Christian Bale was barely in his teens when he made his first mark on the acting world, as the child star of Steven Spielberg’s Empire Of The Sun. His extraordinary performance in that film not only had at least one organisation literally inventing a new award to reward him, but also meant the job offers kept coming thereafter.
But unlike many younger acting stars who achieve acclaim and success, Bale carried this over, with some impact, into his later work. What was thus effectively his second breakthrough role 2000’s American Psycho, seemingly came out of nowhere, with his chilling, brilliant portrayal of Patrick Bateman, as risky a role as any of his contemporaries were willing to take on.
It took a while for that to convert into more consistent success. A pair of blockbuster leads in Reign Of Fire and Equilibrium failed to set the box office alight, but it was a subsequent pair of performances that really gave Bale his momentum. Firstly, he dramatically slimmed down for the challenging drama The Machinist, and then he landed his highest profile role to date, as the Dark Knight himself, in the superb Batman Begins. With many films already on the way, including the lead in the next stage of the Terminator franchise, Christian Bale is proving to be one of the busiest and most exciting actors working right now. --Simon Brew
No comments:
Post a Comment