The director Christian Bale won working with again: “I wish him well”
Any actor who experiences the elusive double-whammy of consistent success and impressive longevity is afforded the rare opportunity to become increasingly selective over who they work with, leaving Christian Bale in a position to declare there’s at least one director he’d never collaborate with again.
In a career that began in 1986, he’s worked with many of the biggest filmmakers in the industry, although he hasn’t reunited with all that many of them. Steven Spielberg, Kenneth Branagh, Werner Herzog, Michael Mann, and Ridley Scott are just some of the names he’s partnered with over the years, but there are only a select few who get more than one Bale for their buck.
Christopher Nolan directed him four times in the Dark Knight trilogy and The Prestige, he starred for James Mangold in 3:10 to Yuma and Ford v Ferrari, Adam McKay called the shots on The Big Short and Vice, David O. Russell helmed American Hustle and Amsterdam, with Scott Cooper becoming a firm favourite of Bale’s through Out of the Furnace, Hostiles, and The Pale Blue Eye.
That’s not to say he’s dead against re-teaming with any of his one-and-done directors, but the Academy Award winner made it abundantly clear McG won’t be one of them. There was plenty of hype surrounding Terminator Salvation ahead of its release, and Bale’s casting as John Connor was one of its buzziest aspects.
After all, he wasn’t one to sign on for many action-packed blockbusters away from Batman’s cape and cowl, with the fourth instalment in the sci-fi franchise promising the future war setting fans had been craving to see explored in detail ever since James Cameron first tantalisingly teased it in 1984.
It speaks volumes about the quality of the final film that the most memorable thing about Salvation by several leaps and bounds is the leading man’s foul-mouthed tirade against its cinematographer, with Bale making it patently clear he was so dismayed by the end product he would never work with McG again.
Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, the star made it sound as though he’d been misled by the director’s intentions. “He goes, ‘Give me a chance. Everyone needs to evolve, and I need to turn over a new leaf,'” he said. “And please, you must’ve been in this position before yourself, when someone has taken a leap of faith on you,’ – which I have – ‘please do that for me now; I promise you, I’m ready for it.’”
When Salvation didn’t turn out to his liking, Bale conceded, “There’s a lot of room for many approaches and many characters within the film industry,” intimating that McG’s overt enthusiasm wasn’t enough to compensate for a script he never seemed entirely sold on from the beginning.
Asked if he was correct in putting his doubts to one side and giving the director a chance, Bale responded bluntly by saying, “I won’t be working with him again, but I wish him very well”. If ever there was actor speak for ‘it’s not me, it’s you’, then this was definitely it.
