Christian Bale jokes he’s a ‘disappointment’ off-screen

Christian Bale has issued an unexpected warning to fans: don’t meet him.

The Oscar-winning actor said those who admire him on screen may walk away disappointed if they encounter him in real life, insisting he is “at his best” only in his performances.

Promoting his new film The Bride!, Bale admitted he has no desire to meet his own heroes either, arguing that actors are most compelling within the worlds they create on screen.

“I’m never cool. Not in those instances,” he told Entertainment Tonight. “I don’t want to meet people I see in films, I don’t want to see my heroes.”

The 52-year-old actor said he often notices a shift when admirers approach him after watching his work.

“I see it in people’s eyes when they’ve watched my movies and loved them, and then they meet me — that terrible disappointment about who I really am,” he said. “And it’s true, what a disappointment. That’s me at my best in the movie.

“Never meet me, and I never want to meet my heroes either, because they are heroic in what they do. Give them a break, nobody can be a hero all the time.”

Bale’s candid comments come as he prepares for the release of The Bride!, directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal. 

In the film, he portrays Frankenstein’s monster, known as Frank, a role that required up to six hours of daily prosthetic work.

The lengthy transformation process proved physically and emotionally draining. Bale revealed that he began screaming each day as a way to release frustration.

“I would scream like crazy, every day,” he told Entertainment Weekly. “Just to release the despair, all of that restraint that you have to display when you're sitting still for that long.”

He avoided venting on his commute, fearing he might cause an accident, and didn’t want to scream alone in case people thought he was “going nuts.”