Christian Bale is one of those actors who really loves to adapt his look and mostly his body to fit the role perfectly. He’s gone from hideously skinny to bulked up and muscly to horribly skinny again and back again. He’s a man who’s dedication to becoming the character he’s playing is a lot deeper than a lot of other actors. It surely can’t be good for his body but it’s something he consistently does. We’re going to take a look at the incredible different stages he’s been at to play convincing roles.

American Psycho (2000)

In his first big role, Christian Bale played Patrick Bateman in the critically-acclaimed film, American Psycho. This was the first time that Bale really put a lot of work into his dedication of a role. He got into a strict regime of going to the gym three hours a day and lived off mainly protein based foods. Patrick Bateman is seen as a vain man too and so Bale changed his lifestyle to include manicures, pedicures, a new skin regime and more.

The Machinist (2004)

By far his most crazy and drastic weight loss had to be for his role of Trevor Resnik in the film, The Machinist. The role saw Bale lose around 63lbs to achieve an overall weight of 121lbs which is medically unhealthy for a male of his size. He was advised by doctors that he should go no lower than 145lbs. Bale said he lived off only an Apple, Coffee, Water and a tin of Tuna a day for 4 months to achieve the weight loss. Dedication like no other!

Batman Begins (2005)

Bale was due for one of his biggest roles yet as the formidable Bruce Wayne AKA Batman in Batman Begins a year later. For this role, Bale had to bulk up a huge amount of weight from the skeletal figure of a man with insomnia to another man who didn’t sleep at night but worked out at the gym every day. Bale began eating a hell of a lot of food and training very specific exercises in the gym. He turned up for the pre-shoot bigger than anyone thought he could possibly be.

Rescue Dawn (2006)

The next role he undertook was Rescue Dawn, which one again, he only had a year to alter his weight for. Bale dropped down 55lbs to play this role. Another dramatic weight drop that saw him weight only 13lbs more than his unhealthily low weight in The Machinist.

The Dark Knight (2008)

Christian Bale at least had two years to gain the weight for his next major role in The Dark Knight. For this role, he once again had to bulk up to be the intimidating Batman in arguably one of the greatest superhero films of all time. Therefore, he took back to a similar diet he used to gain for the first Batman film, eating a lot of protein and hitting the gym regularly. He once again managed to reach the weight of 189lbs for this role, as in the first film.

The Fighter (2010)

Another couple of years later, Bale was back as the crack-addicted former boxer Dicky Eklund. Crack-addicts aren’t usually the same size as Batman and so Bale had to quickly lose a heck of a lot of weight once again. For this role he lost a huge 44lbs to appear as the skinny former boxer. Bale was awarded an Oscar and a Golden Globe for his acting, whether that was down to his dedication to the weight of the character or the personality, who knows.

The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

Once again, Bale was back as Batman and this time he was back better than ever, showing he was never going to tire with his dedication of getting into shape for the roles he wanted. For The Dark Knight Rises, Bale got to his biggest yet at 198lbs for the role of pure muscle. Yet, this wasn’t the biggest he was willing to go for a film.

American Hustle (2013)

In 2013, Christian Bale completed his most drastic weight change since his role in The Machinist. He turned from heavy to muscle mass to heavy due to fat mass in American Hustle. Bale put on a staggering 43lbs for the role in American Hustle, making his weight 241lbs. Bale suffered two herniated discs in the process and has since been recovering a little. What astonishing weight change will Bale make next?