Two-Face
Harvey Dent
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Welsh-grown talent Christian Bale is peerless when it comes to suffering for his art, (the 6 footer starved down to 8½ stone to play Trevor Reznik in The Machinist). And in gritty South Central, LA street drama Harsh Times, he likewise gets under the skin of incendiary tempered, trigger-happy Jim Davis - a violent ex-Army Ranger in the throes of a mental meltdown. So it's perplexing to learn that due to an over-controlling studio, the film's rookie director David Ayer, (Training Day screenwriter), didn't have the Batman Begins star on his casting wish-list. Christian Bale reveals all to blueyonder...
I met with Dave back in 2002 and we sat for about five hours - lots of Bloody Marys were drunk! At the time it was with a studio, and Dave was told who he could cast...I wasn't on that list. So that was how it was left, and then I made Batman Begins and always kept Harsh Times on my radar. Dave had been, (I don't want to put words in his mouth), disillusioned by the studio experience and had taken it back. He always planned on making it but realised he had to do it himself and be the boss. I called him while I was shooting Batman, and said, `What's going on with it?'; I was thinking maybe if it was with another studio they'd give me the nod, but I didn't have to worry, because Dave was doing it independently.
Is it true David had experienced similar incidences outlined in Harsh Times?
It's based on his own experiences, yeah; I started with Jim Davis as being Dave, and then took it to another place, but that was always the foundation - Dave himself. It was pretty nice having the research material right there directing me!
Did you clock particular parallels between Training Day and Harsh Times?
Of course there's a relationship there; Dave wrote Harsh Times first and kept it in his pocket for later. While the backdrop of LA, the two-hander structure, and it being set on the move are all similar - though I loved Training Day, Harsh Times hooked me more. Like Dave says, Harsh Times is a piece of his soul.
Some reckon Harsh Times is a homage to Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men -- do you agree?
Absolutely, though it wasn't something Dave mentioned until I mentioned it - he always thought it, but it was a little too literary for him to discuss! He's like Jim Davis - there's a lot under the surface that he doesn't reveal.
How do you feel Harsh Times depicts LA?
It's not an LA that I see every day! LA is a hell of a city; it's a lot of neighbourhoods that happen to be next to each other, so there are many different lifestyles playing out alongside each other.
You've since shot The Prestige with Batman Begins director Chris Nolan?
Chris didn't want anything to be the same as Batman Begins - he wanted to be able to spin on a dime with The Prestige. Making Batman was like being the captain of a tanker, an ocean liner; it's got incredible force, but you try turning that bugger around and it takes hours to do so! It's nice working with people you know it cuts time down.
And you've just started shooting I'm Not There, Todd Haynes' Bob Dylan film - are you a Dylan fan?
I've found through starting to put pieces together on this project that I am. I never was, I never really listened much. It was always there - a foundation of modern music, but for me with Dylan and The Beatles too many people said I should listen, I should like...and it made me go `forget it'! But I'm definitely finding that I am.
http://www.blueyonder.co.uk/blueyonder/getContent.do?page=1525232&group=film_page
I don't know if this is posted.
I met with Dave back in 2002 and we sat for about five hours - lots of Bloody Marys were drunk! At the time it was with a studio, and Dave was told who he could cast...I wasn't on that list. So that was how it was left, and then I made Batman Begins and always kept Harsh Times on my radar. Dave had been, (I don't want to put words in his mouth), disillusioned by the studio experience and had taken it back. He always planned on making it but realised he had to do it himself and be the boss. I called him while I was shooting Batman, and said, `What's going on with it?'; I was thinking maybe if it was with another studio they'd give me the nod, but I didn't have to worry, because Dave was doing it independently.
Is it true David had experienced similar incidences outlined in Harsh Times?
It's based on his own experiences, yeah; I started with Jim Davis as being Dave, and then took it to another place, but that was always the foundation - Dave himself. It was pretty nice having the research material right there directing me!
Did you clock particular parallels between Training Day and Harsh Times?
Of course there's a relationship there; Dave wrote Harsh Times first and kept it in his pocket for later. While the backdrop of LA, the two-hander structure, and it being set on the move are all similar - though I loved Training Day, Harsh Times hooked me more. Like Dave says, Harsh Times is a piece of his soul.
Some reckon Harsh Times is a homage to Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men -- do you agree?
Absolutely, though it wasn't something Dave mentioned until I mentioned it - he always thought it, but it was a little too literary for him to discuss! He's like Jim Davis - there's a lot under the surface that he doesn't reveal.
How do you feel Harsh Times depicts LA?
It's not an LA that I see every day! LA is a hell of a city; it's a lot of neighbourhoods that happen to be next to each other, so there are many different lifestyles playing out alongside each other.
You've since shot The Prestige with Batman Begins director Chris Nolan?
Chris didn't want anything to be the same as Batman Begins - he wanted to be able to spin on a dime with The Prestige. Making Batman was like being the captain of a tanker, an ocean liner; it's got incredible force, but you try turning that bugger around and it takes hours to do so! It's nice working with people you know it cuts time down.
And you've just started shooting I'm Not There, Todd Haynes' Bob Dylan film - are you a Dylan fan?
I've found through starting to put pieces together on this project that I am. I never was, I never really listened much. It was always there - a foundation of modern music, but for me with Dylan and The Beatles too many people said I should listen, I should like...and it made me go `forget it'! But I'm definitely finding that I am.
http://www.blueyonder.co.uk/blueyonder/getContent.do?page=1525232&group=film_page
I don't know if this is posted.
