friends.

Six weeks before the start of filming to him “set” personal trainer. He and put the actor on a strict diet and forced to exercise in the gym for three hours every day. Bale’s training included basic exercises and complexes on the abs. It was worth it. By the beginning of filming Christian was in great shape at a weight of 81 kg, and the character of the hero is quite disposed to show the figure in all its glory: you can evaluate his abs in the scene in the solarium, and powerful back muscles and tight buttocks, he will show you, running with a chainsaw in his hands for his next victim completely naked.

“The Machinist”. The goal is extreme weight loss

The real challenge to Christian was thrown by fate in the form of the picture “The Machinist”. Bale did not miss his chance and agreed to the role, he was not embarrassed even by the strong thinness of the hero. The actor had to play a man who almost a year did not sleep, did not eat and looked accordingly. For four months, Christian dropped almost 30 kg to play Trevor Resnick. Bale admitted that he felt great, although he realized that “as if destroying himself.” On the legs of the actor almost no muscle – they looked like matches. Weight was just over 50 kg. And this at a height of 183 cm!

I ate almost nothing – that’s the whole secret.

According to Bale, during the preparation for the movie, he gradually reduced his diet to a few hundred calories a day. And drank as much as possible to literally “fuel” the feeling of hunger. Cardio training was almost unnecessary, because in conditions of starvation, the body itself burned and fat reserves, and once gained muscle. Distraction also helped to lose weight – it saved in those moments when “attacked” hunger. “Want to eat – read a book!” – this was the principle that Bale adhered to all four months.

The results were really stunning – in the movie “The Machinist” actor struck his thinness.
With such weight loss suffered all systems of the body, and the risk of cardiac arrest more than doubled. But, as it turned out, here the story of Christian Bale’s weight changes only began.

After “The Machinist” Bale twice dropped weight for roles in the films “Saving Dawn” and “The Fighter”. Moreover, as later noted actor, no director did not require him to thin so much – they all said that you can think of something, play with makeup or light. But there was no need to think of anything: Christian did everything himself.

I kept the director’s words in my head: you have to become as big as possible. I did, but I looked more like a bear than a muscular and slender masked hero.

Bale ate everything he could and as much as he could. Christian was afraid that after a long period of starvation, he simply would not be able to eat in large quantities. But this did not happen, and sometimes even the opposite happened: it was necessary to contact the medics when Bale lost his sense of proportion. From a minimum of calories he came to almost the maximum – the total caloric intake was almost 4000 kcal per day. Every day he ate 350 grams of protein, 500 grams of carbohydrates and 70-90 – fats.

The director could not have imagined that the Christian he had talked to just a month and a half ago would become so big. Colleagues even joked about him: “Are we filming Batman or Fatman?”. The actor continued training, turned the extra fat into relief and became the Christian we saw in the role of Batman. It should be noted that Bale did without anabolic drugs: from them he was in his youth because of side effects. But training only in the gym was not the case: the role of the superhero assumed the skills of hand-to-hand combat and the ability to handle cold weapons, which Bale has mastered almost perfectly.

In 2008, he returned to this image, but between films again managed to lose weight by 20 kg for a role in the film “Saving Dawn”. However, in the second part of the trilogy “Batman” on the scales were the same 86 kg, although the audience actor seemed a little slimmer. The rules of preparation for the movie were the same: a lot of food and training.

Nevertheless, again losing weight for the role of Moses in the movie “Exodus: Kings and Gods”, Bale had to once again gain weight to play former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney. But that was likely the last drastic transformation. As Bale said in an interview for ET Canada, he’s now “too old” for a quick weight change. Christian is now 45 and while we think he’s still young, it’s worth saving his body.

Although Christian Bale is a role model for many, we wouldn’t recommend losing or gaining weight so drastically. After all, such changes in the body can cause serious diseases. And if Christian did it for the sake of his career and under the supervision of specialists, you probably have time to wait a few months and get the desired figure without sacrifices.