When it comes to unexpected inspiration,Christian Balesays there’s no better source than real people.
He almost speaks about them as if he weren’t one himself.
“I’m fascinated with people,” the 48-year-old Oscar winner tells EW.
Merie Weismiller Wallace, SMPSP/20th Century Studios
“I don’t begin to understand people ever.
But Falk wasn’t so present in mind.
It works becauseAmsterdam’s Burt is one of these real people.
Burt meets a lot of kooky characters through his practice.
The same with Bale and his own craft.
“I just became a weirdo stalker following him and studying him.
So he’s a big influence, whoever he is out there.
I don’t know his name.
He’ll never know, either.”
Then there was an older character Bale dug out from memory.
“It was right around theAmerican Hustletime.
He was a gentleman who had an injury to his face.
Then we put that one away, but certainly he came back and influenced [Burt].”
Even Bale can’t be sure anymore what that scrapped project was specifically.
I believe it was based on someone, but how loosely?
I can’t remember.”
In Bale’s defense, it’s been quite a while since Russell first approached him aboutAmsterdamsix years ago.
The two would meet regularly in Santa Monica over the years.
It all comes back and informs.
I feel like you get a sense of that in this film.
The life that you sense off-camera is so rich."
Russell invited suggestions from his actors on set as they worked through scenes.
Bale remembers delivering a few lines Russell loved that came from those previous drafts.
It was just another thread Bale used to stitch together Burt.
“That’s not what I aim to do,” he tells EW.
Aren’t there certain things that people expect of me by doing that?
Amsterdamarrives in theaters Oct. 7.
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