At the London world premiere of The Bride!, Christian Bale did what he does best: deflate the mythology that’s built up around himself with dry honesty. In a red carpet interview that’s already gone viral on the internet, the Oscar winner gave fans some tongue-in-cheek advice on what to expect if they ever meet him in person.
Christian Bale reflects on hero worship
“I see it in people’s eyes,” he said of the moment when someone who’s been a fan of his work finally meets him in the flesh. “They’ve watched my movies, and then they meet me, and I see their eyes. That terrible disappointment about who I really am. And it’s true. What a disappointment. That’s me at my best in the movie.”
His advice? “Never meet me,” he said with a grin. “And I never want to meet my heroes either because they’re heroic in what they do. But you know…”
It’s classic Bale—self-aware, slightly mischievous, and refreshingly unaware of the need to play the charming movie star role. He confessed to avoiding meeting his own idols for precisely the same reason—so that he can keep the magic alive.
The comments are also consistent with Bale’s longtime reputation as one of the most methodical actors in Hollywood. Bale’s co-star in Hostiles, Rosamund Pike, was joking in recent interviews that she never “met” Christian, only “the character he was playing at the time.”
In The Bride!, which was helmed by Maggie Gyllenhaal, Bale plays Frankenstein’s Monster, and even for Bale, this was an intense role. The actor reportedly spent six hours a day in makeup. To combat the boredom and discomfort, Bale and his crew began having “screaming sessions” in the trailer to release tension. These “screaming sessions” evolved into a bonding session involving 29 crew members.
If Bale’s argument is that heroism is a construct, then his body of work argues the opposite: acting is not.
Perhaps just don’t plan on meeting the monster or movie star at the door.
