Thor: Love and Thunder star Christian Bale’s newest film, Amsterdam, has a cast packed with talented A-list stars and while a large, talented cast could create an opportunity for conflict, for Bale, there was one co-star in particular that he had to stop talking to while on set because they made him laugh too much. Bale told IndieWire (via Variety) that he found co-star Chris Rock so funny that it kept him from getting into character for Amsterdam.
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“I remember his first day, I was excited to meet him, I’m a big fan of his standup,” Bale said. “Then he arrives, and he’s doing some things… David [O. Russell] told him to tell me some stories that I didn’t know he was gonna tell me, which is the way David works often. And I was loving it. But Chris is so bloody funny, and I found that I couldn’t act, because I was just becoming Christian laughing at Chris Rock. So, I had to go to him, I went, ‘Mate, I love talking to you, and we have mutual friends, but I can’t do it anymore. Because David didn’t ask me to make this film so he could just watch me giggle. He wants me to be Burt and I’m forgetting how to be Burt.”
Amsterdam is described as the story of three friends, two soldiers and a nurse (Bale, John David Washington, and Margot Robbie), who find themselves in Amsterdam and promise to look out for one another no matter what but find themselves suspects in a murder. The film also stars Matthias Schoenaerts, Rami Malek, Robert DeNiro, Zoe Saldana, Mike Myers, Michael Shannon, Timothy Olyphant, Taylor Swift, and more.
Amsterdam marks Russell’s first directorial endeavor since 2015’s Joy, which was nominated for numerous Golden Globes and Academy Awards. Beyond being his return to Hollywood, this film is a reunion for Russell and a number of cast members. Russell and Bale have worked together twice before, on The Fighter and American Hustle, while De Niro has collaborated with the director on Silver Linings Playbook and the aforementioned Joy. Another notable reunion is with Malek and Myers, who worked together on 2018’s Bohemian Rhapsody.
Amsterdam arrives in theaters on November 4.
