Not since River Phoenix have I been obsessed with an actor. I’m lying. I had a pretty big crush on Corey Haim. But it was just purely aesthetic, he wasn’t a great actor. River Phoenix had it all. Like so many actors, he was gone too soon. However, someone came along and just blew mind, Christian Bale. From the moment he came on my screen in Newsies, I was forever changed. I watched that movie 67+ times. Yes, I counted but lost track. A musical no less! I was obsessed with it forever.
Then Swing Kids came along and, well, beat still my beating heart. Everything about that movie was amazing. Yes of course, he’s good looking but his acting skills are what makes him incredible. The way he dives into a role and becomes the character is remarkable. For his role in The Machinist, he had to drop 62 pounds to play a man who suffers from paranoia and who hasn’t slept in a year. Bale later only had six weeks to regain enough mass for the screen test for Batman Begins. We all know he was able to achieve it and then some.
Christian Bale will always hold a special place in my heart and after recently watching his Batman movies, he will always be number one on my list. So here are a few of my favorites:
1. Batman Begins (2005), The Dark Knight (2008), The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
2. Newsies (1992)
3. Swing Kids (1993)
4. American Psycho (2000)
5. Equilibrium (2002)
6. Reign of Fire (2002)
7. Empire of the Sun (1987)
8. Laurel Canyon (2002)
9. The Machinist (2004)
10. Rescue Dawn (2006)
Not officially on the list yet but The Promise (2016), which I have yet to watch, is here as a bonus simply because you get a BOGO: Christian Bale AND Oscar Isaac!
Love Christian Bale… great list. 💪🏾