10 Movies You Won't Believe Were Released 1 Year Apart

10. The Machinist And Batman Begins

The height of actor Christian Bale’s career came when he starred in Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy as the titular caped crusader. Despite starring in many celebrated films before then, such as American Psycho, Little Women and Equilibrium, Bale had finally become a household name with his role as DC’s most popular superhero.

The most iconic elements of Bale’s portrayal of Batman is the gruff voice, which quickly became a meme, and Bale’s very impressive physique. However, the strange truth is that this physique was achieved despite looking skeletal the year before.

In 2004, Bale starred as the lead role in psychological thriller The Machinist where he played a man with fatal insomnia who hadn’t slept for over a year. In order to physically show the exhaustion of his character, Bale followed a dangerously low diet and lost 60 pounds for the role, leaving him horrifically emaciated. It's reported that Bale wanted to lose more weight but was stopped by the producers.

In order to bulk up for Batman Begins, Bale watched movies and ate pizza to pack on the pounds so that Batman can have a good physique. The fact that this was achieved in a year is nothing short of amazing.