We all know how seriously Christian Bale takes his character transformation. Hes gained weight, lost weight, gained it again. But to play Dick Cheney in Adam McKays forthcoming biopic Vice, Bale took his preparation to new levels—shape-shifting with a 40-pound weight gain, shaving his head, bleaching his eyebrows, bulking up his neck muscles, and perfecting the former vice presidents heavy-breathing monotone. And now, McKay has revealed that Bale studied Cheneys medical history so extensively that he was essentially able to provide the filmmaker with a heart-condition diagnosis.
Because the film depicts several of Cheneys real-life heart attacks, Bale researched the condition thoroughly. McKay had assumed that the first symptom of a heart attack is pain felt in the arm. But Bale corrected him—explaining that, most commonly, a heart attacks first symptoms are “you get really queasy and your stomach hurts.” Cut to January. Filming had wrapped and McKay, in attempt to get rid of some of the weight he gained during production, began working out with a trainer.
“Our third workout, I get tingly hands and my stomach starts going queasy,” McKay told Deadline. “I always thought when you get a heart attack, its pain in the chest or the arm. But then I remembered [what Bale told me]. . . . And right in that moment (when McKay doubled over) I went, Oh s–t, and I ran upstairs and downed a bunch of baby aspirin, and I called my wife who immediately called 911. Got to the hospital really fast, and the doctor said, because you did that, no damage was done, your heart is still really strong. Thats because I remembered Christian Bale telling me that.”
The doctor was able to correct the small blockage with a stent, and advised McKay to quit smoking. After McKay was released from the hospital, the filmmaker called Bale.
“[I] said, either you or Dick Cheney just saved my life,” McKay explained. “After asking again and again for 10 minutes if I was really alright, we just started laughing.”
And the episode even ended up finding a way into the movie.
“My doctor sat me down and said, Do you want to see your heart attack? He puts up this thing, this black-and-white picture that shows the blocked artery. Youve probably seen the film before, on movies and TV, and you see the blockage and then you see the wire that cleans it out. Then you see the blood flow. While we were talking about it, I said, Can I have a copy of that?
“I put it in the movie,” McKay said. “So my cameo in the movie is my actual heart attack.”
McKay has previously explained how deep Bale went for this role.
“What Christian Bale really does is he psychologically breaks someone apart and puts them back together again,” McKay said earlier this year. “Ive never seen someone work so hard at it, and it is hard on him, but really amazing to watch. The second I thought of doing the movie, I knew right away, the most exciting person to play him is Christian.”
Vice opens on Christmas.
Get Vanity Fairs HWD NewsletterSign up for essential industry and award news from Hollywood.Julie MillerJulie Miller is a Senior Hollywood writer for Vanity Fairs website.
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