Christian Bale has starred in many heavy hitters. From playing Patrick Bateman in American Psycho to being Batman and even starring in several Academy Award-nominated films, he seems to have done it all. With all the success that he has seen across his four-decade-long career, he has many options when picking his favorite out of them.
While many would assume that it would be one of his many critically acclaimed films, it would seem that a lesser-known project stole his heart. In 2013, Bale starred in Out of the Furnace, which became one of his favorites. Unfortunately, it did not receive the same amount of affection from audiences.
Christian Bale was very proud of Out of the Furnace
Success appears to have followed Christian Bale throughout his career. His fourth acting credit in his entire career became an iconic film, and that paved a path straight to the A-list for the actor. Although there is evidently a lot of money in the profession, for Bale, it seems to be more often about passion than materialism. While this was excellent for his career, the one drawback of being an actor is that not every film that you are proud of becomes a major hit.
After starting his acting career in 1986, he now has 58 acting credits, out of which very few have added to the impressive reputation that he has built. There are heavy hitters, and there are the lesser-known, critically acclaimed projects. While many have to learn to cope with this reality, sometimes it can be frustrating when a film doesn’t get the recognition it deserves.
For Bale, this happened in 2013, when he starred in Out of the Furnace. Recently, former columnist and film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times, Richard Roeper, took to his X account and recalled something Bale said about the film, and it is quite unfortunate. The critic revealed that Bale was very proud of the 2013 film, seemingly having a deeply personal connection with it.
In addition to the pride, it would also seem that the actor was upset that the film did not get mainstream attention, feeling it to be just as worthy as his other successful works.
Audiences didn’t give Out of the Furnace the love it deserved
Out of the Furnace is quite an impressive film when one actually understands what its intention was. The film has an extremely impressive cast, starring Casey Affleck, Woody Harrelson, Zoe Saldaña, and Willem Dafoe. In addition to having all of the right people, the project also had a complex story with many layers.
On the surface, it seems like the classic revenge story. Bale’s character, Russell Baze, is extremely protective of his brother, played by Affleck. After coming back from war, he copes with the mundanity of civilian life by going to underground fights. This seems to be the status quo until Affleck’s character goes missing and Russell starts to become violent, crossing every line to bring him back.
While this formula seems like it has been done time and time again, the film has such complexity that it is difficult to compare it to something else. It seems to showcase the unraveling of the American dream, being set in a post-industrial decay setting where there isn’t much color. Additionally, it also addresses the concept of vigilante justice after the police were of little help to Russell.
With such an interesting storyline, one cannot help but wonder why the film did not garner more success. According to the Numbers, the film earned $15 million at its worldwide box office, which is staggeringly low for a film with so many high-profile actors. In addition to this, it also has a 53% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, making it an underrated gem in Bale’s filmography.
Out of the Furnace is available for streaming on Apple TV.
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire
