Christian Bale addresses his pay and initial behavior in two of his more notable films: American Psycho and American Hustle.
The Amsterdam and Thor: Love and Thunder actor spoke to GQ for the magazine’s November cover story, in which he opened up about a decade-long philanthropic effort, his tenuous social relationship with Hollywood, his American Psycho paycheck and defending co-star Amy Adams, from director David, voiced O. Russell on the set of American Hustle.
Discussing the experience with the American Hustle set, reports of which surfaced during the 2014 Sony email hack and in a UK GQ interview with Adams in March 2016, Bale confirmed that he had stepped between Adams and Russell and referring to himself as an “intermediary” during these interactions and testimonies. He “did what I thought was appropriate, in a very Irv style,” referring to his character in the film.
“If I can sort of understand where it’s coming from, then I try to be more of a mediator. It’s just my nature to try to say, ‘Hey, come on, let’s go and sit down and find out. There’s got to be a way to make this all work,'” Bale tells the magazine.
During the 2016 interview about her on-set experiences, Adams addressed a question sparked by an email that emerged from the Sony leak between journalist Jonathan Alter and his brother-in-law, then-Sony CEO Michael Lynton. Alter wrote that the director of American Hustle “so abused” the actress on set that Bale filled in for her. “His abuse and crazy behavior is extreme even by Hollywood standards,” Alter wrote.
The actress told Britain’s GQ that Russell “was hard on me, that’s for sure,” describing the experience as “a lot” and one that not only made her cry but also “devastated most days.” ‘ saw going home from work. It was an experience then that made her want to work with him again “in the near future” and probably not “unless the role is less damaged and there’s a way to soften the madness.”
“Even I was surprised at American Hustle because on [his previous film] Silver Linings Playbook he had developed this wild, crazy way of working with Bradley [Cooper] and Jennifer [Lawrence] … and it was madness. I was like, wow,” Adams said. “It really taught me to separate work and home. Because I thought I couldn’t bring this experience home to my daughter.”
Bale says the need to step in and act as a facilitator on the job didn’t make him feel any differently about the finished project, and Adams himself has told him not to let it spoil the enjoyment of watching.
“You’re dealing with two such incredible talents there,” says Bale. “Look, when I feel like we’ve come close somewhere — and you’re only ever close to accomplishing something; Our imagination is too incredible to ever fully reach – but if you get even close and work with people of the crazy creative talent of Amy or David, there will be trouble. But they are fucking phenomenal. You also have to remember that it was the nature of the characters as well. Right? These characters weren’t people who would shy away from anything, were they?”
Elsewhere in the interview, Bale talks about one of his earlier films, American Psycho, which is often cited as the film that launched his career. But the Pale Blue Eye star says it was a role only director Mary Harron wanted — and fought for — for him to be in.
And so the pay was low — “the bare minimum they were legally allowed to pay me,” says Bale, with a promise that “they would only make it if they could pay me that amount” — for a job he did accepted to support his family.
“I had a house that I shared with my father and sister that was repossessed. So the first thing was, ‘Holy shit. I gotta make some money” for finishing American Psycho, but I remember sitting in the makeup trailer one time and the makeup artists laughed at me because I was paid less than everyone else. And that was my motivation afterwards. Was just, ‘I need to get enough so the house doesn’t get repossessed.’”
Because his relationship with acting from a young age was tied to providing financial security for his family, the actor says he didn’t really consider taking a break.
“That’s how I’ve supported people since I was 12, 13 years old. So that element has always been there,” says Bale. “There was never a moment where it was like, ‘I think I’d like to take four years off.’ no That’s just not going to happen. This is not possible.”