Christian Bale once shared that Hank Williams inspired him to lose weight in ‘The Machinist’

Christian Bale lost a huge amount of weight to play his character in The machinist. But after reading the script, he would later find inspiration for his weight loss from country music star Hank Williams.

How a photo of Hank Williams inspired Christian Bale

Christian Bale went to great lengths to capture his Machinist character. In the 2004 film, he played a malnourished factory worker experiencing a possible psychotic break. When he read the script, he already started imagining what this character would look like in his head. And it quickly became important for the Oscar winner to look more than unhealthy for the role.

“The more I read the script, the more I realize that it only works if he looks like he’s on death’s door,” Bale said, according to Contact Music. “He can’t look a little skinny.” You go out on the street – not so much in the United States but in the rest of the world – half the people are a little skinny. It had to be someone you looked at and thought there was something wrong.

Legendary singer Hank Williams gave Bale a glimpse of what he could look like in The machinist. Williams was a country singer who died at a young age. He was known for his alcohol addiction almost as much as for his music. The singer ended up in prison for disorderly conduct due to his alcoholism. There was a photo of Williams leaving prison that became a template for Bale’s film. Machinist physical.

“I had a beautiful photo of Hank Williams, taken when he was 29 and coming out of prison, about three months before he died. The guy looks about 60 years old – emaciated, in really bad shape,” Bale said. “I blew that up and put it on the front of my script. That was what I was going to aim for.

What was Christian Bale’s diet for ‘The Machinist’?

Bale went on a very strict diet to achieve the hollow look he had in The machinist. The possibility of using special effects for his gaunt look was on the table. But Bale rejected the idea of ​​maintaining authenticity.

“You know, a number of people have said to me, ‘Well, why didn’t you leave it to CGI or something?’ I don’t know, I don’t really trust CGI to do that and I enjoyed the challenge and the slightly self-destructive impulses involved in losing that amount of weight,” Bale told Radio Free.

Bale therefore chose to eat as little as possible. Even in scenes where his character was shown eating, Bale stuck to his diet on set.

“My daily routine usually consisted of having a little coffee and an apple if I felt like it,” he added. “Well, I had to eat the pie in the scene, and then there was also a scene eating chicken. But I tried not to swallow. Because it’s amazing how you can literally take a few bites of something and your face will get bigger again if you’re really at that low point. To keep that air really depressed, you have to eat almost nothing.

Although it was mentally and physically taxing at first, Bale said the weight loss had a very relaxing effect.

“It ended up being a really nice place to be mentally when you get that skinny.” Man, you’re calm, you know? Because you simply can’t waste energy. So you just do what is necessary. I was incredibly happy. Other people probably wouldn’t have been able to tell because I didn’t really have the energy to smile too much at them. But inside, I’ve probably been more satisfied for a longer period of time than I’ve ever been in my entire life,” he said.