From American Psycho to The Dark Knight, Christian Bale‘s repertoire is everything but ordinary. The academy award-winning actor has been collecting accolades for over thirty years while working alongside Hollywood’s most acclaimed directors. As one of the most coveted actors of all time, Bale’s impressive portfolio does not leave anything to be desired — although, apparently, his audition tapes aren’t responsible for landing him any roles.
The 48-year-old British actor recently admitted, via Digital Spy, that his The Pale Blue Eye‘s co-star Henry Melling is an ace at auditions, unlike Bale himself. “Scott [Cooper, director] would send me the tapes of different actors who were generous to send them to us. We were watching and discussing, and then when I saw Harry’s,” the actor said, “I’ve never been very good at auditions myself, I was never able to access anything remotely interesting in an audition, God knows why anybody ever cast me, but Harry was accessing something really fascinating.”
In spite of portraying some of the most iconic roles on the big screen, Bale’s unexpected confession came off as a surprise, especially considering his award-winning career and Hollywood reign. The actor portrayed Batman in The Dark Knight trilogy, whose success was so immense, that to this day, Bale’s rendition as the beloved comic book vigilante is still praised among critics and fans of the genre.
Bale’s own despise of auditions, however, has never gotten in the way of landing roles. The highly-anticipated Netflix adaptation of Edgar Allen Poe’s early days The Pale Blue Eye includes a star-studded cast. Acting alongside audition master Melling, the gripping Netflix story will see Bale as the detective Augustus Landor, Melling as Poe, and Gillian Anderson as Mrs. Marquis.
Christian Bale’s The Pale Blue Eye is now available on Netflix.