Top 100 Christian Bale Quotes
#1. Obviously there are times with acting when exactly what is required is just going through the motions, and when doing nothing is the best thing. But at other times, you have to make that leap beyond the immediate environment of people putting up lights on the set.
Christian Bale
#3. People need dramatic examples to shake them out of apathy and I can't do that as Bruce Wayne. As a man I'm flesh and blood, I can be ignored, I can be destroyed, but as a symbol, as a symbol I can be incorruptible. I can be everlasting.
Christian Bale
#5. There have been many times when you spend a number of months and the finished product is not what you wanted to see. And 'Batman Begins' was what I wanted to see.
Christian Bale
#6. I'm an actor I'm not a politician. I always kick myself when I talk too much about family, or personal things.
Christian Bale
#7. We are starting off with our own different characters and our own laws and everything, looking at Bruce Wayne and how he came to be the person that he was and how he comes to be this man that jumps around in the Bat suit.
Christian Bale
#8. Being misunderstood is not a bad thing as an actor. I know the truth.
Christian Bale
#9. I chose to tell a personal story. When you tell a movie like this that's as emotionally charged as this is, it's a risk. As one of my great cinematic heroes, Francis Coppola, would say, "If you aren't taking the highest, greatest risk, then why are you a filmmaker?"
Christian Bale
#11. I don't get it when you get so much openness about the way movies are made, and the special effects and the behind-the-scenes stuff and all of that. I can't help but feel like this reduces it a little bit.
Christian Bale
#12. So yeah, a good director will be able to listen and hear everything, but have a confident vision of his own that he can say, 'oh yeah - that's a great point.' And you never know; often you can help far more than you think you can, because there's so much more that he's juggling than an actor.
Christian Bale
#13. My dad was the biggest influence on my life because he was never boring.
Christian Bale
#14. I think there's a limited amount of planning you can do, at least in the position I'm in. Maybe more successful actors can plan more than I'm able to.
Christian Bale
#15. Were all conning ourselves, one way or another, just to get through life.
Christian Bale
#16. And being as I'm somebody who loves movies like The Machinist, I also love going along to big mass entertainment movies. I get in the mood for all kinds of movies, and so I like to try each of them.
Christian Bale
#17. I quite like it when you're working with people and you only get to know them through the scenes that you're doing together.
Christian Bale
#18. After the modest success of my first film, I found it very daunting to have to live with that kind of burden of expectations.
Christian Bale
#19. I'll find myself having dinner with people and someone will mention something and I will say I was in that situation once. Then I'll say, forget it, it was a scene I was in. That can get to be quite confusing.
Christian Bale
#20. If you're smart you're just gonna be all about the work. But as a young person, you want to going out to clubs and doing all the stuff. I'm just glad I survived it.
Christian Bale
#21. I tend to think you're fearless when you recognize why you should be scared of things, but do them anyway.
Christian Bale
#22. You have to treat yourself like a mushroom to some degree, in order to keep on discovering things.
Christian Bale
#23. Everyone always tells you that you're the only one that can do this or that role right, and if you say no, they go to somebody else and tell them that they're the only one that can do it right. But when they're talking to you, you're always the 'Best Actor of Your Generation.'
Christian Bale
#24. No, only disappointment in myself on those occasions I didn't manage to rise to the occasion as I felt I should've done. I can always see how to do it, and then the challenge is, Can I manage that each and every day?
Christian Bale
#26. It's very easy to leave when things go wrong, but to stick around and to basically give life to a town because of everything that it gave you generation after generation after generation, that to me is what defines a true American.
Christian Bale
#28. I ain't the first on the list that people are sending scripts to. I'm very lucky. I've managed to put myself in the position with some directors, who will be calling me directly, and we're working on things and talking about things, but that's on a purely creative level.
Christian Bale
#29. Planning a career, I always find that such a tricky thing, because I don't have much of a plan, really.
Christian Bale
#30. I do like taking stuff seriously that a lot of people look at as nonsense. I enjoy the insanity of that. And I like the commitment that is needed for that.
Christian Bale
#31. I tend to stay in character between scenes ... to be rather serious on set, but here's why, and I think people will find it surprising. I'm one of the worst 'corpses' on a movie set, which means you can't keep a straight face. You start to get the giggles and you can't stop.
Christian Bale
#32. The only thing I would unequivocally say is that I have never had any interest in romantic comedy I just couldn't do it. I think I'd be terrible.
Christian Bale
#33. It's tough to make a good movie. I think the bigger the movies are, the worse they are. A lot of big movies make a lot of money and you kind of forget about what they are and they don't really make you think.
Christian Bale
#34. My hope is that people will be repulsed by the character's complete lack of ethics and obsession with consumerism - that's what I was saying about the difference between the character's message and the film's message.
Christian Bale
#35. I'm not really looking forward to wearing a black rubber suit in the summertime in humid Chicago. If you see a pool of sweat through the city, follow it and you will find me.
Christian Bale
#36. But I enjoyed getting sick, I didn't mind it at all. So in that short amount of time, I did actually go from 121 right back up to 180, which is way too fast obviously. And that resulted in some doctors visits to get things sorted out.
Christian Bale
#37. What I like about it is that I'm not somebody who's in movies. I'm a guy who's not very good going around the track with a bunch of guys who are a hell of a lot better.
Christian Bale
#38. What the hell kind of man decides to dress up as a bat and run around the city? There's got to be something a little bit loose in there.
Christian Bale
#39. How serious can a movie about time-traveling robots be? You want it to be cool and fun.
Christian Bale
#41. I have this theory that, depending on your attitude, your life doesn't have to become this ridiculous charade that it seems so many people end up living.
Christian Bale
#42. You say something bad about Newsies and you have an awful lot of people to answer to.
Christian Bale
#43. I feel like I'm pretty good but I don't like to toot my own horn, you know. I want to let the work speak for itself and kind of move on to the next thing.
Christian Bale
#44. I think the harder the shoot, the more I feel like I'm enjoying myself.
Christian Bale
#45. I start from scratch with each movie; I wipe the slate and I certainly don't rely on some bag of acting tricks I've amassed over the years.
Christian Bale
#46. I always leave that for other people to decide, because some of the things I consider to be disasters are some people's favorite movies. And that's what I like so much, is that you never know. Something intrigues somebody and means nothing to somebody else.
Christian Bale
#47. I never try to guess what anyone else will take from a movie. Every movie is such a different experience for each and every person. I don't like it when people try telling people what they should take from a movie. You should go see it with fresh eyes and see for themselves.
Christian Bale
#48. In terms of the romantic kind of lead, I just never enjoy those movies very much. Maybe they'll come to interest me more as I get older. I doubt it, but maybe. Romantic comedies tend to be, for me, an oxymoron.
Christian Bale
#50. I never want to turn something down because I'm afraid to do it, because of some idea of image or whatever. That was never anything I set out to do. In fact, the opposite, I always want to confuse people in terms of any kind of image and be unpredictable in any kind of movie I make.
Christian Bale
#51. Sometimes the truth isn't good enough. Sometimes people have got to have their faith rewarded.
Christian Bale
#52. I have a very sissy job, where I go to work and get my hair done, and people do my makeup, and I go and say lines and people spoil me rotten. And everyone has that kind of curiosity of how far can you go, how far can you take it. I think it's always good testing yourself.
Christian Bale
#53. One of the places where we lived when I was growing up had this big wood out the back. And starting when I was about 8, I used to enjoy just walking alone through the wood late. Eleven p.m. Midnight. Later.
Christian Bale
#54. I only sound intelligent when there's a good script writer around.
Christian Bale
#55. I will never say never, but I will say never to doing the more typical romantic comedies. You know, unless I'm getting audited and I'm on the street and I desperately need some dough and that's the only thing that I'm getting.
Christian Bale
#56. It was just the two of us, inside there with just mirrors, all the way around us. Everywhere we looked, there were these two freaks, sitting at a table, eyeballing each other
Christian Bale
#58. Look, I've got incredible pride for my family. I've absolutely fallen into that cliche of a dad who could just happily talk about my daughter endlessly.
Christian Bale
#59. I swear, the bigger your muscles get, the duller you are. You become fascinated with carbs and protein and ripped abs and things that are just not interesting at all.
Christian Bale
#60. And I not only inherited an aversion to the nine-to-five routine, but the sense from my parents that being bored and boring is the worst thing that you can be.
Christian Bale
#61. I'm not an actor that tends to care. I don't ask 'Is this a close up? Is this a master? Is this a wide? What are you doing? If I look up and notice the camera I go 'Oh, it's a big one today, must be an IMAX.' And that's kinda it for me because it doesn't affect what I'm doing.
Christian Bale
#62. But I learned that there's a certain character that can be built from embarrassing yourself endlessly. If you can sit happy with embarrassment, there's not much else that can really get to ya.
Christian Bale
#63. When it comes to films, people often don't differentiate between the message of a bad central character and the message of the film itself. They are two separate things.
Christian Bale
#64. I met my grandfather just before he died, and it was the first time that I had seen Dad with a relative of his. It was interesting to see my own father as a son and the body language and alteration in attitude that comes with that, and it sort of changed our relationship for the better.
Christian Bale
#65. I always figure hey, look, I'm not a rock star, I'm an actor. I'm somebody who's meant to be other people and I'm not meant to be here representing myself. I'm happier when I'm presenting myself as other characters.
Christian Bale
#66. I went backwards and forwards over it until I was 22. And then in the past few years I began to say to myself, OK, look, I'm not messing around. This is something I want to attack, instead of thinking, I'll just see what happens with it.
Christian Bale
#67. If everyone really knew what a jerk I am in real life, I wouldn't be so adored in the slightest.
Christian Bale
#68. I put on weight like Santa Claus. I just get this belly that kind of extends out.
Christian Bale
#69. Art is something to be proud of. Art is no compromise.
Christian Bale
#70. '3:10 to Yuma' was one that I just kept on talking and thinking about after reading it. And I think the reason is because, like in most Westerns, you have the very clear-cut bad-guy/good-guy, however, as the movie progresses, you kind of see that it's a very fine line that divides these two.
Christian Bale
#71. I want to do good work. I want the opportunity to work with good people, and the only way I'm gonna do that is to commit 110% - you get out what you put in.
Christian Bale
#72. It's got to do with putting yourself in other people's shoes and seeing how far you can come to truly understand them. I like the empathy that comes from acting.
Christian Bale
#73. All I've ever ended up with in terms of achievements is the movie, some really stupid anecdotes, a bunch of crosswords that I didn't finish and maybe some old bicycle that I found lying around on set.
Christian Bale
#74. An actor should never be larger than the film he's in.
Christian Bale
#75. In honesty, there are probably a lot of stories that can be told with Batman. I like the idea of him growing older and he can't quite do it as much anymore.
Christian Bale
#76. Whatever you do, do it completely. Don't do it half-arsed. Do it more than anybody else would.
Christian Bale
#78. I think mostly it's the adventure that I will have in making the movie. That's what I look for.
Christian Bale
#79. I find what I do for a living really funny. I mean, acting is kind of a hilarious thing for a grown man to call a job.
Christian Bale
#80. Certainly I have no attraction to misery. I don't intentionally go for dark.
Christian Bale
#81. I'd love to remain a secret and still work, but I also want people to see the movies I'm in and get a higher profile because of that. I like to think that as long as you continue choosing diverse roles, you can avoid becoming predictable.
Christian Bale
#82. There's a level of confidence in the actor you're working with that really helps a lot. It makes all the difference.
Christian Bale
#83. I've always felt that I would rather see an actor, writer, or musician's work, rather than actually know the person. If you know too much about an artist, it somehow lessens their ability to do their work as well.
Christian Bale
#84. When you do a lot of interviews, you find yourself telling the same stories over and over. After you do it for a whole day, you say, 'Christ, I've said this five times today.' It gets fun when you get so bored you start making it all up.
Christian Bale
#85. The blue collar milieu was something that I really understood and resonated with me and I thought was underrepresented in American cinema.
Christian Bale
#86. I think trying too hard to be sexy is the worst thing in the world a woman can do.
Christian Bale
#87. I think it's important when you're acting to be as relaxed as possible even if you're doing something intense. You're basically in a state of dynamic relaxation.
Christian Bale
#88. I certainly liked performing [Patrick Bateman], but it was because he thinks he's so [bloody] cool and just the [stuff], but is really such a cheesy dork.
Christian Bale
#89. Nuclear apocalypse - who do you need? Actors are probably not top of the list. What can I do for you? I can pretend to be somebody who can grow you some nice crops.
Christian Bale
#90. If I'm not working, I really have nothing to do with it - I'm not hanging out and mixing with film people. Not that I have anything against film people; they're some of the best people around and some of the worst people around, just like in any business ... they just gesticulate a little bit more.
Christian Bale
#91. In everyday life, my wife is the most wonderful. We're in love with each other beyond belief.
Christian Bale
#92. Any planning that I have in my career is totally accidental really.
Christian Bale
#93. Essentially, I'm untrained, so I just go with my imagination and try to put myself as solidly as I can into the shoes of whatever person I'm going to be playing.
Christian Bale
#94. Putting on weight is easy all the way through. But after the first couple of weeks, the novelty wears off very quickly, and your body is groaning and starting to really shout at you, saying, 'Why? Why? Why? Why are you doing this?'
Christian Bale
#95. We were incredibly fortunate to get to make three [Batman films]. That's enough. Let's not get greedy. It's a torch that should be handed from one actor to another. So I enjoy looking forward to what somebody else will come up with.
Christian Bale
#96. All of the muscles were gone, so that was a real tough time of rebuilding all of that. But you have a deadline, you have an obligation. You've said that you will commit to this part, and I just can't live with myself for not really giving it as much as I can.
Christian Bale
#97. The point of having a director is that they make the final decision; it's their point of view, they set the rhythm and they make the final decisions.
Christian Bale
#98. I've had some painful experiences in my life, but I feel like I'm trivializing them by using them for a scene in a movie. I don't want to do that. It just makes me feel kind of dirty for having done that.
Christian Bale
#99. There's nothing like boxing for getting you in shape.
Christian Bale
#100. It's about pursuing it rather than waiting to see what comes along. That's partly because I found myself getting typecast, as everyone does unless they pursue roles that are very different from what they've done before.
Christian Bale
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