2.0 

Christian Bale

By Harrison Cheung & Nicola Pittam
Christian Bale by Harrison Cheung & Nicola Pittam digital book - Fable

Publisher Description

The darkest Batman is unmasked.

During the London press junket for The Dark Knight in the summer of 2008, Christian Bale was infamously accused of assaulting his mother and sister at the five-star Dorchester Hotel. Six months later, a recording of Bale's rant on the set of Terminator Salvation was leaked, and the star's anger began to define him.

But beyond his notorious temper, Bale, an Academy Award-winning actor for his role in The Fighter, is known for his ability to physically transform himself for roles in American Psycho, The Machinist, and as one of Hollywood's most revered and bankable characters—Batman.

In Christian Bale: The Inside Story of the Darkest Batman, Best Biography winner in the 2013 Indie Excellence Awards and finalist in the 2013 Indie Book Awards, a 2013 Indie Book Awards Finalist for Best Biography, Bale's former publicist and assistant Harrison Cheung—his real-life Alfred—shares an inside look into the little-known personal life of the intensely private and reclusive actor. In the first biography of the Batman star, Cheung, who lived and worked with Christian and his father for 10 years, shares firsthand accounts of the Bales' familial dysfunction, Christian's morbid fascinations and dark humor, and his extreme dedication to his craft.

Aware that Bale hated his traditional publicity duties, Cheung launched an extensive Internet marketing campaign for the actor, built the first official actor website for him, and cultivated the Baleheads, an online fan community that was used to garner editorial coverage and ultimately help Bale secure the role of the Caped Crusader.

Written with veteran Hollywood and entertainment reporter Nicola Pittam, Christian Bale: The Inside Story of the Darkest Batman uncovers Bale's transformation from shy, English child actor to Internet sensation to Hollywood bad boy.

*FOR DISTRIBUTION IN THE U.S. AND CANADA ONLY*

Download the free Fable app

app book lists

Stay organized

Keep track of what you’re reading, what you’ve finished, and what’s next.
app book recommendations

Build a better TBR

Swipe, skip, and save with our smart list-building tool
app book reviews

Rate and review

Share your take with other readers with half stars, emojis, and tags
app comments

Curate your feed

Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communities
app book lists

Stay organized

Keep track of what you’re reading, what you’ve finished, and what’s next.
app book recommendations

Build a better TBR

Swipe, skip, and save with our smart list-building tool
app book reviews

Rate and review

Share your take with other readers with half stars, emojis, and tags
app comments

Curate your feed

Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communities

Christian Bale Reviews

2.0
“There is a spoiler alert near the end of this review. I went into this book expecting it to be crap. I even refused to buy it, borrowing it from my local library ebook section instead, so as to not reward this guy for writing it. It did not disappoint in the crap expectation category. Having said that, though, I'm actually glad I read it. I LOVE Christian Bale, so yes, I'm another biased fan. I had read other reviews (mostly negative) and I'm in total agreement with the common theme in critiques. It IS very repetitive. Many times he would repeat basically the same line only a couple of paragraphs apart. He bashes Christian's father for living his life through his son but the author himself seems one of the biggest culprits of that. He has the absolute low class of revealing Christian's daughter's real name, even though they tried to keep that from the public. He just seemed to want to paint Christian in a very narcissistic, volatile light. **SPOILER ALERT** Here's, strangely, why I'm glad I read this book. There was a part of me that always feared Christian used steroids to alter that body of his for the parts that he has played. How could he possibly not have used them to go from The Machinist to Batman Begins right? This guy swears Christian didn't. Guess I felt that if he had this clown would definitely have exposed that to make him look even worse.”

About Harrison Cheung

Meet the real-life Alfred! Harrison Cheung worked for Christian Bale as publicist, marketer, and personal assistant for almost a decade. As a family friend and confidant, Harrison was involved with practically every aspect of Christian's life, including his publicity, finances, immigration, fan mail, and, of course, web marketing. With web marketing, Harrison created the Baleheads – Christian's online fan community – and made him the biggest star on the Internet. Entertainment Weekly touted Bale as one of the ""Top Cult Figures of the Past Decade"" because of his Internet presence.

Born in Scotland and educated in Canada, Harrison has been writing all of his life. His first novel, Idol Worship, was a finalist in the Writers' Guild Fiction competition. In 2002, he produced an award-winning short film called Rising of the Moon, about IRA hunger striker, Bobby Sands. Most recently, his short story, Witness, won Honorable Mention in Glimmer Train's 2010 Short Fiction competition. He is currently working on a series of novels.

Harrison is a digital marketing professional at IBM, where he earned an Innovation Award for his work in Internet marketing. He lives in Austin, Texas.

Nicola Pittam

Nicola Pittam has been living and working in Los Angeles for the past fourteen years as a celebrity news journalist. She supplies news and features to a variety of publications in the U.S. and the U.K. including The New York Post, USA TODAY, People Magazine, Us Weekly, TMZ, RadarOnline, London Times, The Telegraph, The Sun, The Mirror, Daily Mail, Hello!, OK, Glamour, and Cosmopolitan.

She has also written a biography with Angie Best – ex-wife of England's most famous soccer player George Best and fitness trainer to world-renowned entertainer Cher. George And Me: An Autobiography was published in the U.K. by Virgin Publishing in September 2001.

Nicola started her career as a writer at the age of 19 when she wrote for her local paper in Northampton, England. She has come a long way since then, including spending almost four years, from the ages of 22 to 26, working for Rupert Murdoch's Sun newspaper in London, which is the highest selling daily newspaper in the UK. Nicola, now 40, still writes for all the British daily newspapers, based in Los Angeles but reporting from across America. In addition, she is working on several scripts including a TV pilot and a YA novel.

Other books by Nicola Pittam

Start a Book Club

Start a public or private book club with this book on the Fable app today!

FAQ

Do I have to buy the ebook to participate in a book club?

Why can’t I buy the ebook on the app?

How is Fable’s reader different from Kindle?

Do you sell physical books too?

Are book clubs free to join on Fable?

How do I start a book club with this book on Fable?

Notification Icon