Christian Bale (16 page)
Authors: Harrison Cheung
“That's great, David!”
We both noticed Christian hugging and kissing a woman wearing a black leather dress.
“Oh, that's Christian's agent,” David said, his voice darkening.
It was obvious that David didn't like her. I was surprised, since they had only recently changed agents, but David had very high
expectations for anyone working on his son's career and David was eagerly waiting for Christian's return to the six-figure paydays of his Disney projects.
But if David had worried about how small Christian's role would be in
Little Women
, he was thrilled to see the reviews.
Little Women
was both a commercial and critical success, earning two Oscar nominations, including one for Best Actress for Winona Ryder. And Christian was getting lots of attention, especially for the famous proposal scene.
“The effect is magical. The handsome Christian Bale makes a dreamboat out of Laurie, the boy next door to the March family. (If viewers have trouble understanding why Jo wouldn't marry him, Miss Alcott's readers had the same problem.)”
âJanet Maslin,
New York Times
“As the sensitive but blunt Laurie, Christian Bale turns in a career igniting performance.”
âElizabeth Renzetti,
The Globe & Mail
“Christian Bale is dashing.”
âJoe Baltake,
Sacramento Bee
“Later, Laurie will tell Jo: âI have loved you since the moment I clapped eyes on you,' and half the audience will swoon. Bale is excellent.”
âJames Verniere,
Boston Herald
Little Women
was also the movie that helped to boost Christian's Internet fan base. It was simple demographics. His fans from
Newsies
and
Swing Kids
were 90 percent female. Their ages ranged from high school kid to college student. And a big-screen adaptation of a popular classic young girl's book like
Little Women
meant that the Internet was abuzz with new fans wondering who was that dreamy Laurie and why would Winona turn him down?
Little Women
added so many new ways to promote chatter about Christian on the Web. We could track down audiences online and drive them to see the movie.
Louisa May Alcott fan? Check out the movie!
Little Women
fan of the 1933 or 1949 movies? Check out the new movie!
Winona Ryder fan? See
Little Women
!
Who played Laurie in
Little Women
? Come to the Christian Bale Web site, Christian Bale AOL folders, or Christian Bale CompuServe discussion boards.
I made a conscious effort to promote Christian to serious movie buffs and to college and university students. When I was in university, I had been the music editor for the school paper. I had the opportunity to talk at length about marketing with a publicist from Capitol/EMI Records. She told me that record companies promoted artists to high school students if they were deemed to be teeny-bopper-teen-idol types. These artists would typically last no more than three records. For serious artists of substance, they would be promoted to college and university students because, she explained, that's when people formulate their tastes for the rest of their lives. This strategy made perfect sense to me to get Christian out of any Disney pigeonholing that people might be doing after
Swing Kids
and
Newsies
.
Following David and Christian's concern about being overlooked in an ensemble cast, I also started to run online contests to get Christian editorial coverage in the major entertainment magazines.
We devised an ingenious method of getting attention. After many publications ran their reviews of
Little Women
, I ran a promotion on Christian's Web site with the Letters to the Editor address, snail mail or e-mail, so that the Baleheads could bombard them with letters asking for an article about Christian Bale. To encourage the letters, my promotion was simple. I announced that everyone who got a letter published would be entered into
a drawing for an autographed photo of Christian and a
Little Women
soundtrack on CD. That guaranteed a maximum yield of letters directed at any particular publication.
The letters were orchestrated two ways. Articles that didn't mention Christianâany article that talked about up-and-coming young actors, for exampleâwere bombarded by outraged Bale-heads wondering why Christian had been omitted. And articles that did feature Christian would get an avalanche of letters thanking the journalist for having the smarts and good taste to cover him!
Of course, when I followed up with a call, every journalist brought up how impressed they were that a mere mention of Christian Bale got a tremendous response from their readers! The mainstream print magazines were beginning to notice Christian's Web presence.
Capitalizing on the success of
Little Women
, I redid his press kit and created his demo reel. A demo reel is an actor's video résumé with clips of his best scenes. These tapes are sent out to producers and casting agents in an effort to snag an audition. Christian was the first actor to have an Electronic Press Kit (EPK), trailers, and demo reels available on his Web site. Christian was thrilled to see a slick and professionally produced kit that was considerably nicer than the materials he had had before.
I made sure that each of Christian's press kits was armed with information about Christian's Internet fandom. The Net was still thought of as the domain of geekdom, so I needed to educate the press so that they would take this medium seriously. In Christian's press kit, I noted:
“Christian Bale's photos have been a very popular download since the release of
Little Women.
He's right up there with Brad Pitt and Keanu Reeves . . .”
âMargaret Ryan, spokesperson for America Online
Christian Bale, the talented young actor who first wowed audiences in Spielberg's
Empire of the Sun,
and went on to appear in
Henry V, Treasure Island, Newsies, Swing Kids,
and the American classic
, Little Women,
is one of few actors to dominate the Internet thanks to a large and active international fan base that has made Bale the marvel of the cyber age. Word of mouth now has new meaning in this age of the Net! His fans are clearly looking for information in every medium they can
!
How popular is Bale on the Net
?
On America Online, Christian Bale's “folders” have been in the Top Ten Most Talked About Actors for the past 2 years
!
His WWW Site, which started last summer, has grown rapidly, recently drawing 23,116 visitors in a one week period! The site has been highlighted in various Internet Webzines and was cited in Pointcom's Top Five Percent of all WWW Sites on the Internet. In May, the site was moved to a larger Internet provider because of the volume of traffic
.
Bale's WWW Site was chosen by Movie World as one of the Best Movie Sites on the Net and chosen as a Who's Cool in America WWW Site
.
Microsoft Cinemania has a Biography page dedicated to Christian Bale
.
The Seattle Film Festival Site
!
Bale's fan club receives 1,000 e-mails a month
!
His fans successfully lobbied the Internet to get Bale his own “newsgroup”âa place for fans to discuss and exchange up-to-the-minute information about Christian and anything even vaguely
related to him! This newsgroup
, alt.movies.christian-bale,
is the first of its kind for an actor and draws over 100 posts a day from fans in Australia, Canada, the U.S., the U.K, Japan, and Europe
.
Christian at the Sideway Cafe in Venice, California.
And following Christian and David's wishes, we made sure that the “Christian Bale” brand emphasized that Christian was a vegetarian and an animal rights activist. We debated about how accurate this was. What if a fan caught Christian eating meat? But David was insistent that being a vegetarian and environmentalist had been very good for River Phoenix and aligned with Hollywood sensibilities. It would also endear Christian to his fans as he would be more than an “actor.” He would be a good human being. So on Christian's Web site, years before eBay existed, we began to auction
off
Newsies
and
Swing Kids
memorabilia with proceeds going to specific charities. To support one of Christian's charities, the Bale-heads raised money to adopt a gorilla named Nahimana through The Digit Fund that was founded by the late Dr. Dian Fossey.
While on location, when Christian heard that one of his
Newsies
bandanas sold for hundreds of dollars, he was impressed. He wrote me:
Thanks very much for all of your help. You know it is much needed and I appreciate it very much. Dad has kept me in touch with what you are doing and I think it was a brilliant idea you had to adopt the baby gorilla, Nahimana, through the Digit Fund. As you know, I am uneasy when thinking about fans and all that goes with it, but combining it with something like the adoption seems really sensible
.
Since
Newsies
and
Swing Kids
had been discovered by most fans on video, my first major editorial success for Christian was a large article in
Blockbuster
magazine, a newsletter that the video rental chain used to print and distribute throughout their stores in the U.S. and Canada.
Blockbuster
not only ran an article about Christian's Internet fandom but it smartly listed all of his titles that were available on video.
In spite of Christian's rave reviews from
Little Women
and the growing notoriety of his Internet fame, 1995 was a dry year for Christian. He landed his last and final project for Disney, a supporting character in the animated feature
Pocahontas
, which starred Mel Gibson.
Still, if Christian had not made
Little Women
, he would not have met Winona Ryder and he would not have met her personal assistant, Sibi Blazic, his future wife.
“I owe a lot to her,” Christian said in an interview about Ryder.
Christian was depressed and frustrated. What had happened
to the career momentum of
Little Women
? David was furious and blamed Christian's agent for not following up on Sid Ganis's promise to build a project around his son. But according to Christian, his agent threw the blame back at him.
Christian had only acted in period films, so he was definitely in danger of being stereotyped. His slender build and pale complexion made him look stereotypically English. Christian's British citizenship meant that hiring him involved visas and immigration lawyers. And because Christian's publicist was some computer geek in Toronto, none of the press coverage about his Internet fame meant anything to Hollywood producers.
David recalled that Christian's agent was testing Christian's limits: “She wanted Christian to do more publicity. And if he didn't want to do that, then the least he could do would be to show up at more red carpet events so that he could be photographed.”
Standing 6'1", Christian was a Young Hollywood rarity because of his height. Christian could be a very popular red carpet date. And attending premieres with starlets would get Christian lots of free press coverageâyet another old Hollywood truism that celeb couples get double the photo ops than a single person. David liked that ideaâfree publicity, no publicist involved. Would Christian consider that?
“His agent wants Christian to take Natasha Henstridge out!” David squealed with delight one day. Henstridge was a striking 5'10” blonde Canadian model-turned-actress who needed a tall escort for her 1995
Species
premiere and all subsequent parties and functions to promote the sci-fi gorefest.
Species
would be a surprise hit and Henstridge was stepping out and making her debut in Hollywood.
But no amount of David's careful cajoling worked. Christian refused. It was the first time I heard the two of them argue so loudly. David was desperate for Christian to be seen, while Christian refused to play “The Game.”
“Think of your career, Son!” David pleaded.
“I'm an actor, not some bloody male escort!” Christian replied, storming up the stairs to his bedroom. David did not press the matter, lest his easily discouraged son decided to throw in the towel and return to England. No matter how things were going in America, this was a constant worry on David's mind.