The movie Christian Bale starred in but knew absolutely nothing about: “He didn’t tell us”
Christian Bale has worked with some of the finest directors in the land. He is obviously one of Christopher Nolan’s favourite children, having fronted his ‘Dark Knight’ trilogy and headed up The Prestige alongside Hugh Jackman. Then there’s his early work with Steven Spielberg, his collaboration with Jane Campion on Portrait of a Lady, and his multiple appearances in films by Adam McKay, Scott Cooper, and James Mangold.
Another top contact in the Welshman’s phone is the maverick visionary Terrence Malick. The two first worked together on 2005’s The New World, in which Bale played John Rolfe, a famous tobacco cultivator and the English husband of Native American princess Pocahontas. This was an interesting full circle moment for the actor, as he had lent his voice to Disney’s Pocahontas a decade earlier. He also filmed scenes for Malick’s film Song to Song, but they were ultimately cut.
Bale has spoken about how much he enjoyed working on The New World, going as far as to call it ‘perfect’. Unfortunately, things ran less smoothly on the next Malick project he was involved in – 2015’s Knight of Cups. Inspired by figures from the Major Arcana of tarot cards, this head-spinning drama stars Bale as a screenwriter called Rick who, despite a successful career, seeks a deeper meaning to his life.
If that description sounds vague, then don’t worry, because its star was just as confused. “He didn’t tell us what it was about,” Bale told The Guardian whilst describing what it was like to work with Malick. “He really just gave me the character description. We worked on the character a great deal, worked on his backstory. I never had any lines to learn, but I’d see other people, and they’d have pages. I’d always look over their shoulders to see what it was that I was going to be told. I never knew what I was going to be doing each day.”
The other Knight of Cup cast members watching on with envy as Bale didn’t have to learn lines include Cate Blanchett, Antonio Banderas, Imogen Poots, Nick Offerman, and Natalie Portman, who would also go on to appear in Malick’s next film, Song to Song. Portman has also spoken highly of working with Malick, despite his tendency to keep his actors in the dark.
Malick’s career has been defined by his unorthodox approach. Following his first two movies, the highly-acclaimed Badlands and Days of Heaven, he took a full two decades to make his next film, which was the equally-heralded World War II epic The Thin Red Line. He then went on to make The Tree of Life, an equally insane coming-of-age tale that took five years to make. It was critically acclaimed, but does require a PhD to fully understand. He isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, as is the case with most out-there auteurs, but the people who do appreciate him consider him one of the greatest filmmakers of all time.
Unfortunately, the director’s decision not to be transparent with his cast may have backfired. Reviews for Knight of Cups were all over the place, receiving recurring complaints about a lack of narrative cohesion. As it turns out, it’s actually easier to tell a story when all the people telling it are on the same page. Who’d have thunk?
