When writer/director Adam McKay decided he was going to make a movie about former Vice President Dick Cheney, he only had one actor in…
When writer/director Adam McKay decided he was going to make a movie about former Vice President Dick Cheney, he only had one actor in mind to star.
“From the very beginning, I wanted Christian Bale to play him,” says McKay, whose darkly comic movie about the secretive VP’s quiet political rise, « Vice, » arrives in theaters Christmas Day. No matter that his chosen actor had a drastically different body type, head shape, age (Bale is 44, Cheney is 77) and stature from Cheney’s. (However, they share a Jan. 30 birthday.)
Bale’s initial reaction to the idea: « What?! How are you feeling, Adam? »
But the filmmaker was confident. « I knew he’d get it. I said, ‘Look, you don’t have to look exactly like him. We just want the vibe,’ » says McKay, who also directed Bale to an Oscar nomination in « The Big Short. »
He wasn’t wrong.
Bale has already been nominated for Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild awards for embodying Cheney throughout six decades of the ruthless politician’s life. Among a number of early « Vice » nominations, the film is up for best picture honors at the Globes (best comedy or musical) and Critics’ Choice Awards.
