Christian Bale‘s weight has yo-yoed over the years as he’s both lost and gained weight for movie roles, and his efforts have paid off. But now he’s had enough.
The 45-year-old British actor gained about 40 pounds for American Hustle and packed on the same amount to play former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney in the 2018 movie Vice, both of which earned him Oscar nominations. He recently dropped 70 pounds for his latest film, Ford v Ferrari, in which he plays slender racecar driver Ken Miles. He previously lost 60 pounds for the 2004 film The Machinist. He also got jacked for his roles in The Dark Knights trilogy and The Fighter, the latter of which earned him his first Oscar in 2011.
“I keep saying I’m done with it,” Bale says in a CBS Sunday Morning interview, set to air this weekend, when asked about his dramatic weight fluctuations. “I really think I’m done with it, yeah.”
At the recent Los Angeles premiere of Ford v Ferrari, the actor told E! News’ Erin Lim, “I’ve become a little more boring now because I’m older and I feel if I keep doing what I’ve done in the past, I’m gonna die. So I prefer not to die. So I’d like not to die.”
The movie also stars Matt Damon as late automotive icon Carroll Shelby, who was tasked by Ford to create a racecar to beat those produced by Ferrari in the 24 Hours of Le Mans race in 1966.
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“I had a great time watching him,” Damon said on CBS Sunday Morning, referring to Bale. “He’s got an incredible monk-like discipline, like, when he had to lose – he – he went from Dick Cheney to this guy. So he had to lose 70 pounds.”
Bale also recently signaled to British GQ that he also doesn’t want to do dangerous stunts anymore when he’s older. He said that he suffered a herniated disc, which still affects him today, after acting out a scene with Tom Hardy for The Dark Knight Rises.
“When you’re younger and you get those micro tears you feel like, ‘Man, I’m really getting some control in my mind here.’ And then at 45 you go, ‘What am I still doing this s–it for?'” he said. “One time I was doing a scene with a stuntman in his 60s and he kept on having to fall off his horse and land on his head. I looked at him and just went, ‘I wonder if he ever imagined this was what he was going to be doing when he was in his 60s?’ He landed on his head like nobody else. He jumped back up! But stuntmen never like to show that they’ve got hurt. If they’ve broken their arm, they’ll try to tell you they haven’t.”
“With all due respect to the man, I don’t want to be doing that sort of thing when I’m in my 60s,” he said. “I used to love going on my dirt bike, and I loved falling off it. Loved crashing. It was so much fun, coming back with blood pouring off your arm. Now, I’m like, ‘God, please. I can’t come off here now, because I know I might never get back up again.'”