'Batman' Bale visits Beaver County
KOPPEL -- If Christian Bale plays a convincing steel-town dweller in "Out of the Furnace" we maybe should thank the workers at a Koppel mill.
Bale spent Friday morning job-shadowing employees of the IPSCO Koppel Tubulars mill.
This was no mere walk-through by the Oscar-winning actor.
"It was pretty intense," said Rob Betters of Ambridge, one of the mill workers whom Bale studied. "He was heavily focused and seemed very interested in preparing for his role. He asked a lot of questions about steel mill life and the middle class and the wages we make, so he could develop his character. He seemed enthused to be stepping into the role."
Bale is top billed in "Out of the Furnace," a revenge thriller set in Pennsylvania. Directed by Scott Cooper ("Crazy Heart") the plot revolves around an ex-con Slim, (Bale), who after his release from prison tries to settle down quietly in a steel town with his longtime girlfriend (Zoe Saldana). When a loved one is murdered, Slim seeks revenge against the villain, whom numerous websites report will be played by Billy Bob Thornton. Casey Affleck, Robert Duvall and Forest Whitaker also have been in talks to appear in the film, planned for a 2014 release.
Bale and Cooper are scheduled to return to the Koppel mill in several weeks for filming. Other scenes will be shot in Braddock.
Bale, Cooper and the film's locations and photography staffers watched the Koppel mill workers melt and produce steel, then headed to Giuseppe's Italian Restaurant in Big Beaver for a late lunch.
The conversation loosened up there, with a few of the mill workers teaching Bale how to speak the local lingo.
"We got into 'yinz' and 'dahntahn' and 'worsh your car,'" Betters said. "He practiced saying it. I think he got a kick out of it."
Bale told Betters he had a great time filming "The Dark Knight Rises" last year in Pittsburgh, though it was the depth of the "Out of the Furnace" script that brought him back to town.
Not many onlookers outside the mill or at the restaurant interrupted Bale, who perhaps reflecting his "Slim" character looked leaner than in his Batman movies.
"He stopped and gave some autographs and posed for pictures, but for the most part he was focused on our production," Betters said.
It was no typical day at the mill for a hot-metal crane operator like Betters.
"It's unbelievable that an A-list star was in Beaver County where I work," Betters said. "It's wild."
