Christian Bale, star of the upcoming The Dark Knight Rises and The Fighter, sat down for a Q&A for Esquire’s December issue and did not sound like a happy man. Well, unless you rip him apart and give him crap. Then, he loves his life. Read on.
On being a famous actor: “Well, it’s embarrassing to be a star. Most people look at you like, ‘That’s not a f—ing job, is it?’ And then on top of that, you learn very quickly that you’re just a tool — other people are manipulating everything you do, you’re at the mercy of editors, and there’s nothing you can do. 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.
On the kind of characters he likes to play: “Great movie stars, that’s what they do provide. Steve McQueen, you wanna f—ing be Steve McQueen. What cooler f—ing guy in the world than that? I can’t do that. I don’t believe in myself enough to do that. I’ve always thought, if I was in a band, I’d never want to be the lead singer.”
