All Of Christian Bale's Most Unbelievable Movie Transformations - Ranked

In 2006's Rescue Dawn, Bale was cast to play German-American aviator Dieter Dengler. During the Vietnam War, Dengler was shot down over Laos in 1966 and taken as a Prisoner of War (POW). While in captivity, he was subjected to physical and mental torture, was malnourished, and left with a skeletal look.

Bale took on the role when he was weighing in at around 220 lbs (100 kg) and ended up dropping 55 pounds to play the part. His weight loss gave his entire frame a gaunt look that perfectly mimicked the real-life visage of Dengler when he was finally rescued.

Bale had just come from playing Batman the previous year so dropping 55 lbs meant losing a great deal of muscle mass. He managed it, but shrugged it off by saying, "No, I really actually didn't lose a whole lot of weight for this one."

Maybe it wasn't a lot of weight for him, but for most people, that's a significant undertaking. Regardless of the amount of weight he lost, his transformation was clear. The makeup crew had a hand in touching up some of his contours for sure, but much of that transformation was entirely physical.

Like his previous roles, Bale's transformation wasn't merely physical. He threw himself into this role and went so far as to eat live maggots and wrestle a snake, which bit him on the shoulder. He went full method for this part and emulated Dengler's character as much as possible to make his portrayal seem entirely natural.