NEW YORK, Nov. 10 (UPI) -- Fit young actor Christian Bale lost a staggering 65 pounds to play a man dying of insomnia in the upcoming drama, "The Machinist."
"(Bale) lost like 65 pounds for this. I think he weighed less than I did. He starved himself," revealed petite actress Jennifer Jason Leigh, Bale's co-star in the new Brad Anderson drama. "He looked horrifying. I never got over the shock of what he looked like. Ever."
Asked if the "American Psycho" and "Laurel Canyon" actor hurt himself, Leigh said: "No, he didn't, actually.
"I can't believe it," she continued. "He wouldn't even drink water on certain days, if we had love scenes to do and he had to show his body. But then as soon as that was done, when all the body shots were done in the movie, he started to eat again and we were all warning him, 'Start slow
with like the poached eggs and broth ...' and he started with the doughnuts and we were all watching him in horror like, 'This guy is going to die.' And he never got sick."
Noting how the actor must now go to the other end of the body-sculpting spectrum to play Batman, Leigh admitted she looks forward to seeing Bale bulk up.
"That will be good," she added.
Leigh, who can currently be seen opposite Meg Ryan and Mark Ruffalo in Jane Campion's erotic thriller, "In the Cut," will play a streetwalker in "The Machinist."
"I've gone back to my roots. I play a prostitute," laughed the actress who played harlots several times during her 20-year career. "It's just like old times."
