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There are many wonderful reasons to look forward to the Academy Awards. which will air in a few days. Celebrities! Speeches! Accolades! Fashion!
One thing I am not looking forward to, however: the big possibility I will have to listen to Christian Bale as he accepts the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. He already has scored the Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award and loads of others for his The Figher performance. My only hope for avoiding Bale's snooty face on stage would be a long-shot upset by The King's Speech's Geoffrey Rush, because Jeremy Renner (The Town), Mark Ruffalo (The Kids are All Right) and John Hawkes (Winter's Bone) don't stand a chance.
He irks me because he comes across as smarmy and spoiled. He feigns contempt for the press and the spotlight, but then seems to loves standing out and claiming special attention--which he then complains about. He's been talking to the press about his hair, of all things, because he attended the Golden Globes looking quite a bit like Jesus--if Jesus wore a black-on-black tuxedo from Dolce & Gabbana, and then cut most of it off for the SAGs.
Attention is drawn to his hairstyle because Christian has trained the press and his audience to be hyperaware of interpreting his physical changes as signs of devout Method acting. How many times have we heard about his frequent radical weight drops for roles? But when a critic opined that discussions around Bales weight loss (The Fighter, The Machinist and Rescue Dawn) and gain (bulking up for his stints as Batman) have become a bit of a trademark for the performer, he threw a hissy fit.
Discussing his role as crack-addicted welterweight fight Dicky Eklund in The Fighter, for which he also lost weight, he said: 'To be honest, I find it laughable that it's considered to be some f****** gimmick - it's so patronizing."..."Somebody told me that somebody wrote something about my 'trademark weight loss.'I'd just like to p*** on that guy's shoes."
I've heard Christian defended as a hot-tempered bad boy artiste, but, to me, he comes across more petulant than passionate. Self-important. Pouty. Childlike.
Even his publicized rant against a crew member on the Terminator Salvation set seems more of a privileged boy's tantrum than an ominous act. The audio clip led to some funny NSFW memes, though, so there's that.
His talent is undeniable, but I think that Bale's arrogance and tendency to try too hard have affected his performances negatively, as well. The Machinist was hard to get into because the conceit behind Christian's work--the weight loss, his tight-grip acting--never left the screen. And when he's not alone with the camera, he steals scenes, which can look on the surface like a great performance but it comes at a cost to a story. I tend to think that Mark Wahlberg could have honored the character of Micky Ward much more by playing off of a different co-star, for example.
So far he has also tainted his reign as Batman by employing a much-maligned, ridiculously breathy voice. Which isn't the worst crime in the world, but it is certainly annoying.
I suppose on Sunday we'll see if Christian Bale's peers are, like me, annoyed enough by him to withhold an Oscar statuette from him. Worst case scenario he'll win and I'll have to endure his acceptance speech, but hopefully this awards season news cycle will draw to a close and I'll get a welcome reprieve from the snit for a while. Can't wait to find out!
Do you think Christian is a shoe-in, or could Rush, Renner, Ruffalo or Hawkes pull an upset? More importantly, do you have any connections who could get him a message to please, for the love of all that is holy, please fix his Batman voice and shave off that annoying mustache before the
