The new movie by David Ayer, the creator of "Training Day," gives Christian Bale the chance to play a character unlike any he has ever portrayed before, and allows Ayer to tell a story even closer to his own heart.
"He wrote "Harsh Times" before he wrote "Training Day," Bale said in a phone interview. "For him it's a part of himself, a part of his own soul. He just really wanted to make sure everything was done as he wanted."
And to do that Ayer funded the film with his own money, and even though the film's budget is much smaller than one of Bale's last films, "Batman Begins," he could care less.
"It makes sure that everyone working on it is in it because they want to be in it," Bale said. "Everyone did it for the minimum, and for me I couldn't give a damn - it just depends on what is needed for that movie."
"Harsh Times" tells the story of Jim, portrayed by Bale, who grows up in central Los Angeles before joining the military. After he is discharged, however, he returns home and becomes involved in a downward spiral of the same criminal behavior he was once involved in.
"Jim has become more of a dangerous individual then he ever has before," Bale said. "Now he's on the streets of L.A. and he's kind of returning to his old ways."
Jim's closest friends in the film are members of the Chicano culture, and Bale had only about three weeks to prepare for the role and master that group's mannerisms.
"You feel these walks of life in L.A., but I never actually lived that life," he said. "That was something I had to immerse myself in, getting the lingo right. That ain't something you can just turn up on the first film and do - you gotta be living it for a while."
Despite Bale's mastery of the lingo in the film, he said in reality he's never had much of a knack for learning foreign languages.
"I've been trying to learn Spanish for bloody years," he said. "With acting, I can remember things and get obsessed with them for a short period of time. I had to obviously learn the Spanish scenes for the movie, and it's a very informal kind of Spanish - lots of slang in it."
Bale also had to meet with and observe members of the military to create his character, and he even had to get his hairstyle right.
"People treated me differently when I had this short fade," he said. "They didn't really want me sitting next to them."
Although Bale said he would never be any good at marketing because he can never guess how many people will be interested in a film ("I remember seeing previews for "Titanic" and thinking, 'Oh, well everyone knows the ending so no one's going to see that,'" he said), Bale hopes that the relevant subject matter of "Harsh Times" will appeal to audiences everywhere.
"This movie is at one in the same time topical and timeless," he said. "Jim is a returning war veteran who is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, which is pretty common, especially right now, and then timeless in the fact that he's kind of an extreme case of identity crisis that many people go through."
"Harsh Times" opens in theaters today.
Rascal Flatts made country music a party with their self-titled debut in 2000.
Six years, one Grammy and four albums later, the crew of three keeps that same energy going with Me and My Gang.
The 13 tracks play like a romantic comedy - funny yet sentimental, energetic and still romantic.
The first single from the album, "What Hurts the Most," lends to their romantic songwriting that initially gave them publicity through songs like "Melt" and "These Days."
Their enjoyment for life and country music also appears in the title track, as well as "Backwards" - a song explaining what happens when a country song is played backwards.
And though it is a good CD, I do wonder if Rascal Flatts will venture from their piano-rock/pop country style.
Mama said if it ain't broke don't fix it, and the style obviously isn't broke.
Gang hit store shelves in April and has been country music's best-selling album since the 2004 release of Live Like You Were Dying by Tim McGraw.
But one does wonder how long Rascal Flatts can continue to talk about the same subject matter and have through the roof sales.
