An excellent article appeared today at cnn.com on actor Christian Bale, of whom it can be said has had a most interesting career.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/Movies/09/12/film.christian.bale.ap/index.html
There can be no question that Bale has been inordinately lucky in his journey, starting from when as a young boy he was cast as the lead in Steven Spielberg’s “Empire of the Sun.” Luck aside, what stands out about this brief summary of Bale’s career is his passionate belief in acting as a craft that requires constant training. Too often the mass media prefers to portray acting as a magical ability that only a certain limited set of immensely talented (and usually also drop-dead gorgeous) people possess, rather than a craft that can be learned.
If you read the article pay careful attention to the difference between Bale’s commentary on his acting process, and what is said about him by James Mangold, who directed Bale’s new movie “3:10 to Yuma.” While Bale talks about the constant process of re-invention and the preparatory work that he invests in each role, Mangold says that Bale “doesn’t work too hard.” Does this make sense?
It does if you understand acting. When an actor has prepared thoroughly he or she can make the work seem effortless. Unless Mangold was with Bale prior to the shooting of the movie, when Bale was doing his preparation, then it is unlikely that Mangold is aware of the full extent of Bale’s effort to make his performance seem so easy and natural.
bale demonstrates how good actors really have to work hard at their craft… he seems to have been working hard from the very beginning