As much as he’s known for being a great actor, Christian Bale is also widely known as someone willing to drastically change his body for roles, yet his biggest on-screen transformation is one nobody talks about. The first time that a major Bale change took place was ahead of 2004’s The Machinist, where he played a man suffering from insomnia, so he dropped over 60 pounds on a strict diet. The visuals of Bale in that film are remarkable, especially considering how he bulked up soon after to play Batman.

While some people have mixed feelings on what Bale does to his body for these roles, there’s no denying how great his performances are. Whether it’s as a popular DC superhero, a man who hasn’t slept in over a year, or the Vice President of the United States, Bale has been heavily praised for his work following a body transformation. The same goes for 2019’s Ford v Ferrari, where he went through his biggest change.

Christian Bale Lost 70 Pounds For Ford V Ferrari

It’s The Most Bale Has Dropped For A Role

As noted, Christian Bale’s dramatic weight loss for The Machinist is probably his most famous case of body transformation, but it’s not the biggest. Bale explained that in order to film Ford v Ferrari, he actually lost a whopping 70 pounds (via Men’s Journal), which is a few more pounds than in the case of The Machinist. The reason it isn’t discussed as much as The Machinist is likely due to how it isn’t as visually obvious.

In The Machinist, Bale is meant to look like a sick man, struggling through his insomnia, dealing with paranoia, and coming across as very unhealthy. With Ford v Ferrari, Bale doesn’t look sickly. He plays legendary English driver Ken Miles at a time in Miles’ life when things were going relatively well for him. The look isn’t far off from Christian Bale’s everyday life, so the sight of the weight loss isn’t as visually jarring. It’s actually another movie that made this such a significant transformation.

Christian Bale Also Gained Over 40 Pounds For Vice, Which Was Filmed Right Before Ford V Ferrari

He Made A Huge Transformation Back To Back

If Christian Bale’s weight in Ford v Ferrari wasn’t far off from his everyday weight, it shouldn’t have been a major transformation. However, it had to be because Bale actually gained more than 40 pounds to star in Vice, which was released about a year prior to Ford v Ferrari. In Vice, Bale portrays the former Vice President of the United States, Dick Cheney, and as is often the case for Bale, he wanted to go all in.

A lot of actors might’ve gone the easy route and sported some kind of suit to portray a large man like Dick Cheney. Bale actually put on the weight and has been quoted as saying he had fun doing so. He went from 185 pounds to around 228 pounds by eating a lot of pies, and as dramatic as that change was, he had already gotten back down to his usual weight by the time the film premiered.

The Other Biggest Christian Bale Body Transformations

He’s Changed His Body Many Times Throughout His Career

Outside of Ford v Ferrari, Vice, Batman Begins, and The Machinist, Christian Bale has gone through serious body transformations in a handful of other movies. For the movie Rescue Dawn, Bale dropped all the way down to 135 pounds, back up to 180 for The Prestige, and ended up going all the way down to 145 for his role in The Fighter. In that film, he played Dicky Eklund, a former boxer dealing with drug addiction. For his performance, Bale won an Academy Award.

Another notable weight change for Christian Bale came in 2013 for American Hustle, where he played con artist Irving Rosenfeld. For the role, Bale went up to around 230 pounds, and again found himself up for an Academy Award. Most recently, Bale lost a fair amount of weight to play Gorr the God Butcher in Thor: Love and Thunder. Bale’s next major role is as Frankenstein’s Monster in The Bride, meaning he could be gaining weight for another part.