Christian Bale had forgone his usual method acting process for Marvel’s Thor: Love and Thunder

Christian Bale is known for his intense ways of getting into his roles. The actor notoriously puts his body through dramatic transformations when getting into a necessary image for a character. One of his most famous was when he got alarmingly thin for 2004’s The Machinist before bulking up to play the muscular superhero Batman in Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins in 2005. Bale is even known for remaining in the accent of his character throughout principal photography of a film.

Even though the star is a serious actor who completely disappears into his character, he is known for taking on a lot of mainstream blockbuster roles. Bale was recently seen in the Marvel film Thor: Love and Thunder, which comes from a quirky director known for comedies, Taika Wahtiti. IndieWire reports that the serious actor had eased up on his usual strategy for the superhero film. 

The actor gives his impressions of his first experience with blue screen-heavy filmmaking,

That’s the first time I’ve done that. I mean, the definition of it is monotony. You’ve got good people. You’ve got other actors who are far more experienced at it than me. Can you differentiate one day from the next? No. Absolutely not. You have no idea what to do. I couldn’t even differentiate one stage from the next. They kept saying, ‘You’re on Stage Three.’ Well, it’s like, ‘Which one is that?’ ‘The blue one.’ They’re like, ‘Yeah. But you’re on Stage Seven.’ ‘Which one is that?’ ‘The blue one.’ I was like, ‘Uh, where?’”

When asked about method acting as a heavily made-up character, Bale responds, “That would’ve been a pitiful attempt to do that, as I’m trying to get help getting the fangs in and out and explaining I’ve broken a nail, or I’m tripping over the tunic.”

Thor: Love and Thunder is currently available on Disney+ and Bale can be seen in the upcoming non-blue screen David O. Russell film, Amsterdam, opening October 7.