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him/her?
has he recently snipped the plums?
To the topic, risk and reward are relative. It may not reward us as a movie-going audience for him to take a risk, but if that is what excites him then that in and of itself should be enough, no? He's not obligated to me in anyway. I've enjoyed enough of his work over the years to be good with whatever he does for himself. He's worked himself into a position of some influence and power, I would imagine, to be able to take risks that reward his personal desires for whatever they may be. I mean, as long as those desires are legal.
has he recently snipped the plums?
To the topic, risk and reward are relative. It may not reward us as a movie-going audience for him to take a risk, but if that is what excites him then that in and of itself should be enough, no? He's not obligated to me in anyway. I've enjoyed enough of his work over the years to be good with whatever he does for himself. He's worked himself into a position of some influence and power, I would imagine, to be able to take risks that reward his personal desires for whatever they may be. I mean, as long as those desires are legal.
He basically didn't have a easy career. After working with Steven Spielberg he has been relegated to British period pieces which no one remembers. Then DiCaprio blew up with titanic. He was still in rut. Then he did American psycho after producers not wanting to cast him. until batman was made he wasn't in full demand.By that time Hollywood already knew superheroes are the stars of the movie and not the actors. I have to appreciate his guts in making movies like I am not there or rescue dawn or new world...but those movies felt more like an actor throwing away his star power than an actor building on his success. Just because batman begins made a measly 370 million $ on batman brand name. But I can see the logic behind his choices.
In Hollywood its hard to be accepted into awards circle if an actor becomes a sell out. Movies like Independence Day or 2012 or transformers are all sell out movies. So he knew that the moment he banks on his batman begins success to start making blockbusters he is gonna be an outcast from awards circle.Moreover he might not have had a good track record with top directors auditions in terms of his acting skills.
Machinist almost felt like choice of an actor to prove to himself how good he is because he has been rejected by so many people in the direction he wanted to go. It felt like a last cry by an actor to himself saying that "do I really have what it takes ? why am I being rejected" its not the choice of an actor with a lot going on in his career. He basically lucked out with Christopher Nolan as he is the only director in Tarantino or Scorsese range that agreed to work with christian bale.
From then on he used his star power to work in quality movies except that his star power pales in comparison to brad Pitt or christian bale etc. So he basically could get directors like David o Russell or Zhang Yimou or Adam McKay...all great but come on they aren't scorsese or tarantino. He tried to sneak in Scott Cooper in there and tried to make him look like director on the level of Terrence Malick or Nolan or Adam McKay or David o Russell but out of all the recent movies done by bale Scott Cooper movies stand out as bombs.Because he is not of that caliber.
So I think bale's career choices recently seem like the kind of choices a star of caliber of brad Pitt or DiCaprio makes...not christian bale.Because they can take that hit. I am curious to see if bale's career turns full circle and ends up being completely unbankable. How is he gonna make his little movies with Terrence Malick that nobody watches.