Mumbai, Feb 26 (IANS) Oscar-winner Christian Bale has spoken about playing Frank in the upcoming film “The Bride!” and said that his character is quite old-fashioned in his approach to how romance should be.
The film draws inspiration from the 1935 film Bride of Frankenstein, which was based on Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus.
Bale said: “Frank is quite old-fashioned in his approach to how romance should be – he’s a great fan of the black-and-white movies where you get these gentlemen and ladies who dance with the top hats on, and for him, that’s the image of the ultimate love.”
“And then when he meets The Bride and he sees this is a different animal, but adores watching her, because she’s so much more exciting than anything he ever could have fathomed.”
“We also see he’s very naïve and innocent in many ways, for all of the crimes he’s committed, and he sees how dynamic she is and how full of life she is. He can’t quite do it himself, because he’s gotten used to a life of restraint and keeping out of the way—but he loves seeing her live that way.”
Given this almost surreal dynamic, Bale delves further into Jessie playing The Bride and their experience working together, Bale says, “I’ve only seen Jessie in The Lost Daughter. Maggie had told me what a kind of generational talent she was, but I don’t generally like to watch other people’s work, because I just like to see them as the character that they are. And she killed it.
“She, Sandy (costume designer Powell) and Nadia (Stacey), who did make-up, and everybody just nailed it. She looked fantastic. And the first scenes that I had with her, looking at her and going, ‘She’s The Bride, completely.’ What impressed me most is that she’s wide open, full throttle, completely reckless in a wonderful way.”
“You don’t want people playing it safe. There’s a danger to her, going off the rails, and she’s bloody great. Why would we do anything else? And also, something else I love is that I personally get a great kick out of humiliating myself, of thinking, ‘This might go really wrong, but I don’t care, we’ll figure it out.’”
“And I felt like I could see that in her as well, a lack of restraint, no sense of wanting to be overly poised or controlled, somebody really stretching their boundaries. I also feel like she has that same love—and hatred—and fascination with people, which I relate to deeply, and it keeps the work endlessly exciting.”
From Maggie Gyllenhaal, the film also stars Peter Sarsgaard, with Bening, Academy Award nominee Jake Gyllenhaal, and Oscar winner Penélope Cruz.
A lonely “Frank” (Bale) travels to 1930s Chicago to ask groundbreaking scientist Dr. Euphronious (five-time Oscar nominee Annette Bening) to create a companion for him. The two revive a murdered young woman and The Bride (Buckley) is born. What ensues is beyond what either of them imagined: Murder! Possession! A radical cultural movement! And outlaw lovers in a wild and combustible romance!
Warner Bros. Pictures Presents A First Love Films / In The Current Company Production, A Maggie Gyllenhaal Film: THE BRIDE!
The film will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures. It will release in India on March 6.
–IANS
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