The “unconventional” director who gave Christian Bale one of his greatest experiences
Christian Bale has appeared in many different guises over the years. An axe-swinging yuppie in American Psycho, a suave sorcerer in the English dub of Howl’s Moving Castle, literal Batman, the Welshman has experienced a lot across his remarkable career and has received the endorsement of some of the most acclaimed directors of his time.
Around the time when Christopher Nolan was taking an interest in his future Bruce Wayne, another iconic filmmaker also discovered he was rather fond of Bale. Terrence Malick, the divisive mind behind Badlands and Days of Heaven, cast the actor in his 2005 film The New World. Bale plays John Rolfe, an early American settler who famously married Native American princess Pocahontas.
In a discussion with Chud ahead of the release of both The New World and Batman Begins, Bale described what it was like to go from one set to another. “That was so perfect,” he said. “I love the transition from that.” He went on to describe Malick as an “unconventional moviemaker”, saying of The New World, “it was one of the best acting experiences I’ve ever had, and he’s also such an intriguing man himself.”
Bale isn’t the only one who has been intrigued by Malick over the years. When he burst onto the scene with Badlands in 1973, he was heralded as a star of the future. However, following his second movie, Days of Heaven, he took a 20-year break from directing, returning in 1998 with acclaimed World War II movie The Thin Red Line.
The New World was only Malick’s fourth film. It depicted the founding of Jamestown, one of the earliest European colonies in North America, and starred Q’orianka Kilcher as the aforementioned Pocahontas and Colin Farrell as the famous colonist Captain John Smith.
The New World was clearly a great time for Bale, because he decided to work with Malick again a decade later. He starred in Knight of Cups, the story of a screenwriter who encounters a series of strange adventures inspired by major figures from the world of tarot. The film, which also featured Cate Blanchett, Natalie Portman, and Antonio Banderas, was extremely experimental, and it received mixed reviews from critics.
Viewers weren’t the only ones puzzled by some of Malick’s choices. “He didn’t tell us what it was about,” Bale told The Hollywood Reporter whilst promoting the film. “He really just gave me the character description. We worked on the character a great deal, worked on his backstory.” He revealed that, while other actors had lines to learn, Bale didn’t. Malick also had a habit of “torpedoing” his cast by throwing them into situations they didn’t know anything about and having them work with people who weren’t trained actors. This was, in the words of Bale, in order “to get a very real response.”
It is unclear whether this experience scarred Bale enough never to want to work with Malick again. Regardless, it certainly hasn’t put other actors off the idea, as the director’s next film has an absolutely stacked cast. The Way of the Wind, which is scheduled for a 2025 release, will recount several notable incidents from the life of Jesus Christ. Son of Saul star Géza Röhrig is set to play Christ, with Mark Rylance playing Satan and Ben Kingsley, John Rhys-Davies, and Aiden Turner in various other roles.
