Christian Bale is arguably one of the hottest movie stars in Hollywood, if not the hottest. He's done everything from the small independent movie to the enormous blockbuster like The Dark Knight. And if Terminator Salvation becomes a huge hit, then it's possible he'll have two enormous franchises on his resume.
At the press junket for Terminator Salvation, Christian talked to myself and other journos about Terminators, his future projects like Public Enemies and The Fighter, and what he thinks about special features on DVD.
We just talked to Sam Worthington. We were talking about the word intense and he said, 'I hate that fucking word.' How do you feel about that word?
Bale: I hate that fucking word. I hate that fucking word. I said it first, alright?
Would you say that you're more passionate than intense?
Bale: I don't really analyze each word. Whatever. Listen, people label me whatever they want to label me. That's their prerogative. I don't actually have the same passionate feelings as Sam does about the word or whatever. I don't care. Call me an a-hole. I'm alright. Fine. If that's what you think of me that's your right.
Can you talk about the choice of getting involved with another huge franchise property? What made you want to be a part of it?
Bale: I didn't go straight into it. I did 'Public Enemies' in between. I felt like the franchise was done. So when I first got sent it I didn't have any interest in it. Then I sort of got a creeping idea that there really was something good that could be told here and if that was going to happen then absolutely I wanted to be on for it. I like mixing it up, doing 'Dark Knight' and 'Batman Begins' and doing 'The Machinist' and 'Public Enemies' and then doing 'Terminator'. I enjoy that mix.
Can you talk about the physicality in this role and in 'Batman'? How does it affect your life when you're doing roles that are so physically intensive?
Bale: It wasn't so intense on this one. Not nearly as intense as it was on 'Batman', but probably more intense for Sam because he's someone who actually could have a fist fight with a Terminator. As a human being you're not having any fisticuff sessions with a Terminator. You get to that point and you're probably just dead. So for me it was mainly just weapons handling and the preparation for that. We had a great advisor who I spent a lot of time with, but the physical challenge wasn't nearly as tough as I thought it was going to be.
How did you collaborate with McG for this role on the set?
Bale: Well, initially, collaboration was just me saying no, that I didn't want to do the movie. Then it was, 'Why?' Then it was, 'Well, I don't see it.' You've really got to come back. When people look at the franchise mythology and think that it's over you have to come back with something that really knocks people out and I just didn’t feel like it was there. But that was not just me. It was everybody that felt that. I really couldn't see that it wouldn't be able to get there. It just seemed crazy to me that that wouldn't be possible. So I took a leap of faith because it was the writer's strike and everything. I said, 'Lets just have a few points that we want to get across in another script and have that written and then fine. Lets go after that.' The word collaboration, of course a movie is a collaboration but a director has to have their own point of view. That is a director's job. He creates the point of view and he must have a strong point of view. He has to. He can't wishy-washy in any way. He creates the rhythm of the piece. So you can't have too many chiefs otherwise the whole thing is going to be a... Obviously, he's very open to ideas, but I like it when I'm hearing great ideas and I'm just adding onto that and making something extra.
What was your reaction when you saw it all come together at the end?
Bale: I saw a few different variations like on any movie. It goes through a lot of different shapes. But ultimately the last one I saw I really felt satisfied. I thought, 'Okay.' I think the public will decide. This isn't a movie that you want to sit down and watch in a personal two o'clock in the morning viewing. It's not something that's sort of gazing into the human soul and speaking to you in that way. It's a movie that's meant to be watched with a lot of different people to get that common energy. I think with movies like this it's much like sports. It's that feeling of a common excitement throughout the theater. That's what I loved about seeing 'T2' and I thought, 'I think we might have a chance here.' The people will decide, but I think this movie might have a chance of maybe having revived this and being able to move on. We'll see what happens about any future movies if this one does work out.
If you did another 'Terminator' film can you talk about where you'd like to see your character go emotionally?
Bale: No.
Any chance we might see you in a third 'Batman' film?
Bale: After making a number of blunders I've learned that I do not answer that question until Chris Nolan has answered that question.
Was the 'I'll be back' scene in the script and was that fun to do?
Bale: That was actually something which a friend of mine who came on as a writer for a while [did]. I would've liked him to have been around longer throughout the movie. That was actually while Jonah Nolan was on it briefly, doing work. He called me up and said, 'Christian, I've got an idea. I just want to run it by you. You might just say no way. But just hear it.' I thought, 'You know what, lets try it. We can always cut it out.' But my aim was to attempt it, and you can tell me whether it was successful or not. My aim was to kind of have it be just kind of a logical answer to what I'm being asked that hopefully people in that second go, 'What's he doing an Arny impression for?' I didn't ever want it to come across as an impression, but just something that, ideally would be, a few seconds later that people who know the other movies go, 'Hey, wait a second. He just said the same line.' I felt comfortable with that.
There were a number of reports of you being in Barnesville, Oklahoma. I'm just wondering what you might've been doing there?
Bale: What do you mean? That's offensive to Barnesville. Who doesn't want to go there? Are you from there?
I'm from Tulsa actually.
Bale: Oh, yeah? I was there doing a little bit of, well, sort of location scouting and get ideas for something that might happen.
You and Anton [Yelchin] have this weird time travel thing that you have to wrap your head around. How did that work out for both of you?
Bale: I solved by just not thinking about it too much. As soon as you start getting into any kind of time travel, which we don't have in this movie, in this one since this was before the days that's been discovered, and so yeah, you can get into a complete mess. I mean, it just becomes limitless and completely confusing, but that one was fairly straightforward. I just didn't think about it that much.
The scene where the helicopter crashes looks like it was done in one take. Incredible looking. Was it?
Bale: That would be great, wouldn't it? Imagine that, one take. The camera didn't ever pan off. I'm really having a tricky time remembering that day so it must've been one take.
What's the most dangerous stunt that you did in this because that looked really horrifying?
Bale: If it had been done in one take it would've been [laughs]. The biggest adrenaline rush was actually a dive I had to make down into a cavernous space. I had to drop a fair distance for that, but I had worked with all those stunt guys, the rigger, the stunt coordinator before on a number of movies. I know how good they are. So it became just a heart pounding rush for me. I have to say that the stunts in this one I didn't find real tricky.
Do you think you're fearless? I asked you about being on the ledge of that building for 'Dark Knight' and you said, 'What's scary about that?'
Bale: Listen, I'm sure there are things that I have a fear of, but just not standing on the ledge of a building.
How are things going with 'The Fighter'?
Bale: I hope that we'll be making it.
You've been an actor longer than you've been a star. Do you worry that the current TMZ culture will distract people from the performance that you give in a film, pointing more towards the personal life?
Bale: Well, look, not for me it doesn't because I don't know what things are being said or the gossip stuff that's going on. My life is much happier when I ignore that. As for other people it's their choice. If they want to embrace that then they're going to sacrifice enjoyment of the movies, I really believe. But that's their choice. If that's what they love looking at, I don't get it, but it is what it is.
Can you talk about any scenes shot on the film that aren't in the theatrical release, but that you hope make the DVD?
Bale: I hate all the extras that you get on the DVD's. I don't like that, the deleted scenes and stuff. They're deleted for a reason. Why show it? So, no. Listen, there are always pieces. There's that expression that you have to kill your babies sometimes and that happens. You do sometimes get some very good scenes but they just don't work in the rhythm of the movie. But I'm pretty satisfied with the movie.
Were there anymore scenes with Bryce Dallas Howard that we didn't see?
Bale: Yeah, there were a few, a few. But you'd have to speak with McG about that because he's the one who made the call.
Terminator Salvation opens this Friday.
