Unfortunately for David, he personally could never qualify for U.S. immigration. He never finished university and had no work of his own lined up. But he was undeterred because there were other ways into the U.S.—as a proprietor of one’s own business or as a sponsored employee of an American company. Surely it was simply a matter of getting Christian to America, becoming a movie star, and then forming a family production company so that Christian could hire his father as the company’s president or vice president. Problem solved.
There was just the simple matter of making reluctant young Christian into a star . . .
Jenny was opposed to a move to the U.S. because she realized that unless they had green cards, neither she nor David could legally work and the family would be financially dependent on young Christian who was, at best, ambivalent about acting as his career choice. Jenny was shocked that David would put all this pressure on their young son. Shouldn’t Christian stay in England and finish his education instead?
Jenny recalled: “David told me that he and Christian would be moving to the U.S. I had no say in the matter.” David was adamant. He wanted to live in America. So he left behind Jenny and Sharon, and uprooted Christian and his sister Louise to move 6,000 miles away on visitors’ visas. For Christian, even though he wasn’t ready to call Los Angeles home, the California sun and surf were irresistible alternatives to more years at school. And after his miserable years at the Bournemouth School for Boys, he shared his father’s disdain for formal education and for England.
Out of the conflict, Jenny Bale filed for divorce on April 22, 1991. It was finalized on June 6, 1991.
David soon discovered what many immigrants to California had learned—he could completely reinvent himself. From 1987 to 1991, while the Bales lived in Bournemouth, in every article about Christian Bale and his fledgling movie career, David described himself as a financial advisor or insurance analyst—a couple of innocuous job titles that wouldn’t prompt any investigation into his background. However Talk Talk noted that Christian was “often not sure what he did to bring food to the table.”
“A lot has gone on that even Christian doesn’t know about as he buries his head in the sand about his father and doesn’t even seem to realize the role I played in his upbringing,” said Jenny.
But after 1991, when David and Christian had moved to Los Angeles, David began to portray himself to Americans as a former RAF pilot, British Airways pilot, or British Midland pilot.
Being the single parent of a celebrity was opening doors for him, and David held a special place in this odd stratum of Hollywood society because Christian held a special place in the pantheon of child actors as a former “Spielberg kid.”
Since David could not legally work, he had a lot of free time, which he devoted to networking for Christian’s career. He name-dropped frequently, and told producers that he could get them meetings with Spielberg. He socialized with other child actors’ parents. He was on the phone for hours, talking to journalists as Christian’s publicist.
Much to Christian’s chagrin, David played up Christian’s Welsh birthplace to Americans, describing his son as the natural successor to other great Welsh/Celtic actors like Richard Burton and Anthony Hopkins. While he made the Hollywood social circuits, lobbying casting agents, producers, and directors to consider his son for roles, David found a ready audience for his interesting combination of social and political views. Thanks to his well-cultivated posh English accent, the proud father could easily spend hours talking about his favorite subjects: his beloved only son, name-dropping Steven Spielberg with empty promises of being able to set up meetings at Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment, or his unusual breed of politics.
Once in California, David set about to reinvent his family background to make it more colorful. David Charles Howard Bale became David Spike Bale. Christian Charles Philip Bale became Christian Morgan Bale. David liked the more Celtic-sounding name. As Christian’s manager, he named their family production company Morgan Management. Christian would no longer go by Chris as he did back in Bournemouth. David also quickly aligned Christian’s bio to core Hollywood interests such as vegetarianism and New Age spirituality. Though David became a vegetarian in California, the burger-loving teenage Christian had a tougher time giving up meat. In an interview, Christian explained his eating philosophy this way: “I don’t adhere to vegetarianism because I eat fish and chicken. You could say I’m sort of elitist in what I consider more important life forms. But my theory is that I will eat something that I will kill with my own hands.”
Emphatically anti-Republican and anti-Conservative, David was hoping that his politics would be simpatico with Hollywood, California. David was often a walking contradiction with his strange mishmash of twentieth-century liberalism and nineteenth-century British imperialism—in part a result of being raised by a military/safari hunter father in an affluent and privileged white area of South Africa during the apartheid era. He declared that he loved to drive Volkswagens because “Germans make the best cars,” but then in the same breath, denounced the Japanese as the race for “whaling and World War II.” His privileged upbringing in apartheid South Africa fostered a patronizing attitude toward people of color. He loudly proclaimed that he could tell the difference between Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans and he boasted that he only hired Mexican cleaning women because he was a proponent of minority women’s rights.
David didn’t realize that he often acted like a stereotypical tourist in America. He hated American food, scoffed at the “culture” (his air quotes), and constantly chuckled at the quality of American acting. He also complained about American politics ad nauseum. “American elections are far too important for just Americans to vote in!” he’d roar. Yet, he never said a word about leaving California with its sun-kissed beaches and balmy oceans.
He was also delighted with Californians’ interest in spirituality. The intersection of Eastern and Western religions was like a California Roll—sushi for Western palates. This suited David’s own smorgasbord approach to religion and he was happy to attend a variety of churches and temples. He was extremely anti-Catholic and happy to rage about the pope, but oddly enough, David considered St. James Catholic Church in nearby Redondo Beach his primary place of worship. He made a weekly ritual of snipping the “words of wisdom” and “thoughtful quotations” he found on the side of his herbal tea boxes, pasting them into a scrapbook for spiritual guidance.
Though he despised England, he bragged to any American who would listen that the most modern and progressive countries in the world were all former English colonies. But perhaps the most contradictory element of David’s behavior was his assertion that he was a feminist even while he blatantly favored and spoiled his only son. Having daughters, he thought, automatically made him a feminist. The reality that I witnessed was that David treated his daughter Louise, who had moved to America with them, like the family maid. She was responsible for cooking and cleaning and laundry so that Christian could concentrate on reading scripts and preparing for roles. David paid scant interest in Sharon’s life back in England; even less so in his first daughter, Erin, back in South Africa. His ex-wives, Jenny and Sandra, he described as “mean-spirited harridans,” who had been determined to destroy his dreams.
With such an assortment of views, you would think that having a conversation with David would be an ugly experience. But his undeniable charm, honey-coated with his British accent, only made him colorful and amiable. Back in Britain, Christian recalled that his father was unconventional and “was thought of as a bit odd.” But “odd” was the norm in L.A. David became the consummate dinner party guest, delighted to monopolize every conversation with pointed views on virtually every subject.
He eagerly attended Hollywood functions and Democratic Party mixers. He happily portrayed himself as everyone’s favorite eccentric uncle who always had something funny or outrageously politically incorrect to say. He came to realize that in L.A. everything sounded better with an English a
ccent. And David was amazed that his gift of gab was more potent in America than it ever was in England.
After spending quite a bit of time with the family, I started to question some of the many inconsistencies of his self-proclaimed biography.
When I asked David what he really did back in England, David laughed and told me: “Oh, Harrison. I was a confidence trickster.”
I was puzzled, startled. “Confidence trickster” is not a common term in the U.S. but in England, it’s the equivalent of being a con man. From that point on, I realized I’d have to take everything David said with a grain of salt. You didn’t need to be a therapist to see that David had had a troubled life filled with disappointments, so to make up for it, he was living vicariously through Christian, holding on tightly to the one thing in his life that could be a success.
But David’s social skills would pay off soon enough for both of them.
[3]
Bale-Out
BALE (noun)
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English bealu; akin to Old High German balo evil, Old Church Slavic bolĭ sick person
Date: before twelfth century
1: great evil
2: woe, sorrow
—Source: Merriam Webster
“I have a very sissy job, where I go to work and get my hair done, and people do my makeup, and I go and say lines and people spoil me rotten.”
—Christian Bale, Esquire
In 1990, after the critical success of Treasure Island, which aired as a TNT TV movie in the U.S., Christian’s father, David, was buoyed by Christian’s show business prospects. Christian clearly still had acting talent!
During this time, however, David was fighting a war with Christian’s mother, Jenny, over their son’s future—specifically whether it was to be in England or in America. In fact, with Christian’s girlfriend, Natalie, on Jenny’s side, England presented an attractive option to the young teenager. Christian would return to England, finish school in Bournemouth, and go to university in England with Natalie. Christian enjoyed writing and had an interest in studying English. Jenny and Natalie pointed out other successful child actors like Jodie Foster and Jennifer Connelly, who had taken a break in their movie careers to go to university. Jenny strongly believed that a university education would prepare Christian for a happier future.
But on the strength of Treasure Island and a small part in a 1991 British TV movie, A Murder of Quality—which starred Denholm Elliot and Glenda Jackson and was based on a book by John le Carré—David managed to get Christian a U.S. talent agent with Triad Talent Agency. This was no small matter because even though Christian had been the star of a Steven Spielberg movie, it was years ago when he was just thirteen. The cruel reality for many child actors was that they were cast for their prepubescent looks, and often grew into unmarketable adults. Think about the post-Spielberg careers of Henry Thomas (E.T.), C. Thomas Howell (E.T.), Joseph Mazello (Jurassic Park), Jonathan Ke Quan (Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom), or Corey Feldman (The Goonies). Fortunately for Christian, he didn’t have an awkward public puberty—usually the death knell for many a child actor. Instead, young Christian was filling out nicely, growing into a handsome young man, six feet tall, with cheek bones like a male model.
“I’ve been lucky,” Christian told a reporter about transitioning through puberty, “because there wasn’t a sudden leap where people were saying: ‘Oh what a cute kid,’ and then it’s: ‘Bloody hell, what happened there, he’s got zits and hair in his armpits!’”
With the help of Christian’s new U.S. agent, David landed a three-picture deal with Disney. Christian would be paid more than $250,000 for his first picture. Not bad for a seventeen-year-old! Of course, you have to subtract the agent’s 10 percent fee, and David paid himself another 5 percent as Christian’s manager. Minus taxes and the costs of headshots, audition travel, clothes, and grooming, and an actor becomes quite an involved little business. And imagine David doing the math if his son could make at least two or three pictures a year! David triumphantly showed off the contract to Jenny, who could no longer argue about her son’s potential in the U.S. She was still worried about Christian’s inability to handle pressure, but she had to agree with David that life in America was looking very comfortable and prosperous.
Based in Burbank, California, Disney had a long-established reputation for discovering, developing, and debuting new talent since the days of the Mickey Mouse Club. Many first-time directors (like Kenny Ortega) got their start with Disney projects. And Disney movies and television projects were the ultimate launch pad for many a child actor. Ryan Gosling, Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears, Shia LaBeouf, Christina Aguilera, Lindsay Lohan, Miley Cyrus, and Hilary Duff are just a few stars who got their start in the House that the Mouse built.
But the flipside of being a product of the Disney machinery is that these actors would need to work very hard to progress past their Disney years and prove that they weren’t just another fresh-faced, generic, bubble-gum tween that came off the Mickey Mouse assembly line. And at the insistence of the Disney marketing machine, these young actors had to commit to Christian’s least favorite chore—publicity!
What finally pushed Christian to the U.S. was his father’s unflagging confidence in his abilities and the prospects of lots of movie work. It seemed that Hollywood was truly the Land of Opportunity. While a U.K. project might take years to get production funding, here was David Bale waving around a three-picture Disney deal—an opportunity without parallel in England.
So Christian, who considered himself a serious actor and was hoping to play roles like his heroes, Steve McQueen and James Dean, flew to Los Angeles in 1991 and prepared to shoot Newsies, definitely not the groundbreaking film he had in mind.
“It was either go to college or go to California and do Newsies,” Christian told Movieline. “I decided to do the film.”
“Bale’s out of Bournemouth!” the Daily Echo headlined when the Bournemouth paper discovered that Christian was making the move to Los Angeles. “But I don’t feel at home in Hollywood,” Christian insisted in the article.
Back in England, David and Jenny had split their assets but decided to rent out the house on Capstone Road in Bournemouth. Sister Sharon had moved to London to pursue a music career, and Jenny was suddenly left alone in a big house she could no longer afford. “It broke my heart,” she said. “We’d been a big, fun family and suddenly it was all over.”
In early 1991, David first set up house in North Hollywood. He rented a small ranch-style house at 12315 Erwin Street to be close to the major studios in Burbank and Universal City. It was very convenient for Christian who was shooting Newsies at Universal Studios. In fact, this NoHo neighborhood was very popular with out-of-town families who had also relocated to Los Angeles for their children’s aspiring movie careers. But David was soon annoyed at the nightly noisy flyovers from police and traffic helicopters and the hookers on the street. “This was not a home for a seventeen-year-old boy!” David told me.
Christian agreed at the time, sounding a little homesick. “L.A.’s too big, we can never walk anywhere so we always have to take the car and I talk to most people on the phone. I just wish I could do more work in England.”
Christian did make one new friend in North Hollywood. While walking around the streets, Christian noticed a very dirty, scrappy-looking Jack Russell cross wandering the sidewalks. He chased the little dog down an alley where, giving up, the dog flopped to the pavement and fell asleep. Sitting in the middle of a dirty alley, cradling the exhausted dog, Christian looked at the poor dog’s worn-down nails and pads. This was a tough little street dog with lots of mojo. Mojo became an official member of the Bale family.
As luck would have it, David was a packrat when it came to making and keeping contacts. David remembered an American fan named Donnie Flaherty, who had actually backpacked his way across England to Bournemouth to look for Christian. Flaherty was a surfer, a photographer, and an aspiring filmmaker. When he
had met the Bales in Bournemouth, Donnie had extended an invitation to visit him in Hermosa Beach, one of the three beach cities—Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, and Redondo Beach—made famous by the Beach Boys’ song “Surfin’ USA.”
One sunny morning (are there any other kinds in California?), David made his way to Hermosa Beach, met up with Donnie, and ate at Good Stuff, the local breakfast eatery chain. As the two sat near the boardwalk in the morning sun with the Pacific Ocean roaring and crashing nearby, David was hooked. His family just had to live by the water. There would be so much to see and do and Christian could learn how to surf. And with a friend and fan in Donnie, Christian would enjoy California all the more.
Christian told the Daily Echo then: “Even though I would like to live in England, I realize I ought to buy here so it looks like I shall buy a place in an area known as Beach Town, which is about an hour from L.A.”
On Friday, May 15, 1992, David bought 3101 Oak Avenue in Manhattan Beach, just north of Hermosa Beach, south of West Los Angeles, which includes Venice, Santa Monica, and Marina del Rey. Christian’s monthly mortgage payment was just over $3,300. It was a roomy, two-story, slightly run-down stucco house that was built in 1947 and had an inground pool, a two-car garage, and lots of privacy. Though it was in serious need of updating, compared to their house in Bournemouth, 3101 Oak Avenue was like a tropical resort.
Oak Avenue was a leafy residential street just a block west off busy Sepulveda Boulevard, and right across from the local mall, Manhattan Village. With soaring palm trees and dense greenery, Oak Avenue itself was very quiet and secluded thanks to a privacy wall that ran the length of the entire block. The nearby mall had a Koo Koo Roo restaurant—Christian loved their chicken—a California Pizza Kitchen (the two-in-a-bowl soups were another favorite of Christian’s), and an Olive Garden, which featured all-you-can-eat salads and breadsticks. It also had the unfortunately named department store Bullocks, which was the cause of much laughter in the Bale household since “bullocks” had a very different meaning in British slang. And just south of the mall on Sepulveda was the famous (but now defunct) Video Archives store where Quentin Tarantino used to work as a clerk.
Christian Bale Page 4
