Christian Bale, known for his propensity to not spare his body for certain roles, has transformed himself again to play an iconic character! A first photo has just been revealed.
Christian Bale has been absent from cinema screens since November 1, 2022! That year, Christopher Nolan’s former Batman was on display in Amsterdam, directed by David O. Russell. A fan of physical transformations, the actor will soon be back on the big screen, to the delight of the public.
Christian Bale as Frankenstein’s monster
It is on October 1, 2025 that we will be able to see Christian Bale again in theaters. In The Bride, the 50-year-old actor will tackle a major new metamorphosis by slipping under the scars of one of cinema’s most famous creatures, Frankenstein’s monster. A first photo has just been revealed!
We see the actor, adorned with the characteristic scars of the creature and sporting a tattoo with the inscription “Hope” (Hope). Jessie Buckley also appears in a first photo with white hair and black lipstick having smudged heavily on her cheeks.
The two artists have a little Joker and Harley Quinn side in these images. Director Maggie Gyllenhaal will deliver a new version of the 1935 film, Bride of Frankenstein, directed by James Whale.
The story will transport us to the 1930s. Frankenstein goes to Chicago to ask for help from Doctor Euphronius to create a companion. The two men bring a murdered young woman back to life.
A chameleon actor
In The Bride, Bale therefore takes on one of the most significant roles in the 7th Art, already played by illustrious actors before him (Boris Karloff, Lon Chaney Jr., Bela Lugosi, Peter Boyle, Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee or even Robert de Niro). Note that Christian Bale and Jessie Buckley will be surrounded by Annette Bening, Penélope Cruz and Peter Sarsgaard.
As a reminder, some of Bale’s most impressive performances were accompanied by radical physical metamorphoses: The Machinist (28 kilos lost), Batman Begins (45 kilos gained then 9 kilos lost), Rescue Dawn (24 kilos lost), American Bluff (19 kilos gained), Fighter (13 kilos lost), Vice (20 kilos gained)…
More recently, in Thor Love & Thunder, Christian Bale was once again unrecognizable as a Marvel godslayer. While waiting for The Bride, in theaters on October 1, 2025, you can watch Christian Bale’s latest film, The Pale Blue Eye, released on Netflix on January 6, 2023.