The Machinist

[Dasquian Belargic]

Thanks to a local paper, I managed to get to see the new Christian Bale movie - The Machinist - for free today. For anyone who hasn't heard anything about the movie it’s a thriller/mystery, and the basic premise is this: Bale's character (Reznik) hasn't slept for a year and is slowly going insane. The plot unfolds with quite a few twists and turns, and at first, it is not even clear where the movie is going, but everything ties together very neatly in the end.

Various adverts and TV slots that I've seen about it say that it's a movie for fans of "Fight Club" and "Memento" and I'd have to say that's right (those being my two favourite movies)."The Machinist" combines the paranoia of "Memento" with the disjointed sense of time, place and identity present in both movies. The plot has suspense and intrigue. It's worth seeing if only to witness the physical transformation that Bale went through to play the part, dropping down to a waif-like eight and a half stone - which really does look quite repulsive!

[Arya Ravenwing]

How much is that in pounds??

I'll have to check it out if I can... haven't heard of it over here in the States, so it's either in very limited release, or we're not getting it until later. OR, it was already here in limited release and is gone again.

[CMJ]

It was out a few months back. I didn't get a chance to see it, but heard good things.

[Dasquian Belargic]

Originally posted by Arya Ravenwing
How much is that in pounds??

63, according to IMDB

[Lilaena De'Ville]

There's no way Christian Bale weighed only 63 pounds. He'd be dead. :x

[Dasquian Belargic]

Sorry, that was how much he lost. He dropped down to 120lbs.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Ok that makes a little more sense. :) Still - 120 pounds! :eek

[Dasquian Belargic]

Again according to IMDB, Bale wanted to drop to 100lbs but the film makers refused to allow him to do so, because it was so risky. He already looks stick-thin at 120lbs (I thought it was less than that actually, since his character keeps track of his weight and marks himself as being 113lbs).

[CMJ]

Originally posted by Lilaena De'Ville
Ok that makes a little more sense. :) Still - 120 pounds! :eek

Don't knock it...I'm not much more than that myself. :p

[Lilaena De'Ville]

How tall are you?

[CMJ]

Five foot eleven. I'm about 130lbs +/- a few.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

man, I'm bigger than you are.

*sobs quietly into pillow*

But, onto the Machinist - I think I heard something about it , but I don't think it was ever in any theatres near Portland. :( I like Christian Bale movies.

Well, except American Psycho. That was a little too much for me.

[Dutchy]

Great movie! Intruiging piece of work.

Oh, quit using those pounds and switch to way more logic kilograms, please. :p

[Anbira Hicchoru]

Originally posted by Lilaena De'Ville
Well, except American Psycho. That was a little too much for me.

That's the only Christian Bale movie I've liked so far.

[Loki Ahmrah]

The way it seems to be going, I'm sure you'll be adding Batman Begins to that list. :cool

[Liam Jinn]

What, you don't like Empire of the Sun??

[Zem Vymes]

Haven't seen Empire of the Sun. I have seen Equilibrium and Reign of Fire, and both of those were terrible.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Empire of the Sun is amazing. The best WW2 movie *I've* seen.

[Zem Vymes]

Originally posted by Lilaena De'Ville
Empire of the Sun is amazing. The best WW2 movie *I've* seen.

Oh come on, name the WW2 movies you've seen :rolleyes

[CMJ]

Empire of the Sun is a terrific film. Bale gave the best "kid" performance I've ever seen.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

http://imdb.com/title/tt0361862/


The producers of the film claim that Christian Bale dropped from about 180 pounds in weight down to about 120 pounds in weight to make this film. They also claim that Bale actually wanted to drop down to 100 pounds, but that they would not let him go below 120 out of fear that his health could be in too much danger if he did. His diet consisted of one can of tuna and an apple per day. His 63-pound weight loss is said to be a record for any actor for a movie role. He since gained the weight back for his role in Batman Begins (2005).

I just sat down to try to watch this movie and had to stop it about 20 minutes into it.

Christian Bale lost a BUNCH of weight for this role and unfortunately I couldn't see past his jutting clavicles and twig arms, neck, and legs to get into the movie. I'll try to sit down with it again to finish it, but I had to take a break.

*shudder*

Anyone else watched it?

[CMJ]

I thought it was pretty fantastic. He must be a pretty tall guy because he looked way under 120lbs to me.

Since I'm 5'11 and 128 last time I checked, I should have a good idea what 120 would look like. ;)

[Daanarri Meorrrei]

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000288/bio Six foot tall, apparently.

[Dasquian Belargic]

Various adverts and TV slots that I've seen about it say that it's a movie for fans of "Fight Club" and "Memento" and I'd have to say that's right (those being my two favourite movies)."The Machinist" combines the paranoia of "Memento" with the disjointed sense of time, place and identity present in both movies. The plot has suspense and intrigue. It's worth seeing if only to witness the physical transformation that Bale went through to play the part, dropping down to a waif-like eight and a half stone - which really does look quite repulsive!

^ me, last year after seeing it for free.

I thought it was quite sad, too, if I remember correctly.

[JMK]

He dropped over 60 pounds for the role by eating nothing but salad and smoking billions of cigarettes. Sometimes these actors do great harm to their bodies. After that role he had to get back to his normal weight and then pack on a bunch of solid muscle for his role as Batman.

[Rutabaga]

I watched the movie on Showtime last week, and found that it was a good movie, very Hitchcock-like with a satisfying but sad resolution. But yes, oh my, looking at Christian Bale almost made me physically ill at points. I don't know what was worse, the sideways views where you could see just how concave his belly was, or when he bent over and you could see all his cervical vertebrae jutting out. Realizing that just a year or so later he was a hundred pounds heavier and so buffed up for Batman is just amazing. I hope to God he had some kind of medical supervision during all this, it's just so dangerous.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Yes he had medical supervision as far as I know. He wanted to go down to 100 pounds for the role but doctors wouldn't let him, and I'm glad they didn't. ^_^;

[Ryan Pode]

Do producers and casting even considering finding a nobody as opposed to making a name drop an unhealthy 60 pounds?

[Shawn]

Originally posted by JMK
He dropped over 60 pounds for the role by eating nothing but salad and smoking billions of cigarettes. Sometimes these actors do great harm to their bodies. After that role he had to get back to his normal weight and then pack on a bunch of solid muscle for his role as Batman. And his wife forbid him from ever doing that again.

Haven't seen it yet, but I've really been meaning to. Maybe I'll rent it tomorrow.