“King of Transformation”: the most dramatic weight changes in Christian Bale’s career (11 photos)

If you conduct a worldwide poll about who you consider the most talented actor today, many will probably say - Christian Bale! He has a lot of truly iconic roles and the most prestigious film awards to his name. It would take a lot of time to list them all, since the actor’s career is very busy. And in addition to his excellent acting talents, he also went down in history as the “king of body transformation.” In 2020, a study was released in which it was calculated that since 1994, the actor had lost or gained about 274 kg! This is simply a colossal number. By the way, just three days ago Bale celebrated his 50th birthday. Let's congratulate him on the past and at the same time look at the chronology of the transformation of Christian's body, starting with "American Psycho" in 2000.

"American Psycho" (2000) - optimal Christian Bale





Height: 183 cm

Weight: 86 kg

From American Psycho to The Machinist



I lost 32 kg: I lost weight from 86 kilograms in our starting year of 2000 to 54 kilograms in 2004, when the filming of “The Machinist” took place.

And here are two amazing things. Firstly, Bale wanted to lose even more weight, but he was forbidden due to fears for his health. Secondly, such categorical weight loss was not required at all - it was the initiative of the actor himself.

From The Machinist to Batman





I gained 46 kg: in a year I increased my weight from 54 kg to 100 kg!

But in the end, for the film “Batman Begins” (2004), it was necessary to reduce the weight to the optimal 86 kg.

From Batman to Rescue Dawn



Lost 25 kg: from 86 kg in 2005 to 61 kg in 2006.

Interesting fact: according to the plot of the film “Rescue Dawn” (2006), the actors who played captured American soldiers in Vietnam had to lose weight. However, weight is gained faster than it is lost, so the scenes were filmed in reverse chronological order.

From "Rescue Dawn" to "Prestige"



I gained 20 kg: within a year I increased my weight from 61 kg to 81 kg.

Having started gaining weight already on the set of Rescue Dawn, Bale reached 81 kg in order to star in The Prestige that same year. Later, to return to the role of Batman in 2007, the actor gained another 5 kilograms to 86.

From John Connor to fighter



Lost 14 kg: from 79 kilograms in 2009 to 65 kg in 2010.

After playing a slightly thinner version of himself in Terminator Salvation (2009), Bale embarked on a transformation for the role that would earn him an Oscar. In The Fighter (2010), he played former boxer Dicky Eklund, whose thinness is the result of drug addiction.

From a fighter to Batman again



Gained 21 kg: from 65 kilograms in 2010 to 86 kg in 2012.

After receiving an Oscar and quitting on-screen drugs, Christian again gained weight to play the role of Bruce Wayne.

From Batman to American Hustle



Gained 18 kg: from 86 kilograms in 2012 to 104 kg in 2013.

The peak of weight gain for the actor occurred during preparation for the film “American Hustle” (2013), when he weighed more than a hundred. By the way, this film brought the actor the second Oscar nomination in his career.

From American Hustle to Moses



I lost 18 kg: exactly the opposite transformation took place from 104 kg to 86.

Bale returned to his Batman weight for the role of Moses in Exodus: Kings and Gods (2014).

From “Enemies” to “Power”



Gained 20 kg: from 83 kg in 2017 to 103 kg in 2018.

This time, the actor had enough time to gain weight to 100+ kg. Bale said that eating the pies especially helped him.

This role brought the actor his fourth and last Oscar nomination. By the way, for only one of these four nominated roles Bale was nothe didn’t do anything special with his weight - this is “The Big Short” (2015). So it wasn’t in vain that I tried!

From "Power" to "Ford v Ferrari"



Lost 33 kg: from 103 kg in 2018 to 70 kg in 2019.

Ford v Ferrari co-star Matt Damon asked Bale how he managed to lose weight so dramatically, and Christian amazed him with his answer. He said he just didn't eat.

After that, the actor lost weight again for the film Thor: Love and Thunder (2022) and recently publicly stated that he intends to stop doing such transformations.

Which, as you know, did not stop him from later gaining several thousand tons for the role of a sandworm in Dune.