Christian Bale, 'Vice' co-stars on humanizing Dick Cheney and company: 'Personal politics doesn't play into it'
Christian Bale and the rest of the cast were careful not to make any political statements in recent interviews with Yahoo Entertainment about their buzzy new Dick Cheney biopic, Vice. They’ll leave that for the satirical and biting Adam McKay-directed look at the life and career of the man many consider the true shot-caller in the administration of President George W. Bush.
Still, it’s probably not a huge leap of faith to surmise that the actors’ worldviews are not aligned with those of the Bushes and Cheneys of the country.
“I think it’s our responsibility to give these guys some humanity, and you have to remember that it’s [told] through Dick Cheney’s point of view,” Sam Rockwell (George W. Bush) told us (watch above). “So personal politics doesn’t play into it.”
Explained Bale, “I spoke to Adam beforehand and said, ‘I don’t think it’s as interesting if I approach it from a point of view of disagreement, but I should try to find agreement with the character I’m playing, with Dick Cheney.”
Amy Adams thinks that, ultimately, playing Lynne Cheney was just like playing any other character whom the five-time Oscar nominee has embodied. “I had to really find what Lynne and I had in common and dive into that, and approach it like I would really any character. I don’t necessarily agree with the actions and motivations of many of the characters I’ve played over the years, and think it’s important to set it aside and do your work as you would with any role, and really jump in and find the truth of who they are.”
“When you’re playing a character, you can’t editorialize while you’re playing it,” said Steve Carell (Donald Rumsfeld). “I wouldn’t want to play a character if I couldn’t see some humanity in them. Otherwise you’re just playing an archetype. And I don’t think there’s any reason to do that.”
Vice is now playing.
Watch Adam McKay talk about how he decided how much he would editorialize with the film:
Read more from Yahoo Entertainment:
