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an emaciated Christian Bale (left) takes direction from Brad Anderson on the set of The Machinist.
The Machinist (☆☆☆)
R,102 minutes
onto one of his hands. Soon his fellow machinists are whispering conspiratorially about him, and someone begins pasting hangman's notes with ominous missing letters on his fridge — clues that may unlock the secret surrounding Trevor's sleepless nights.
Starts tomorrow at Liberty Hall
Christian Bale famously shed 60 pounds to play the part of Trevor Reznik, a paranoid, emaciated insomniac. When we first meet him in Brad Anderson's dark-as-midnight thriller The Machinist, Trevor hasn't slept in a year.
Anderson suffuses the movie with atmosphere and dread. Directing a script by Scott Kosar, Hollywood's go-to guy for horror remakes (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Amityville Horror), the filmmaker works with metallic colors and deep shadows, audaciously visualizing Trevor's gloomy mindspace.
Bale, who was so indelible as the serial killer Patrick Bateman in American Psycho, performs an astonishing disappearing act. His commitment to his craft is humbling an even a little frightening.
While The Machinist's puzzle pieces add up to less than they should, they do fit perfectly.
Trevor works as a factory drone in a nameless American city, where industrialization has produced a perpetually cloudy skyline. Here, he has carved out a safe routine, visiting a friendly waitress (Aitana Sánchez-Gijón) at the airport café, where he always orders the same coffee and pie, and paying for the services of a beautiful prostitute (Jennifer Jason Leigh).
Then Trevor meets Ivan (John Sharian),
a bully, burly coworker with toes grafted
-Stephen Shupe
with Brad Anderson
By Stephen Shupe, Jayplay senior writer
The indie filmmaker tools around with Christian Bale in The Machinist
Named one of the 10 Leading New Independent Directors to Watch by Variety magazine in 1997, Brad Anderson has directed five feature films, including the romantic comedy Next Stop Wonderland and the horror flick Session 9. His latest, The Machinist, opens in Lawrence tomorrow at Liberty Hall, 644 Massachusetts St. Shot in Barcelona for $5 million, The Machinist won the top prize at the Neuchatel International Fantasy Film Festival in Switzerland.
Q. Christian Bale lost 60 pounds to play the role of Trevor Reznik, the insomniac hero of The Machinist. Were you ever worried about his health?
A. A lot of people ask that, but Christian actually enjoyed the process. He lost more weight than he intended to -he planned on losing 20 pounds. He ended up losing so much that he said it was almost euphoric, where he was in this kind of Zenlike state. We didn't actually have a doctor on the set, and we probably should have.
Q. Bale is starring in Batman Begins this summer. Did your shooting schedule conflict at all?
A. He got the role of Batman after we wrapped. It worked out because he came back three or four months later to shoot the flashback scene, and he'd bulked up for Batman. So it kind of worked to our advantage.
Q. The Machinist has been compared to Fight Club. Do you worry about similarities to other films when you're directing?
Q. In what genre would you place The Machine?
A. There's a similarity to Fight Club, but the intention with this film was to do something more character-driven than a big thriller. I was thinking more about Alfred Hitchock, Roman Polanski or Stanley Kubrick, filmmakers who try to create a real sense of dread and paranoia in the audience.
A. Classifying it as a horror film is deceptive, because people will think of Nightmare on Elm Street. It's more of a study of one man's horrific journey. I would call it a psychological mystery.
I like horror movies, but I'm more interested in the psychological nature of horror. The best horror movies deal with the monster inside, rather than some external threat. That's much more scary than a chain-saw wielding maniac, because you can't defeat your inner demons.
Q. The film has a kind of timeless, placeless quality. Do you agree?
A. The idea of it being timeless or placeless is something I wanted. What you get is this kind of weird, quasi-American reality. I think that's appropriate to a story about a guy who doesn't really know where he exists. I wanted the audience to ask, "Who's the sleepless, emaciated killer in my town?" Everyone has one.
Brad Anderson watches a take from the director's chair. The Machinist is Anderson's fifth feature film,
02.03.05 Jayplay
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