11 Photos Of Christian Bale’s Movie Characters From American Psycho To Thor: Love And Thunder

Bale lost a considerable amount of weight to play psychopath Patrick Bateman in 2000’s American Psycho. Aside from an all lean protein diet, Bale also got his teeth capped to stay true to the character.

He became a skeleton of himself for his 2004 film The Machinist, losing 60 pounds in four months by consuming just “water, an apple, and one cup of coffee per day.” He was ready to lose 20 more pounds before the film’s producers stepped in.

ChrisBale then took on Bruce Wayne in Batman Begins in 2005. He still had his Machinist body, so he gained weight by eating pizza and ice cream.

In 2006, Bale lost 55 pounds for Rescue Dawn where he played a Vietnam War-era aviator who was held in captivity.

When he reprised his role of Batman in The Dark Knight, Bale focused on achieving the perfect balance between “speed, strength, stamina and agility” by limiting himself to small meals every few hours.

Two years later, he dropped 30 pounds to play a boxer with a drug addiction in The Fighter. To get there, he changed mainly his exercise routine, telling Huffington Post he would “run for hours on end.”

For 2013’s American Hustle, Bale put on a dramatic amount of weight by eating doughnuts and cheeseburgers. He also shaved his head for the role.

Not a fan of a fat suit, Bale once again gained 40 pounds for 2018’s Vice. He ate pies, shaved his head, and even did specific exercises to thicken his neck for his role as former Vice President Dick Cheney.

He lost the Vice weight for Ford vs Ferrari, admitting to co-star Matt Damon that he just “didn’t eat” to lose the 70 pounds.

The look of Bale’s latest role as Gorr the God Butcher in Thor: Love and Thunder was inspired by Nosferatu and Aphex Twin.

It was Gorr’s long nails that were the hardest part of the transformation for him: “It rendered me completely incapable of everything. I was pathetic,” he told Deadline.