Did Dick Cheney Send Christian Bale a Mean Message Regarding 'Vice'?

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Bale Reveals What the Former VP Thought Of Him

Christian Bale's performance as former Vice President Dick Cheney in last year's Vice has elicited some choice words from the man himself.

Bale says he found out exactly what Cheney thought of his acting in the 2018 film, although he's not sure if Cheney actually saw the Adam McKay-directed movie.

Bale won a Golden Globe and got an Oscar nomination for his role as the former VP, who helped direct former President George W. Bush through some very turbulent years.

Cheney's Not a Fan

Bale says he found out what Cheney said through a rather unconventional way:

"Strangely enough it was through my son's school, one of the moms was at a party that [Cheney] was at, and she said, 'Oh, I'm going to be seeing Christian tomorrow, you have anything to say to him?'

"And he said, 'Tell him he's a dick.' "

No Joke

At first, Bale thought Cheney, a former Secretary of Defense and White House chief of staff, was playing around with his first name as a sort of double entendre, but it turns out that wasn't the case.

Bale said, "I went, 'Oh, at least he's got a sense of humor. And she said, 'No, there was no humor to it whatsoever.' "

Feeling's Mutual

There really isn't any love lost between the two.

While Bale was accepting a Golden Globe for his role, he partially attributed the success of his performance to Satan, and called Cheney a "charisma-free a--hole." Bale then said he wanted to play current Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell next.

"Thank you to Satan for giving me inspiration on how to play this role," he said.

Vice portrayed Cheney as a shadow figure who coldly directed the Bush administration for two terms.

Bale Promoting 'Ford v Ferrari'

Bale is making the rounds while promoting his newest upcoming film, Ford v Ferrari. The movie circles around the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Automotive designer Carroll Shelby (played by Matt Damon) and his team collaborated with driver Ken Miles (played by Bale) to produce the Ford GT40, a new racing car that they hoped would be able to beat the Ferrari racing team.

Ford v Ferrari is scheduled for release on Nov. 15.

Another Transformation

Bale spoke with Variety about one difference between Vice and Ford v Ferrari: his weight.

Variety writes that Bale had to gain 40 pounds to play Dick Cheney. That wasn't going to fly when he played a world-class race-car driver.