Christian Bale has revealed the reason why he had to “isolate” himself from Chris Rock on the set of their 2022 film Amsterdam.
The 48-year-old actor said that Rock’s jokes were “so bloody funny” that it prevented him from getting into character.
“I remember his first day, I was excited to meet him, I’m a big fan of his standup,” Bale told IndieWire. “Then he arrives, and he’s doing some things… David [O Russell] told him to tell me some stories that I didn’t know he was gonna tell me, which is the way David works often. And I was loving it.
“But Chris is so bloody funny and I found that I couldn’t act, because I was just becoming Christian laughing at Chris Rock.
“So I had to go to him, I went, ‘Mate, I love talking to you, and we have mutual friends, but I can’t do it anymore. Because David didn’t ask me to make this film so he could just watch me giggle. He wants me to be Burt and I’m forgetting how to be Burt.’”
Bale said that it’s not his first time “isolating” from his co-stars.
“I often meet these incredible people, but I isolate myself,” he said. “Because if I get to know people too much, I find I just don’t believe what I’m doing in the scene.”
The storyline of Amsterdam is set in the Thirties, and follows three friends who witness a murder only to become suspects themselves, uncovering one of the most outrageous plots in American history in the process.
The cast of the film includes Bale, Rock, Margot Robbie, Taylor Swift, Robert De Niro, Anya Taylor-Joy and John David Washington.
Amsterdam is set to hit theatres on 7 October.
