Most of us 1980s babies have a very specific image of Christian Bale: the newsie prancing through the streets of Manhattan; the dashing young Laurie romancing Winona Ryder’s Jo, or, more recently; the Dark Knight sweeping through Gotham City with the future Mrs. Tom Cruise. Last Friday, however, in a phone conference with a dozen college reporters, Bale challenged these preconceptions and discussed the quirky twists and turns of his remarkably diverse career.

“I don’t compare roles,†Bale said. And, indeed, to do so would be difficult. His method however, remains the same. “I don’t consciously put myself into any of it,†he said, rejecting the popular style of method acting, trying to replicate the emotions of the real life character to produce a life-like performance. “You have to make yourself into a blank canvas.â€

Bale’s most recent release HARD TIMES afforded him a rich opportunity to once again lose himself entirely in a role and world wholly different from what he knows. The film takes place in the Chicano community of Los Angeles and follows young Jim Davis (Bale) on the heels of his return to L.A. from combat in Iraq.

A young white man raised in the Mexican subculture, Jim, according to Bale’s interpretation, never quite felt accepted. “Jim is always slightly an outsider and quite a shape shifter,†Bale said, adding that the latter quality was one he shared with his character.

Bale’s career began with Steven Spielberg’s World War II epic EMPIRE OF THE SUN and has run the gamut since then, from edgy black comedies like AMERICAN PSYCHO to recent big studio smash THE PRESTIGE. He rejects any attempts to classify his film choices and bristled particularly at the suggestion that he chose disproportionately and gratuitously violent scripts.

“Which movies are you talking about? I hope I haven’t done movies like that,†Bale replied. He conceded however that HARSH TIMES and, his character especially, showed a bloody side of life in America. Bale hoped, however, that it would “show how awful violence is. In action movies you don’t believe the violence and they don’t want you to. An incredible numbing can take place.â€

Jim, he believes, underwent such a numbing through his experience in Iraq where he discovered “his talent of physical violence.†Jim’s transformation into a killing machine and the entire culture of the military fascinated Bale. “People who serve must turn every ethic on its head, must do the opposite of what we’re all taught. Should [Jim’s reactions] be a huge surprise?â€

The infinitely complex character that Bale so obviously relished playing — he pursued the script for three years before filming began and is credited for his persistence with the title of executive producer — is based in large part on the life and observations of writer-director, David Ayer of TRAINING DAY fame. Though Bale insists that he was “definitely not doing an imitation,†he did call the film “a very personal piece.â€

Bale enjoyed a close friendship with Ayer calling him “a prick, someone I like immensely in spite of himself.†The director intrepidly financed the film out of pocket, a move Bale calls, “crazy,†but the move afforded more creative freedom than a studios project offered. Bale described the film as “a labor of love for everyone involved.â€

Bale laughingly recalled several anecdotes from the “guerilla-style†24-day shoot, but the most revealing recounted the final day of shooting. Bale had been in character every moment on set throughout the entire process but as soon as they wrapped, Bale took off the mask of Jim and became Christian, affability, cockney accent and all, much to the shock of nearly everyone involved in the production. He described the collective reaction as “Holy fuck, that son of a bitch has been acting!â€

“I had duped them,†he said. “They’d just accepted me as Jim.†With any luck, audiences will do the same today when HARSH TIMES hits theaters.