Christian Bale

HCC film professors Marie Westhaver and Mike Giuliano devote this episode to Christian Bale, whose intensity prompts Mike to call him an "extreme actor." This British actor was only 13 years old when he achieved recognition for his role in Steven Spielberg's "Empire of the Sun" (1987). Its World War II-era story about the Japanese occupation of China seems prophetic in career terms, because this actor is best known for films with difficult subject matter. Although his filmography actually is quite diverse, the career-defining roles include such challenging films as "American Psycho" (2000), "The Machinist" (2004) and "The Fighter" (2010). And starting with "Batman Begins" (2005), he brought some darker qualities to that hugely successful franchise. Some of these roles involved either gaining a lot of weight or losing a lot of weight, and this extreme actor went on whatever diet was necessary. His recent performances in "Vice" (2018) and "Ford v. Ferrari" (2019) prove that this 47-year-old actor continues to make extremely interesting films.