Christian Bale (3 page)

“I went to my dad and said: ‘I don't want to do this, it's not fun anymore.'”

Though Bournemouth was where the Bale family was living at the time and where his mother was from, Christian did not consider it to be his hometown. Years of nomadic living resulted in Christian having no particular allegiances with any of the towns he and his family had moved to and from. Christian was born in Wales but he adamantly did not consider himself Welsh.

Bournemouth was delighted to claim Christian as its biggest celebrity. With a population of 165,000, Bournemouth is a coastal resort town that earned the moniker “The Happiest Place in Britain” after a 2007 survey. It is the seaside town where author J. R. R. Tolkien retired to. And now it had Christian Bale, the local lad who was starring in a Steven Spielberg movie.

Though
Empire of the Sun
had already opened in the U.S. around Christmas to mixed reviews and a poor box office, critics were impressed by Christian's performance. There were high expectations in both the local and national press in the U.K. as they awaited the U.K. premiere.
The Star
declared Christian to be “The Boy Next Door who will be a Millionaire at 15.” And on the night of February 17, 1988, all of England waited with baited
breath for Christian to land a highly expected Oscar nomination for Best Actor. When the Oscar nomination didn't happen, Christian told the press he wasn't disappointed.

Empire of the Sun
had its Royal Premiere in London's Leicester Square for Queen Elizabeth II on March 21, 1988. Christian, father David, mother Jenny, sisters Sharon and Louise were all presented to the Queen. Christian told the local newspaper, the
Bournemouth Daily Echo
: “I've got a white tuxedo which I'll be wearing for the first time.” The
Daily Echo
proudly continued to follow the exploits of its favorite son, proclaiming him “Bournemouth's Boy Wonder.” The after-party in London went on until 4:00 am and celebrities like Cher and Twiggy were on hand.

So after the Royal Premiere, after his breakdown in Paris during the exhausting international press junket, after the noise and excitement of all the critics' reviews and award nominations from around the world, Christian tried to return to a normal life back in Bournemouth. But when
Empire of the Sun
became Spielberg's biggest box office bomb, Christian became the target of taunts from his school classmates at the Bournemouth School for Boys who jeered that, at the age of fourteen, he was a washed-up has-been. He told a reporter: “Kids would walk up to me saying, ‘Where's that kid in
Empire of the Sun
?' and we'd get into a fist-fight. Things like that happened a lot.”

In fact, Christian told me that the bullies at school were always trying to cut his face or break his nose, determined to permanently disfigure him to end his career. He told
The People
: “I took a beating from several boys for years. They put me through hell, punching and kicking me all the time.”

Christian's mother, Jenny, recalled in a
Sun
interview: “He had a tough time at school. The bullying was quite bad and made him very sad. It really put him off the film and stardom thing. At the time he did not want to do any more acting.”

There were perks to being the local celebrity. Christian made
money selling his autograph in the school yard and he was surprised to often find himself the target of local gossip.

“On one occasion,” Christian recalled, “I was sitting with a friend opposite two girls in a café, and one girl was telling us how she was going out with Christian Bale, and I just sat listening, asking her what he was like. She said stuff, about how he was a good boyfriend, and my friend was crying with laughter. Eventually I told her who I was, she looked mortified and ran off.

“A lot of American journalists commented that I must have been the most popular kid at school after making
Empire
. The complete opposite was true. I walked down corridors with people going: ‘Oh look, it's the has-been.' Fourteen-year-old boys would quote me box-office numbers. It was weird how much they wanted the movie to fail. I was mocked for the rest of my school years for having been in the movie.”

Suddenly it was
schadenfreude
time, as if Christian were personally responsible for the film's failure.

“I'd go down the public toilets and see things written about me on the wall,” he recalled. “Guys would start fights with me. The local paper took pictures of me getting back from school, then wrote features about how I wouldn't open a girls' school fete. I just felt a dick, you know? I was fourteen; I didn't want to stand there next to the mayor with a big pair of scissors, but they started saying I was big-headed, that I'd forgotten where I'd come from.” A pause. “I didn't come from there, anyway.”

In fact, the school fete was a charity event for the Avonbourne Girls School, which his sister Louise was attending. Even though Louise personally asked him as a favor, Christian declined and said: “I just didn't want to do it.” He was furious when the
Bournemouth Daily Echo
ran an article on May 16, 1988, with the headline, “Empire star shuns fair. Won't aid sister's school.”

“I told my parents I wasn't interested in doing anything again because the attention ruined it.”

But David Bale had other plans in mind. Although he realized that Christian was severely affected by the press junket experience, he also felt that his son had a God-given talent and that he'd inevitably return to the big screen. The problem here was, how long would it take before Christian would snap out of his funk? Their Spielberg connection was fast growing cold. He was also getting discouraging advice from movie industry friends and acquaintances they had made.

“Frank Marshall [longtime Spielberg collaborator and one of
Empire's
producers] told me that the worst thing to do to a kid would be to pursue a film career,” David recalled. But David wanted to move Christian to Los Angeles, the capital of the movie industry with a decidedly different attitude toward actors and acting. “Actors in England,” David worried, “are essentially just civil servants. I wanted better than that for Christian.”

Nor did David want Christian to follow the British route for actors by attending the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (RADA). David boasted, “They had nothing to teach Christian. RADA churns out actors with exactly the same style. You can't tell them apart! Christian's talent is natural and I wanted to keep it that way.”

But Christian's mother, Jenny, was very worried about the change in Christian's personality. Before making
Empire
, Jenny recalled: “Christian was a very happy child, who loved to laugh and wore pots on his head singing songs.” After the incident in Paris, it was as if her son had become a recluse.

Christian would later tell the
Daily Echo
the same thing about the year following
Empire of the Sun
: “I just don't think it's a good thing for somebody that age to have it happen to them. I had gone from being able to walk about with nobody knowing me, to somebody people pointed at in the streets. It just freaked me out. I didn't leave the house for almost a year after that.”

So went the tug-of-war between David and Jenny for the
control of Christian's future. While his father saw Christian's career as his own way into America, Jenny was worried about Christian's already damaged psyche. In Bournemouth, Christian had just started going out with a steady new girlfriend, Natalie, and seemed content with going to university in England.

After the trauma of the
Empire of the Sun
press junket, Jenny was thinking about the fates of other child actors. Hollywood is littered with child actor casualties who couldn't make the transition to a grown-up career. Gary Coleman, Corey Haim, Brad Renfro, Jonathan Brandis, River Phoenix—these were just a few victims of Christian's generation.

But David would twist Christian's mother's concern into something else.

“You see?” David would tell his son, “I have more confidence in you than your mother does.” Christian had a lot to think about.

With a Steven Spielberg film on his résumé, David was positive that Christian could launch a major career in Los Angeles. David decided that if Christian were to have a future in film, it had to be in Hollywood, not in England.

David didn't want to overtly pressure his son into the movie industry, but he also didn't want Christian to lose this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to become a star. Ever since the
Empire
press junket, Christian responded negatively to pressure (no more “must” or “should”), so David treated him with kid gloves, asking him to consider small TV or film roles as paid holidays from school. Christian didn't like his school anyhow and he felt that Bournemouth School for Boys—both the teachers and his classmates—didn't like him, which left him feeling like he was stuck in a downward spiral.

“That school couldn't teach Christian anything,” David asserted. “He had been educated by the greatest director in the world and he had traveled to countries his classmates could only dream of going [to]. What did he need that suffering for?”

Like Christian's
Empire of the Sun
character Jim, David believed in the “University of Life” over formal education—a belief that appeared to have rubbed off on his son.

“Basically, I'd turn up late every day,” Christian recalled of his school days at Bournemouth School for Boys. “My attendance was probably the lowest of anybody there. I think it was less than 50 percent or something. I remember the teacher saying: ‘One day, Christian, you're going to go to an interview and they're going to ask to see your school registration, and when they see all your “lates” on it, they're going to think you're unreliable and you're not going to get the job.' The headmaster was constantly putting me in detention and trying to stop me from working. He succeeded on one movie—purely because of him I wasn't allowed to do it, as he threatened to put me down a year.” Being forced to repeat a year of school was a threat that worked.

Christian got his sweet revenge though. Christian heard that he was now one of the “old boys” listed on the school wall. “Which is quite funny because the headmaster couldn't stand me. I can't help but feel smug knowing he has to walk past my name every day.”

After
Empire of the Sun
, Christian did not shoot another movie for almost two years. It was a miserable time of retreat and contemplation as Christian agonized about his future. He definitely wanted to get out of Bournemouth but after his first brush with fame, he wanted nothing to do with movies anymore. It just wasn't any fun.

But luckily, David and Christian's U.K. agent came across a perfect project to get Christian back in the saddle. How about an all-expenses paid trip to sunny Jamaica? Fraser Heston (son of Hollywood legend Charlton Heston) was preparing to adapt the classic
Treasure Island
. It would be Fraser Heston's first job as a director, so he was delighted to have an experienced cast and crew on hand. A Heston family project under their Agamemnon
Films production company, Charlton himself prepared to star as pirate Long John Silver. In 1989, Christian, his dad, and sister Louise were enjoying themselves in Jamaica while he shot his first starring role since
Empire of the Sun
.

Playing plucky Jim Hawkins opposite Charlton Heston's Long John Silver, Christian loved sunny Jamaica and he enjoyed working with Fraser Heston.

Charlton Heston described Christian as “fearless” and was impressed that the boy happily did his own stunts. Christian also enjoyed listening to his left-wing father spar with his polar opposite, the conservative icon Heston, over issues like gun control and U.S. politics—something David loved to analyze and criticize.

Fraser recalled: “Christian was a real sport, and a good shipmate. He was seasick the first day out, like a lot of us, but never missed a beat. He'd just lean over the [leeward] side between takes, have a good vomit, put on a brave face, and turn back to the camera for another scene.

“Christian did almost all of his own combats, climbing in the rigging of the Bounty, crossing the waterfall on the rope, diving from the bowsprit, and he (and his father!) were wonderful about it. We were always very concerned about his or any other's safety. But Christian was very game, and was physically adept at doing this stuff, and certainly unafraid of heights. I think the result shows on the screen.”

During the shoot of a key scene—the death of Blind Pew—Christian accidentally hit Christopher Lee in the balls. When Lee doubled over in pain, Christian started laughing uncontrollably. Lee demanded that Christian apologize but David interceded and bellowed: “No, my son does not have to apologize! It was an accident.” Father and son then had another laugh at Lee's expense.

Fraser recollected: “I think my favorite sequence is the death of Blind Pew, with Christian and his mum [played by Isla Blair, who in real life is married to Julian Glover]. Christian gives Blind
Pew a mighty whack with the empty blunderbuss and he and his mum barely escape out the window. I remember Christian gave Chris Lee a bit too mighty of a whack, and a bit too far below the belt too! It certainly got a very convincing reaction from Chris [Lee]. Now that's what I call realism.”

Because
Treasure Island
was a made-for-TV movie on America's Turner Network, Christian didn't need to do publicity. Additionally, David had negotiated top billing for Christian, second only to Charlton Heston—an amazing feat given the caliber of the cast (which included the previously mentioned Christopher Lee, as well as Oliver Reed and Julian Glover). Powered by a spirited Chieftains soundtrack, Fraser Heston's gritty remake of
Treasure Island
earned strong reviews.