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.
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.
The blue collar milieu was something that I really understood and resonated with me and I thought was underrepresented in American cinema.
I'm an actor I'm not a politician. I always kick myself when I talk too much about family, or personal things.
In everyday life, my wife is the most wonderful. We're in love with each other beyond belief.
I'm English. Our dentistry is not world famous.
I was born in Wales but I'm not Welsh - I'm English.
I'm not really into musicals.
I don't ever really sit back and look at roles I've taken and look at any similarities.
I never applied to any acting schools. I don't know if that's just bad reporting, or - sometimes I just make stuff up.
Directors go their whole career without being able to tell personal stories and to work with a cast as talented as they are.
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.
I won't kill you but I don't have to save you.
After the modest success of my first film, I found it very daunting to have to live with that kind of burden of expectations.
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.
I don't think I'm like any of the characters I've played. They're all really far from who I am.
'Batman' took 10 months to film, and by the time I stopped working on it, it took a long time before my English accent came out again. I was actually having to try for it.
![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.](https://quotes.thefamouspeople.com/images/quotes/christian-bale-110486.jpg)
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.
You get those occasional moments when you're absolutely calm, and you've just done something that would have scared you shitless earlier that day, and you've just done it like it was nothing. I find that very relaxing.
For me, I think the harder the shoot, the more I feel like I'm enjoying myself.
There's a level of confidence in the actor you're working with that really helps a lot. It makes all the difference.
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.
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.
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.
Any planning that I have in my career is totally accidental really.
I don't have acknowledged preferences of characters.
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.
It's not who I am underneath but what I do that defines me.
I become a bit of a blank page in public. And that's precisely why I like acting.
It's a wonderful thing when your trainer is actually the person you're playing.
