Concrete Island

[:eek:]

Bale Drops Weight Again For "Concrete"

By Garth Franklin
Wednesday February 9th 2011 04:02AM
Christian Bale will apparently re-team with his "The Machinist" director on "Concrete Island" reports We Got This Covered.
Based on the novel by J.G. Ballard ("Empire of the Sun"), the story follows an architect who finds himself stranded on a man made island in the middle of a highway intersection after a car crash. Surviving only on what is in his car, his mind begins to deteriorate before realizing that he wants to spend the rest of his life on his concrete island.
"The Machinist" scribe Scott Kosar has adapted the script. Bale will likely drop weight again for the role like he has for "The Machinist," "Rescue Dawn" and "The Fighter".

 

[KenK]

Wasn't he warned after The Machinist that he should never do that again?!?! Goddammit, Batman's gonna look like a damn crackhead in the next film.

 

[Bim]

Sounds like an interesting project for sure t:

This one will happen after he shoots TDK, so dont start overreacting just yet:

http://www.firstshowing.net/2011/brad-anderson-reteaming-with-christian-bale-for-concrete-island/

Brad Anderson Reteaming with Christian Bale for 'Concrete Island'

Some news for fans of The Machinist. Director Brad Anderson is out talking with press this week for the upcoming theatrical release of his creepy thriller Vanishing on 7th Street (watch our review from Toronto). One other project he talked to press about is called Concrete Island, an adaptation based on J.G. Ballard's novel, that apparently The Machinist and The Crazies writer Scott Kosar is adapting. Not only is he working on that, teaming him up with Kosar again, but apparently none other than actor Christian Bale is attached as well, as confirmed by both ShockTillYouDrop and a site called We Got This Covered. More quotes below!


Anderson provided separate quotes to each website, but he pretty much says the same thing to both anyway. Anderson: "I've got another project that Scott Kosar, the writer of The Machinist is writing. It's based on J.G. Ballard's novel called Concrete Island. It's an urban survival story that Christian Bale is attached to be in." So there you go. Anderson also provides somewhat of a different perspective on the project to STYD:

"The best way to describe it is it's like an urban Robinson Crusoe story - a guy crashes a car into a highway interchange and is marooned in this weedy lot, injured, and can't escape and he's basically trying to survive in the middle of the big urban Metropolis. It's sort of a crazy, cool Ballard-esque type story, but Christian's on board to do that when we can fit it into his schedule, of course."
​

That probably means not for a while, considering he's about to win an Oscar and has The Dark Knight Rises coming up, as well as numerous other projects, like potentially Kathryn Bigelow's Triple Frontier. Ballard's book is apparently quite complex, which will make it a challenge to adapt. "Ballard's novels are complex, obsessive, frequently poetic, and always disquieting chronicles of nature rebelling against humans, of the survival of barbarism in a world of mechanical efficiency, of ethropy, anomie, breakdown, ruin." It would be great to see these three reunite for yet another edgy, complex psychological thriller, and if it ends up being Concrete Island, I'm all for it. We'll let you know if they ever get this moved into production. Sound good?

 

[bullets]

Bale will likely drop weight again for the role like he has for "The Machinist," "Rescue Dawn" and "The Fighter".

I've been working on the same twenty pounds for a couple years now. This guy is an inspiration. I hope he doesn't kill himself though.

 

[Heisenberg]

I've read the book before, and remember a while ago Anderson actually mentioned he was interested in adapting this. I think it'll be extremely difficult, but I'm excited about Bale/Anderson re-teaming and think Kosar will do his best to adapt the novel to work on film. Very intrigued.

 

[Paroxysm]

Sounds like quite the mind ****. I`m in.

 

[Doctor Jones]

Well, **** I'm on board.

Bale will sound like the grass he's stuck on.

 

[Octoberist]

Does this take place in the near future?

 

[Lone]

Will watch anything Bale is in but seriously, the guy needs to lay off on the physical transformations. That ****'s probably deducting a few years off his lifespan everytime he does it or something.

 

[kvz5]

I doubt that this will happen anytime soon. Bale is already booked for 2011 with the Nanjing movie and TDKR and he might also already be committed for other projects in 2012.

 

[kvz5]

Twitch Film just posted this artwork from the producers that's apparently making the rounds:

http://twitchfilm.com/news/2011/10/...on-christian-bale-reunion-concrete-island.php

FIRST ARTWORK FOR BRAD ANDERSON / CHRISTIAN BALE REUNION CONCRETE ISLAND

The last time director Brad Anderson and star Christian Bale hooked up the result was The Machinist, a cult hit thriller in which Bale shocked audiences with his incredible physical transformation. Evidently the two men got along rather well because they're at it again, this time with an adaptation of JG Ballard's novel Concrete Island.

Los Angeles, 2020. Robert Maitland is a highly successful architect. One day, he speeds down the freeway losing control of his car and crashing into the middle of a manmade 'island' underneath a freeway intersection. After days of suffering agonising physical pain and the mental turmoil, he begins to suspect that he may not be the only person on the 'island'. When his fellow inhabitants finally reveal themselves, it soon becomes clear to Maitland that on this 'concrete island', only the strong survive.

This one still appears to be a ways out from production but the simple fact that the backers at Filmax are prepping artwork and bringing it to market is a very positive sign that the wheels are turning. Who knows, between this and the long gestating Vincenzo Natali / Richard Stanley adaptation of High Rise maybe 2012 / 2013 will be the time when we finally get some decent Ballard adaptations on screen.

 

[Ultra Lantern]

This looks interesting.I'll see this movie when it comes out.

 

[Hunter Rider]

So we can add this to that other list of projects for Bale?

 

[SuperSoldier985]

Bale should be getting paid by other actors to teach them how to cut weight for movies...

 

[kvz5]

So we can add this to that other list of projects for Bale?

It looks like it. The list of projects he has in development is getting longer and longer...

 

[Paroxysm]

This sounds awesome.

 

[Octoberist]

So is this Bale's next film after Batman?

 

[Boom]

I thought Bale said after The Fighter that he was going to stop with the dramatic weight shifts.

 

[Paroxysm]

I guess, it isn't listed on IMDB though.

 

[Paroxysm]

I thought Bale said after The Fighter that he was going to stop with the dramatic weight shifts.

There isn't any dramatic weight shifting in this, only agonising physical pain and mental turmoil.

 

[Sawyer]

Dropping and gaining weight is just what he does. It's a daily routine. He wakes up one morning at 170 lbs. and goes to bed at 120. He wakes up the next morning at 125 (he gains weight as he sleeps, don't you know) and then goes to bed again at 190.

True story.

 

[bullets]

I thought Bale said after The Fighter that he was going to stop with the dramatic weight shifts.

Wahlberg wants to make another Fighter movie. I assumed Bale would turn it down for health reasons but now it's seems possible.

 

[Duke]

Bale is going to do another movie where he undergoes radical weight lose?? I'm in.

 

[kvz5]

So is this Bale's next film after Batman?

Nah. Bale's booked for 2 back-to-back Malick films this 2012.

I don't see this happening anytime soon.

 

[Octoberist]

It does feel like a vapor movie..