"Cool, Calm and Christian..."

Out of any actor working in Hollywood today, Christian Bale has truly come a long way. Christian began his career with critical notices in child acting roles in films like Empire Of The Sun, Treasure Island, Newsies, and Swing Kids.

Bale soon became a cult icon in 1999 with a coveted role as serial killer Patrick Bateman in the film American Psycho. And after a string of critical notices in so-so films like Reign Of Fire, Equilibrium, and The Machinist, he finally achieved enormous popularity in the Christopher Nolan's critically"”acclaimed and commercially-successful Batman films, Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. The 35 year-old actor first talked with us about what interested him in starring in the iconic action/sci-fi film franchise.

Now, Bale hopes to continue his mainstream success with a role as another iconic action film character, this time as John Conner in Terminator: Salvation. The 35 year-old actor first talked with us about what made him choose a role in the iconic action/sci-fi film franchise.

"I didn't go straight into it," Christian says, "I did Public Enemies in between the two. I felt like the franchise was done, so when I first got sent it, I didn't have any interest. Then I sort of got a creeping idea that there was something good that could be told here and if that's what was going to happen, then, absolutely, I wanted to be on for it. And I like mixing up, doing Dark Knight, Batman Begins, and doing The Machinist and things and doing Public Enemies and doing Terminator. I like the mix."

Directing the film is McG who parlayed his early success directing rock music videos by high-profile bands like Smash Mouth and The Offspring, into directing the Charlie's Angels movies, as well as producing films like Stay Alive and We Are Marshall. Christian revealed that it was McG's helming of the film that ultimately convinced him to take a chance on the fourth outing of the Terminator

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series.

"Well, initially, collaboration was me saying, no, I didn't want to do the movie, then it was why and it was, well, I don't really see"¦you know, you really got to come back," he recalls, "When people look at a franchise and mythology and think it's over, you got to come back with something that really knocks people out and I just didn't really feel like it was there."

"But that was not just me, that was everybody who felt that, but I really couldn't see that it wouldn't be able to get there," Bale adds, "It just seemed crazy to me that it wouldn't be possible. So it took a leap of faith in the right of strike in saying that alright, listen, we'll just have a few points that we want to get across in another script and we'll have that be written and fine, let's go after that."

Bale also shared with us the collaboration process between him and McG and what he expected from the filmmaker.

"The word collaboration, of course, the movie is a collaboration, but a director has to have his own point of view," Christian believes, "That is a director's job. He creates the point of view and he must have a strong point of view. He has to, you know. He can't be wishy-washy. In any way, he creates the rhythm of the piece and you can't have too many chiefs. Otherwise, the whole thing is going to be a ballzer. He's obviously very open to ideas, but I like it when I'm hearing great ideas and I'm just adding onto it and making something extra."

It's not just Christian that is poised to make an impact with Terminator: Salvation, but Australian actor Sam Worthington, who co-stars with him as resistance soldier Marcus Wright. We asked him to comment on Worthington's remark, during our interview with him, that he hated Bale being described as 'intense' and whether or not he himself

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cares about being described as that.

"I hate that fucking word!" Bale reacts, "It's passionate, that's all! I hate that fucking word! I said it first, alright. I don't really analyze each word. Whatever. Hey, listen, people label me whatever they want to label me. That's their prerogative. I don't have the same passionate feelings as Sam does about the word, but I'm like whatever, I don't care, you know. Call me an a-hole. Alright, fine. If that's what you think of me, that's alright to think that of me, you know."

Despite doing back-to-back high profile action films like this and the Batman movies, Bale rather surprisingly claims there was less arduous stunt work involved for Terminator: Salvation.

"Not so intense on this one, not nearly as intense as it was on Batman, but purely because it's probably more intense for Sam because he's somebody you could actually have a fistfight with a Terminator," Christian says, "But as a human being, you're not having any fisticuff sessions with a Terminator when you get to that point and you're probably just dead."

"So, for me, it was mainly weapons handling, you know, and preparation for that," he continues, "And we had a great advisor who I spent a lot of time with, but the physical challenge was not nearly as tough as I thought it was going to be."

One particular action scene that was enjoyable was one involving a helicopter that looks like it had been shot in one take. It was inquired of Christian whether the scene actually was shot in a single take.

"Well, that would be great, wouldn't it, if it was done in one take?" Bale replies, "That would be fantastic. Yeah, no, the camera didn't ever pan off. I'm having a tricky time remembering that day, so I guess it must have been one take."

We also inquired Bale on what was the most dangerous stunt he performed in the film.

"If the helicopter thing had

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been done in one take, that would," Christian answers, "No, there wasn't, because the biggest adrenaline rush was actually a dive that I had to make down to sort of a cavernous space and I had to drop 1/3 distance for that."

"But I have worked with all the stunt guys, the riggers, the stunt coordinator before on a number of movies and I know how good they are, so it became a heart-pounding rush film," he continues, "I've got to say, the stunts in this one, I didn't find real tricky."

We began to wonder of Christian Bale whether there was anything he was afraid to do.

"Hey, listen, I'm sure there are things that I have a fear over, but just not standing on the ledge of a building," Bale remarks.

One of the more interesting character aspects of Terminator: Salvation is the family link involving John Conner and Kyle Reese, here played by Anton Yelchin, who fathers John in the present in the original film. We asked Bale whether he felt overwhelmed at all by the time travel complexities in the franchise's timeline.

"You know, I solved it by not thinking about it too much," he simply states, "That was really the answer to it. You know, so getting into any kind of time travel, we don't have in this one."

"It's before the days when that would have been discovered," Christian adds, "So, yeah, I know, you can get into a complete mess with the movies. It becomes limitless and completely confusing, but, yeah, that one was fairly straightforward. But, yeah, no, but, yeah, I just not think about it that much."

And straight from the horse's mouth himself, yes, everybody, Christian does indeed utter Arnold Schwarzenegger's now classic "I'll be back" line from the original films.

"That was something actually that a friend of mine that came on as a writer for a while," Bale claims, "And I would liked him to have been around for longer throughout

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the movie, but it was actually a conversation when Jonathan Nolan was on it briefly to work. And he called me up and said, 'Chris has got an idea. I want to run it by you, because you might say no way.' And I said, well, I want to hear you first. Well, you know, let's try it, we can always cut it out."

"But, my aim was to attempt, and people can tell me if they feel like I did it successfully or not," he adds, "But my aim was for it to be just such a logical answer to what I'm be asked that people didn't go in that second, what's he doing an Arnie impression for?! I didn't want it to come across as an impression. It was something that ideally for me, a few seconds later, people who know the other movies go, hey a second, he said the same line! And that way, I felt comfortable."

We asked Bale if he was equally comfortable with the final cut of Terminator: Salvation.

"Well, I saw a few different variations," Christian says, "And like any movie, it goes through a lot of different shapes. But, ultimately, the last one I saw, I really felt satisfied. I thought, OK, I think the public will decide because very much, this isn't a movie where you kind of sit down and want to watch as a personal 2:00 in the morning viewing, you know. It's not something which is sort of gazing into the human soul and speaking to you in that way."

"It's a movie that's meant to be watched with a lot of different people to get that common energy," he adds, "Even movies like this, it's a lot like sports, it's that feeling of a common excitement throughout the theatre and that's what I loved about seeing T2. I felt like, you know, we might have a chance here. People will decide, but I think we

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might have a chance of maybe revived this and being able to move on and see what happens about any future movies, if this one does well enough."

We also got Christian to tell us whether there were any extra scenes he particularly liked that we could look forward to in a director's cut or extended edition of the film on DVD.

"I hate all the extras you get on the DVD's and stuff, like that, the deleted scenes, and stuff," he replies, "It's deleted for a reason. Why show it, you know? There's always pieces which you"¦you know, there's that expression which goes you going to kill your baby sometimes and that happens."

"There's some, actually," Bale continues, "You do get sometimes some very good scenes, but they just don't work in the rhythm of the movie. It's better to speak with Mc G about that one, he was the one who made the call. But I'm pretty satisfied with whatever you see in this one."

We asked Bale if Terminator: Salvation and there was a sequel to the film, will we see him bring a greater level of character depth and emotion in John Connor for the next one.

"No," Christian simply states.

One particular future film Christian has hinted at wanting to make is The Fighter, about the life of boxer "Irish" Micky Ward. We attempted to get the actor to comment on whether the film project would still be going forward.

"Hey, I hope that we'll be making it," he says.

Another film in the pipeline that we wondered whether or not was a future project for Bale, of course, was the sequel to The Dark Knight.

"After making a number of blunders, I learned that I do not answer that question till Chris Nolan has answered that question," Christian claims.

Finally, the subject of Christian Bale in Terminator: Salvation wouldn't be complete without touching on the infamous on-set tirade with director of photography Shane Hurlbut. We asked the actor

"Cool, Calm and Christian..."

whether he felt concerned about his acting career being affected by the higher profile generated by his success in Christopher Nolan's Batman films and now this film and the tabloid culture of TMZ in Hollywood.

"Well, look, not for me, it doesn't," Bale says, "Because I don't know what things are being said, gossipy stuff is going on. My life is much happier when I ignore that. As for other people, that's their choice if they want to embrace that, then they are probably going to sacrifice getting enjoyment in the movies, I really believe. But, hey, it's their choice, if that's what they love looking at, I don't get it. It is what it is."