Christian Bale talks to Seven magazine's Marc Cameron about his latest role in the psychological thriller Harsh Times

Harsh Times is quite an intense film, after Batman Begins did you not feel like doing something a bit more light-hearted?

CB: I wanted to do something that wasn't a big juggernaut of a movie and Harsh Times was a film I'd wanted to do for a few years. I'd first met David Ayers as early as 2001. We met at a bar and ended up being there for about five hours arguing about things. He's an engaging guy and doesn't mince his words. At the time Harsh Times was a studio piece and no one wanted me to do it. It was after I had finished filming Batman Begins that I thought may be now they can cast me.

It would be nice to do a light-hearted piece. I did do a film after Harsh Times where the character was very light-hearted.

Has Batman changed your ability to get projects green lit?

CB: Yeah, no doubt about that. Both Harsh Times and Rescue Dawn were both things that came about after the film. I had been trying to get Rescue Dawn off the ground since 2003 and I don't think it was any coincidence I managed to do that after the success of Batman Begins.

Was it an interesting contrast working on Harsh Times after filming such a big movie?

CB: We filmed Batman Begins for seven months and I was there for ten in total. In a way, it was the same as a pregnancy for a woman. You forget about the life you have outside of it. Whereas with Harsh Times, we filmed in twenty four days! When you're working that fast it's very intense at the same time, but I like that momentum very much. And obviously you can't do a film like Batman Begins in 24 days or it would be a bit of a shambles. It's nice to mix up the movie making experience. We'll be jumping in next year again giving birth to Batman Begins number two.

How did you lock into your character Jim's anger and psychosis?

CB: I said it straight away when I read the script and at that five hour meeting with Dave. Jim is a guy who is valued for one thing, and that is for violence, for being the guy who goes that much further than anybody else. Everybody wants to be good at something and you want to cling on to that. Violence is his meal ticket. He's gone from being a street punk who is the white boy in east LA who's going to have a tougher time because of that, to being the slightly psycho guy who suddenly finds out what he's put in jail for on the streets, is something that makes him incredibly successful in the army.

How did the chemistry between you and Freddie Rodriguez come about?

CB: It was fast and furious and we were just thrown together which I really liked. It gave a manic intensity to the moviemaking which I think you can feel. Freddie and I were thrown together in a car eating a lot of fast food and getting used to each other in ways you wouldn't always want to with someone you hadn't know that long. He's a good guy Freddie. I like him a lot. There are a lot of curious characters in this business and he's just very straight forward and what you see is what you get and I liked working with him.

It was also kind of do or die with that kind of schedule on a movie. We might as well have been living together at the time because we pretty much didn't leave the set.

The scene that stands out in Harsh Times is the one in the car where Jim threatens to kills his pregnant girlfriend Marta? Was it hard to film?

CB: It actually had to be cut a lot as it was too crazy for most people to stomach.

We did the first few days of filming in a little village in Mexico. We put on a fiesta and invited the whole town along. They came out and we threw on the band and food. There was even a pig that got roasted. And everyone was out there just dancing and drinking and we provided all the beer for everybody and it was just one big party.

We had to say to people, 'please ignore us and don't look at the camera'-it was very memorable. It as was a great way to kick the movie off and chaotic in a way that I think works very nicely.

It's a great scene and there are an awful lot of different things going on. Throughout the film, Jim is the alpha male in his own territory and this guy, who is valued for his talent with violence and without it would definitely be in jail, cannot do the simple things such as move in with his lady, have a wife and kid and is powerless when it comes to doing that because it would mean giving up the thing he's valued for. Jim feels he's got to make Marta hate him. That's the only thing he understands how to do.

What was it about Jim's character that drew you to the role?

CB: He just never stops, and he can't stop! There's a line in the movie with the killing when Mike is trying to piss him off about shooting somebody. 'You do not stop and think.' That sums Jim up. The guy has a sharp brain on him which you see in that scene when he's being hired by the Home and Security and they want him to go into Columbia, and he's suddenly speaking different languages. The guy has this brain which he conceals. Because he cannot stop! He thrives on momentum and he just keeps on going and going. I found that very electrifying. Essentially until the final piece with Mike in the car, he never stops and that's a common thing. Many people can't stop and think about life, whatever, because it will bring you to a grinding halt. I liked him being that unstoppable force. He never hesitates. He has this dichotomy of nihilism and then this other side that is really constructive. I just found him really engaging. I kept thinking about it and he was somebody I would definitely want to know about. It doesn't mean I want to hang out with the guy, but I certainly want to watch him in a movie.

Do you think the movie has an anti-war message?

CB: I've heard people say this piece is anti-war and others that it is pro-war but you can take it for whatever you want it to be. Obviously, I have my opinion because I'm not going to give it because it's probably unimportant what I think.

His character displays racist tendencies in some of the things he says, and yet is friends with a Mexican. What does that say about Jim?

CB: In east LA, he's called the 'fucking white boy' so he's the one who's grown up with that and he's the odd man out. And he's been natured by that culture and society and that's what he's comfortable with, and lives with and it's kind of an everyday thing for him. It's not a big deal. He's got friends of every race and is still subjected to racism.

One of the most fascinating aspects of your films is your accent range. How do you go about preparing an accent for a film? There's something very south LA in Jim.

CB: We were just kind of living it. But also one of the most interesting things that Dave wanted me to know was that in the military, there's an awful lot of domination from the south, so sometimes military men who have never even visited the south comes out with twangs. The way you do it is to live it. Dave lives his whole life surrounded by the culture, so I just hung out with him and his friends and we went and spent as much time as we could in the different neighbourhoods.

Every one was really helpful there. People from all sorts of walks of life were hanging out with us and liked being involved in some sort of way and kind of got a kick out of me making the transformation.

You have to live with it as much as you can so it feels natural. And I really had to because it's a whole different language in slang terms with things that wouldn't be understood on the west side of LA being everyday speak for east LA. It's just practice, living with it and making it habitual.

We've not got a title for the new Batman film; The Dark Knight. Heath Ledger's going to be the new Joker. What do you think about that?

CB: I think it's great. I think Heath's a real good actor. He's is really passionate about it and very much into what Chris had done with the first one, so it's going to be great to see what he comes up with for the joker.

I love the title and I like very much that it doesn't have Batman Begins in the title. Chris and I have the same take on Batman Begins, and it is very different from any of the other films made. Everything has always had Batman in the title and I think that this is distancing it even further by saying 'hey, this is a different creature here'.

Have you got a script yet?

CB: I'm learning about it right now. Chris and I have only just finished working together on The Prestige and I have another project before I start on Batman Begins so I know I'm in very good hands.

You've worked with some amazing directors in your time. How important is it to have a good relationship with a great director?

CB: As long as it's a great working relationship that is all that matters. It doesn't matter if you have a great relationship away from work. That can also depend on the environment of the film. With Dave, it was very manic and very intense and kind of appropriate for the movie we were making.

Chris Nolan is a director, I've worked with more than anybody else so it's nice when you do come to understand each other and you do get this common language, so you really don't have to speak a whole lot. Often too much talking ruins everything. It's nice when you know how somebody works. It was a very lucky thing when I met Chris and became part of his circle of filmmaking.

What made Harsh Times stand out from all the scripts you get sent?

CB: It just didn't stop and it was savage. And appealing beyond belief. I just did not want to put it down. I read it and then re-read it again and it has such pace in it, such energy and so much to think about. It was such a dense script to me because it doesn't labour the point and people can come out of it with very different ideas about its stance on war. I loved its complexity because it's an apparently very simple look and at a very simple man. But it leads to so many bigger questions about things that are so topical. At the time that I read it, it was before the Iraq war and consequently there were so many similar stories coming out that it was impossible for me to forget it. It's also that thing of when you have your eyes on a prize you can be relentless at it, especially as nobody wanted me to do that role at the time.

Also, Dave did everything you're not mean to do. He financed the entire movie out of his own pocket. He wasn't some naïve newcomer who didn't know that was a bad idea. He knows that everybody says that you should never do that. I love the fact that he didn't give a crap about that and he did it anyway. That's somebody I really want to work with. Somebody who's putting everything on the line for a project that he really cares about it.

You're executive producer of the film. Was it difficult getting it made and was it tough producing and starring at the same time?

CB: No. The executive producer doesn't really mean shit! I was just plugging away, wanting to hear what was happening with Harsh Times and then it was my initiation of calling Dave while I was in England, shooting Batman Begins, and saying 'what's going on'? At that point, he had decided he wasn't going to make it for the studios as they were trying to dictate too much. It was just fortuitous that at the time I looked up his number called him and said 'what's going on, I still want to do this and may be we can do it now that I've done Batman Begins'. And that really helped to get everything moving. Dave said you're helping get this whole thing done now so offered the executive producer role. It doesn't have to mean a whole lot. What it does mean is that I liked the whole piece and was involved with it from day one.

You're playing a gulf war vet with psychological problems. Was it difficult being in that intense frame of mind for most of the day?

CB: It was actually a very funny time while filming the movie. There was a lot of laughter a lot of practical jokes. It was kind of like a school environment in a way, which you normally get when a lot of guys are chucked together for long hours in the day. My character Jim's a guy who likes to blow-off steam, and he's being violent and enjoying himself. You can't walk around with some sort of raging intensity all day long; you'll just look like an idiot.

What's up for you next?

CB: I've just finished working on The Prestige with Chris Nolan. Then there's a movie with Todd Haynes called I'm not there.

Harsh Times is on nationwide release from the 18 August