Christian Bale
'3:10 to Yuma' was one that I just kept on talking and thinking about after reading it. And I think the reason is because, like in most Westerns, you have the very clear-cut bad-guy/good-guy, however, as the movie progresses, you kind of see that it's a very fine line that divides these two.
I tend to stay in character between scenes... to be rather serious on set, but here's why, and I think people will find it surprising. I'm one of the worst 'corpses' on a movie set, which means you can't keep a straight face. You start to get the giggles and you can't stop.
It's the actors who are prepared to make fools of themselves who are usually the ones who come to mean something to the audience.
So yeah, a good director will be able to listen and hear everything, but have a confident vision of his own that he can say, 'oh yeah - that's a great point.' And you never know; often you can help far more than you think you can, because there's so much more that he's juggling than an actor.
I've always believed that the director does whatever the hell he wants. That's what you sign on for as an actor - I can't stand it when you have actors who are trying to leverage directors into doing things they don't want to do.
No, only disappointment in myself on those occasions I didn't manage to rise to the occasion as I felt I should've done. I can always see how to do it, and then the challenge is, Can I manage that each and every day?
What the hell kind of man decides to dress up as a bat and run around the city? There's got to be something a little bit loose in there.
Certainly I have no attraction to misery. I don't intentionally go for dark.
My dad was the biggest influence on my life because he was never boring.
I'm not really into musicals.
I do like taking stuff seriously that a lot of people look at as nonsense. I enjoy the insanity of that. And I like the commitment that is needed for that.
I put on weight like Santa Claus. I just get this belly that kind of extends out.
And I not only inherited an aversion to the nine-to-five routine, but the sense from my parents that being bored and boring is the worst thing that you can be.
An actor should never be larger than the film he's in.
All of the muscles were gone, so that was a real tough time of rebuilding all of that. But you have a deadline, you have an obligation. You've said that you will commit to this part, and I just can't live with myself for not really giving it as much as I can.
I don't have acknowledged preferences of characters.
All I've ever ended up with in terms of achievements is the movie, some really stupid anecdotes, a bunch of crosswords that I didn't finish and maybe some old bicycle that I found lying around on set.
I never want to turn something down because I'm afraid to do it, because of some idea of image or whatever. That was never anything I set out to do. In fact, the opposite, I always want to confuse people in terms of any kind of image and be unpredictable in any kind of movie I make.
I never want to feel that I'm playing it safe.
We are starting off with our own different characters and our own laws and everything, looking at Bruce Wayne and how he came to be the person that he was and how he comes to be this man that jumps around in the Bat suit.
I don't think I'm like any of the characters I've played - they're all really far from who I am.
I only sound intelligent when there's a good script writer around.
When it comes to films, people often don't differentiate between the message of a bad central character and the message of the film itself. They are two separate things.
I've had some painful experiences in my life, but I feel like I'm trivializing them by using them for a scene in a movie. I don't want to do that. It just makes me feel kind of dirty for having done that.
But I enjoyed getting sick, I didn't mind it at all. So in that short amount of time, I did actually go from 121 right back up to 180, which is way too fast obviously. And that resulted in some doctors visits to get things sorted out.
And being as I'm somebody who loves movies like The Machinist, I also love going along to big mass entertainment movies. I get in the mood for all kinds of movies, and so I like to try each of them.
You're creating a different world and the actor's job is to be able to convince the audience to enter into that world, whether it be actually something that you recognize from your own life or not.
I went backwards and forwards over it until I was 22. And then in the past few years I began to say to myself, OK, look, I'm not messing around. This is something I want to attack, instead of thinking, I'll just see what happens with it.
It's about pursuing it rather than waiting to see what comes along. That's partly because I found myself getting typecast, as everyone does unless they pursue roles that are very different from what they've done before.
Obviously there are times with acting when exactly what is required is just going through the motions, and when doing nothing is the best thing. But at other times, you have to make that leap beyond the immediate environment of people putting up lights on the set.
'Batman' took 10 months to film, and by the time I stopped working on it, it took a long time before my English accent came out again. I was actually having to try for it.
I mean, first of all, let me say whichever superhero first came up with the idea of wearing a cape, he wasn't really onto anything good. The number of times I'm treading on that damn thing or I throw a punch and it ends up covering my whole head. It's really not practical.
In everyday life, my wife is the most wonderful. We're in love with each other beyond belief.
There have been many times when you spend a number of months and the finished product is not what you wanted to see. And 'Batman Begins' was what I wanted to see.
The interesting thing about a movie is the movie.
The point of having a director is that they make the final decision; it's their point of view, they set the rhythm and they make the final decisions.
Whatever you do, do it completely. Don't do it half-arsed. Do it more than anybody else would.Collection: Half
It's about pursuing it rather than waiting to see what comes along.Collection: Waiting
The art of survival is a story that never ends.Collection: Art
It's not who I am underneath but what I do that defines me.Collection: Who I Am
Were all conning ourselves, one way or another, just to get through life.Collection: Way
You either decide to take the easy way out, which means you're only going to disappoint yourself and everybody else, or you take the risk right now of being a fool, which is the only way you'll end up being exhilarated later on when you actually watch the movie.Collection: Mean
I like being responsible for myselfCollection: Responsible
I always want to confuse people in terms of any kind of image and be unpredictable in any kind of movie I make.Collection: People
It was a great honor to be called a mo-fo by Sam Jackson.Collection: Honor
You have to treat yourself like a mushroom to some degree, in order to keep on discovering things.Collection: Order
I want to do good work. I want the opportunity to work with good people, and the only way I'm gonna do that is to commit 110% - you get out what you put in.Collection: Opportunity
It's a wonderful thing when your trainer is actually the person you're playing.Collection: Wonderful
I want to be able to just act and never do any interview, but I don't have the balls to stand up to the studio and say, "I'm never doing another interview in my life!"Collection: Balls