Rambler's Top100 Christian Bale. Press (inreview and articles). Newsies: Striking Boys Caught Singing and Dancing.

 

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Last Update - June 21th, 2003

'Newsies': Striking Boys Caught Singing and Dancing
Kevin Koffler, Seventeen Magazine, 1992.

Christian Bale lumbers into a conference room on a rainy Saturday morning. He plops down in a chair, yawns, and wipes sleep from his eyes. Dressed in black jeans, a sweatshirt, and sneakers, he apologises for being late. "Im just getting over the flu and Im still jet-lagged," he explains, "so Im moving a little slowly."

But the six-foot-two British-born actor, best known for his film debut as a young school boy in Steven Spiebergs epic Empire of the Sun and more recently for Kenneth Branaghs Henry V, need not apologise. For the past few weeks, hes been flying round and round from L.A. to London to Prague and back again.

"Ive been doing reshoots for Newsies here, doing preproduction work on a new film, Swing Kids, in Prague, and visiting my mom, sister, and girlfriend in England. And I dont even like to fly!" he says with a slight shudder. "Before I came here, I flew on a plane that sounded like it had a window open the whole time."

When Bale first heard about Newsies, a live-action musical recounting the tale of the New York newsboys strike of 1899, he claims he had no interest in auditioning for the project. "Id never sung of danced, and I didnt think I could do a musical," he says. "I read for the film in England, and then Disney flew me to Los Angeles for a screen test. But before I signed a contract, I met the director (Kenny Ortega) and told him I wasnt comfortable with the dancing and singing and I didnt want to be a bloody Artful Dodger in a remake of Oliver!, jumping down the street with a big smile on my face. But he told me it wouldnt be like that, and he lied to me about all of these different actors who had done musicals, like Al Pacino."

After he was cast as Jack Kelly, the head newsie, Bale joined the rest of the films actors and dancers in two months of "Newsies school." He studied dancing, speaking with a New York accent (circa 1899), gymnastics, and karate. "We had a kung-fu master," he recalls with a laugh. "Thirty of us would be in a room doing something like tai ching to this humming music. Its very relaxing, but when you see yourself in the mirror, its really funny."

"Filming Newsies was a blast," he says. "By the time the cameras started rolling, we were so prepared we were ready for anything. The blend of technically great dancers and actors with great charaterizations made it all work perfectly." And what about his Oliver! Fear? "Sure, were singing and dancing in the streets," he says, "but we dont always have smiles on our faces."

Immediately upon finishing Newsies, Bale flew to Prague to begin Swing Kids, which costars Robert Sean Leonard and Frank Whaley. "Its set in 1930s Hamburg, Germany," the eighteen-year-old explains. "There was quite a big culture then among teenagers who liked to dress in zoot suits and go to swing clubs. The story is about three friends from different backgrounds who love swing music. I play the bad seed."

In between movies, Bale tries to squeeze in time with his family and girlfriend. "Ive been going with the same girl for three years," he says shyly. "But shes going to a university in England and Im relocating to Los Angeles, where my father lives. If I had nothing to do with the film industry, Id stay in England, but Bournemouth [the city where hes lived for the past five years] isnt exactly the film capital of the world."

If he never made another movie, however, Bale says he wouldnt mind a non-celebrity life. "I love making movies," he concludes, "but I also like my privacy. If it all ended tomorrow, Id just live by the sea and be perfectly happy."

Source - The Bale Collection

 


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