Christian Bale Refused to Speak to His Co-Star for the Pettiest Reason—Or Was It Genius?

This is the guy who dropped 60 pounds for The Machinist, then bulked up for Batman Begins like it was nothing. He's known for staying in character, keeping accents off-camera, and generally diving so deep into his roles he forgets he's in a movie.

So when he filmed Public Enemies in 2008, and flat-out refused to speak to Johnny Depp, people assumed he was being difficult. In reality? Bale thought it was part of the job.

Method Acting… With a Mute Button

Bale played FBI agent Melvin Purvis, hunting down Depp's John Dillinger. And here's the thing — in real life, the two men only crossed paths once: the night Dillinger was gunned down outside a Chicago theater. Director Michael Mann stuck to that history, and structured the film so Bale and Depp's characters barely interacted.

So Bale made a choice. Since his character didn't really "know" Dillinger, he decided he wouldn't get to know Depp either. At all. On purpose.

"I didn't want to talk unless it was while we were doing a scene," Bale told WalesOnline.
"Johnny seemed happy to do it that way, too, so I guess the answer is no, we really didn't get to know each other better between takes."

Bale stuck to it. He and Depp were rarely on set at the same time, and when they were, it was all business. He explained the choice to Collider:

"The nature of the way that we worked together was very similar to the way of the story. Purvis only that one time caught up with him. Pretty much I only caught up with Johnny that one time. If I was working, he wasn't."

That suited Bale just fine. He actually liked keeping things at a distance, saying he enjoys when co-stars only "get to know each other through the scenes." Which, honestly, tracks for a guy who once screamed at a lighting guy mid-shoot and still managed to get away with it.

No Regrets, Just Respect

Despite barely speaking to the man, Bale had nothing but praise for Depp's performance:

"He makes very interesting choices and makes a real variety of movies. I think naturally he found Dillinger to be a fascinating character, and I think he did a superb job with it."

So did they become friends? No. Did they bond over lunch? Definitely not. But did Bale think the results were worth it? Absolutely.

"I guess I'll have to wait and get to know Johnny Depp some other day!"

And that, folks, is how Christian Bale made a conscious choice to ignore Johnny Depp for the entire shoot — not out of ego, not out of spite, but because that's the job. Method or madness? You decide.