I was reading a story in the Independent regarding Christian Bales agressive weight loss for the film Machinist. Apparently he went from 184lbs to 121lbs (that’s 83kg to 55kg).
Bale, the next Batman, admitted that losing weight became an obsession; he achieved his aim by reducing his food intake and exercising. He said: “I was also intrigued to see how far I could take it. I was told, if I got to 140/145lb that’s still fine. But I was intrigued by a perverse nature of mine just to see if I can go beyond what I’ve been told is actually safe and OK, and see if I could push the limits.”
Then the story continues with various groups speaking out against it and role models…blah, blah, blah. It does go on to talk about various actors and their weight losses for different roles, including the Method Man himself, Robert De Niro.
So? Well, what get’s me is the quote at the end, it’s a wonderful quote and I just had to share it:
Perhaps the last word should go to the late Laurence Oliver. On the set of Marathon Man, he was confronted with a haggard Dustin Hoffman, who had gone without food and sleep for two days to prepare for a particular scene.
The great thespian asked: “Hasn’t the dear boy heard of acting?”
Touch� Sir Olivier.
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Sure, there’s gotta be a physical side to roles like that, however his comment was specifically aimed at Dustin Hoffman in Marathon man, and I think it was a general comment about the fad for method acting being applied to any role at the time.
No disrepect to Sir Olivier but the weight loss that Bale went throught for The Machinist is absolutely essential to the story – there’s no “acting” like you lost 100 lbs, the audience needs to see it.
And the groups that banned together to protest how an actor chose to get prepared for a MOVIE ROLE would find their time better served knitting sweaters for the mothers of babies around the world that need them. The UN is sponsoring the project.
Cool article Triflic.
FYI: The Machinist is a solid (if not revolutionary) piece of filmmaking, but the star attraction/hook is Bale’s weight loss which is intimidating and frightening. My TIFF Capsule here
Don’t they have to first understand why the light wants to be switched on?
HAHAHA!
Q. How many actors does it take to change a lightbulb?
A. Depends on the method they use.