Playing Frankenstein's monster in new horror movie The Bride! took its toll on Christian Bale – but not in the way that you might think.
The actor didn't struggle with playing a psychologically tortured creature at war with his maker. No, it was the six hours in the makeup chair every day that pushed him over the edge.
"I would scream like crazy, every day," Bale told Entertainment Weekly. "Just to [release the] despair, all of that restraint that you have to display when you're sitting still for that long... I didn't want to do it driving into work because I thought I might cause a crash. And I didn't want to do it by myself because I thought everyone would just think I'm going nuts."
He added, "Oh man, I'm telling you, the whole crew got involved by the end, because people would hear us screaming. We would open the doors, and gradually, a bit like the Bride's revolution, a few people were going, 'Can we do it too?' And then by the end, there were like 30 people who would hear us and run to the makeup trailer to be a part of it and scream as well."
Horror fans think he might be overreacting a little, though. "He couldn't like, put on some YouTube or something? Seems a bit much," wrote one Reddit user.
"Fuck. I cant imagine how terrible it must be to get paid millions of dollars to sit in a chair for six hours," said someone else.
Others understand his plight, however. "Everyone in the comments sounds miserable to be around," another user wrote. "Bale never said it wasn't worth it, Jim Carrey had to get a CIA agent trained in torture resistance to make it through the Grinch. I think they are all underestimating what it is like to keep your body and face extremely still for six straight hours starting at 4am day after day."
Set in '30s Chicago, Maggie Gyllenhaal's take on The Bride of Frankenstein stars Jessie Buckley as Bale's character's Beau, alongside a supporting cast that includes Jake Gyllenhaal, Peter Sarsgaard, Annette Bening, and Penélope Cruz.
The Bride! arrives in theaters on March 6. For more on what to watch, check out our guide to the other best upcoming horror movies on the way in 2026.
