--- title: Christian Bale Transforms Into Dick Cheney for Vice description: For new movie 'Vice,' Christian Bale transformed into former Vice President Dick Cheney — and this first look is shocking fans. canonical: https://time.com/5413956/christian-bale-dick-cheney/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-10-03T16:16:11.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:55:13.913Z og:title: Christian Bale Fully Transforms Into Dick Cheney for a Movie og:description: Bale has transformed impressively into Dick Cheney for new movie 'Vice' og:url: https://time.com/5413956/christian-bale-dick-cheney/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3261a30f379b6841/69893bb9bc6cfc01503e7165/christian-bale.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5182 og:image:height: 2915 og:image:alt: Build Presents Christian Bale, Rosamund Pike & Wes Studi Discussing "Hostiles" og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Christian Bale Fully Transforms Into Dick Cheney for a Movie twitter:description: Bale has transformed impressively into Dick Cheney for new movie 'Vice' twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3261a30f379b6841/69893bb9bc6cfc01503e7165/christian-bale.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Christian Bale Is Fully Committed to This Dick Cheney Part and His Transformation Is Proof > Sponsored content. 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The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically.  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Oct 3, 2018 4:16 PM UTC  Actor Christian Bale visits Build to discuss "Hostiles" at Build Studio on December 18, 2017 in New York City. Actor Christian Bale visits Build to discuss "Hostiles" at Build Studio on December 18, 2017 in New York City. Slaven Vlasic—Getty Images  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Oct 3, 2018 4:16 PM UTC For new movie _Vice_, actor [Christian Bale](http://time.com/5073981/christian-bale-hollywood-white-men-sexual-harassment-hollywood/) has committed himself to the role of former Vice President [Dick Cheney](http://time.com/4325178/donald-trump-republican-support/item/dick-cheney-2/). And because this is Bale, that means _really_ committed. After the trailer for the upcoming film dropped on Wednesday, viewers couldn’t believe their eyes at the complete transformation Bale undertook to become the politician. Bale, best known for iconic roles like the suave, sociopathic Patrick Bateman in [_American Psycho_](http://time.com/4338645/margot-robbie-american-psycho-vogue/) and the crime-fighting hero Bruce Wayne in _Batman_, is no stranger to making big physical changes to really get into character. But this might just be his most dramatic approach to a role yet. [_Variety_ reports](https://variety.com/2018/film/news/vice-trailer-christian-bale-dick-cheney-1202966136/) Bale shaved his head, bleached his brows and gained about 40 pounds for the part, not to mention learning all of Cheney’s idiosyncratic mannerisms. _Vice_ is scheduled for release on Christmas. Directed by [Adam McKay](http://time.com/4180779/oscar-nomination-surprises-2016/item/adam-mckay/) — who also helmed 2015’s Academy-Award-winning movie [_The Big Short_](http://time.com/4229288/big-short-true-crisis-wall-street/), which happened to star Bale as well — it costars [Amy Adams](http://time.com/5317556/amy-adams-equal-pay-me-too/) as his wife Lynn Cheney, [Sam Rockwell](http://time.com/5325716/woman-walks-ahead-true-story-fact-fiction/) as President George W. Bush and [Steve Carell](http://time.com/4627911/golden-globes-2017-kristen-wiig-steve-carell/) as Donald Rumsfeld. All of the famous actors are cloaked in some impressive adjustments to make their faces more similar to the ones the public knows so well from the Bush Administration during the early 2000s. But people are especially floored by Bale’s change. It’s not every day you see one of Hollywood’s most bankable stars disappear quite this completely into a role. > [](https://twitter.com/AnselElgort/status/1047491778117619712) > [](https://twitter.com/etdragonpunch/status/1047288961779920902) > [](https://twitter.com/Nicole%5FCliffe/status/1047498471475802112) > [](https://twitter.com/kurteichenwald/status/1047497125129605120) > [](https://twitter.com/karentravers/status/1047500201596997633) > [](https://twitter.com/Diane%5F7A/status/1047486497484656641) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5413956/christian-bale-dick-cheney/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5413956/christian-bale-dick-cheney/"},"headline":"Christian Bale Is Fully Committed to This Dick Cheney Part and His Transformation Is Proof","datePublished":"2018-10-03T16:16:11.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:55:13.913Z","description":"Bale is playing Dick Cheney in a new movie","url":"https://time.com/5413956/christian-bale-dick-cheney/","keywords":["Newsfeed","movies","celebrities"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3261a30f379b6841/69893bb9bc6cfc01503e7165/christian-bale.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Raisa Bruner","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3261a30f379b6841/69893bb9bc6cfc01503e7165/christian-bale.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Build Presents Christian Bale, Rosamund Pike & Wes Studi Discussing \"Hostiles\"","caption":"Build Presents Christian Bale, Rosamund Pike & Wes Studi Discussing \"Hostiles\"","creditText":"Slaven Vlasic—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5413956/christian-bale-dick-cheney/","name":"Christian Bale Is Fully Committed to This Dick Cheney Part and His Transformation Is Proof"}}]}] ```