Films that Christian Bale calls the ‘Ethics of Revenge’ trilogy

Out of the Oven It’s a straightforward revenge flick, starring Bale as Russell Baze, a Pennsylvania steel mill worker searching for his missing brother, an Iraq War veteran turned naked fighter. The slow-burn nature of the film allows the audience to see the deep, angry feelings of vengeance portrayed by Bale, supported by an epic cast consisting of Woody, Harrelson, Willem Dafoe, and Sam Shepard.

Interestingly, Bale initially turned the film down, even though Cooper wrote the film with the actor in mind. Bale, who had too many commitments at the time and was trying to find a way to “avoid work”, politely declined the lead role offer, but eventually returned due to his obsession with the film. To talk Hollywood ReporterBale explained: “I kept thinking about it and I knew it would keep me busy. You’re supposed to be obsessed with that kind of thing, and that kept me obsessed for the few months I spent shooting the movie.”

Bale showed his usual deep interest in each character and ultimately took the role to different places than Cooper expected; which made the director know that this would be more of a collaboration than a one-off job. And so the two remained close friends and collaborators.

Bale returned to work with Cooper on two period series. enemies And Pale Blue Eye. Both continue this interrogation of the motivations and consequences of revenge. The first deals with the complex emotions experienced by a U.S. Army officer in 1892 when he is forced to escort a sick Cheyenne chief home after years of hostility. The second follows a veteran detective and his unlikely protégé, Edgar Allen Poe, who investigate a series of murders at the US military academy.

Bale explained that he began calling their work together the “Ethics of Revenge” trilogy because it “in a sense aptly describes all three films.” And so it happens. Unrelated apart from their returning collaborators, the films explore through a different lens and across the ages what revenge means, who it helps and who it hurts, and why someone might undertake such a bloody mission. It looks like neither of them are likely to stop. “We will continue.” “We don’t know what happened yet, but we will continue,” Bale explained. And with LA noir rumors backed by Cooper himself, the revenge theme seems likely to remain on the menu.