Christian Bale Took 2 Weeks to Learn the Drums
Listening only to metal music.
Christian Bale plays Michael Burry in his latest film The Big Short, based on a real-life physician-turned-hedge fund manager. Burry made millions of dollars during the financial crisis by short-selling stocks. Apparently, he also liked to play drums on his spare time. In order to get the portrayal just right, Bale showed Machinist-type dedication by learning how to play the drums himself. For two weeks, he learned from drum teacher Scott Wittenburg and claims to have only listened to metal bands Pantera and Mastodon in the process. By the end of the training, Bale was good enough to play double bass drum along to Pantera’s “By Demons Be Driven.” Wittenburg shares with Pitchfork:
“Of all the students I’ve taught, he was certainly not the best drummer, but one of my best students. I gave him ‘homework’ and he would come back doing it like he had been doing it for a long time. It was obvious he had put his hours in.”
Bale told Screenbeat (via Consequence of Sound):
“It was a wonderful crash course, [Burry’s] brain is on fire so much that death metal calms him.”
Watch the latest trailer for the movie above.
