Christian Bale is known for pushing his body to extremes in the name of a performance.
Over the years, he’s transformed himself repeatedly — dropping to a frighteningly low weight for The Machinist, gaining heavily for American Hustle, and building a sharp, muscular look for Patrick Bateman in American Psycho. It’s the kind of dedication that’s become part of his reputation.
What no one expected, though, was that research for one of those roles would later help save a life.
In preparation for playing Dick Cheney in 2018’s political drama Vice, Bale went all-in on the details of Cheney’s health issues — including the former Vice President’s history of heart attacks — and a conversation during production ended up proving far more important than anyone realised at the time.
Speaking to Deadline, director Adam McKay said that around the time of filming he wasn’t in great shape. He was heavier than he wanted to be, smoking a lot, and ignoring repeated warnings from his doctor that his health needed attention.
After Vice wrapped, McKay decided to make changes and hired a personal trainer. But during their third workout, he started to feel symptoms he didn’t recognise as serious at first.
“Our third workout, I get tingly hands and my stomach starts going queasy. I always thought when you get a heart attack, it’s pain in the chest or the arm.”
Then a moment from the set came rushing back. While filming one of Cheney’s heart attack scenes, Bale had asked McKay how he wanted it played. McKay assumed the usual signs would be the focus — chest pain and arm pain — but Bale had learned something different in his research and pushed back.
“No no, one of the more common ways is you get really queasy and your stomach hurts.”
McKay said that detail stayed buried in his mind until he found himself in the gym with numb hands and nausea — and suddenly realised what might be happening.
“I went ‘oh sh*t,'”
He rushed upstairs, took a handful of baby aspirin, and called his wife, who immediately dialled 911. Because he got to the hospital quickly, doctors told him his heart had suffered almost no lasting damage.
“That’s because I remembered what Christian Bale told me,’ McKay added.
Doctors later cleared a small blockage in the lower part of his heart by inserting a stent. About a week after the incident, McKay called Bale to tell him what had happened.
“I said, either you or Dick Cheney just saved my life,” he said.
Once Bale confirmed McKay was truly alright, McKay said they both ended up laughing about the surreal chain of events.
McKay also worked a private nod into the finished film: during a sequence focused on Cheney’s paranoia, actual footage of McKay’s blocked artery briefly appears onscreen — meaning his “cameo” is, quite literally, his own heart attack.
Since then, McKay has said he stopped smoking and lost the weight he gained during production, adding:
“Nothing will get you to quit smoking faster, than staring at the ceiling of an ambulance.”