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Christian Bale Says He Acted as ‘Mediator’ Between Amy Adams and ‘American Hustle’ Director: She ‘Had a Tough Time’

Christian Bale Says He Acted as ‘Mediator’ Between Amy Adams and ‘American Hustle’ Director: She ‘Had a Tough Time’
Christian Bale and Amy Adams. Shutterstock (2)

Keeping the peace. Christian Bale revealed that he acted as a “mediator” for his American Hustle costar Amy Adams and director David O. Russell amid their on set tension.

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“I did what I felt was appropriate, in very Irv style,” the Oscar winner, 48, told GQ in their November cover story, referring to his character in the 2013 drama. “If I can have some sense of understanding of where it’s coming from, then I do tend to attempt to be a mediator. That’s just in my nature, to try to say, ‘Hey, come on, let’s go and sit down and figure that out. There’s gotta be a way of making this all work.'”

Adams, 48 — who also worked with Bale on the 64-year-old director’s 2010 film, The Fighter — previously revealed that she would often end up crying on the American Hustle set. The Dark Knight star, for his part, said much of the pair’s tension was due to creative differences.

“You’re dealing with two such incredible talents there,” Bale continued. “Look, if I feel like we got anywhere close [to what we set out to do] … if you get anywhere close to it, and when you’re working with people of the crazy creative talent of Amy or of David, there are gonna be upsets.” Describing both of his coworkers as “f–king phenomenal,” the American Psycho star added, “You got to remember, it was the nature of the characters as well. Right? Those characters were not people who back down from anything.”

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Bale added that neither he nor Adams wanted the behind-the-scenes drama to overshadow the finished product or affect the way audiences watch American Hustle. “And, by the way, that’s not me deciding for her, she’s told me that,” he said.

The Enchanted star first opened up about her difficult experience working with Russell in a 2016 interview with British GQ.I was really just devastated on set. I mean, not every day, but most,” Adams said at the time. “Jennifer [Lawrence] doesn’t take any of it on. She’s Teflon. And I am not Teflon. But I also don’t like to see other people treated badly. It’s not OK with me.”

Christian Bale Says He Acted as ‘Mediator’ Between Amy Adams and ‘American Hustle’ Director: She ‘Had a Tough Time’
Christian Bale and Amy Adams on set for ‘American Hustle’ in New York on May 17, 2013. Freddy Baez/Startraks

The Oscar nominee continued: “Life to me is more important than movies. It really taught me how to separate work and home. Because I was like, ‘I cannot bring this experience home with me to my daughter.'”

Adams is far from the only actor who has spoken out about the Joy filmmaker’s controversial on-set attitude. During a 2000 interview with Playboy, George Clooney claimed that Russell “yelled and screamed at people all day, from day one” on the set of Three Kings. The Ocean’s Eleven star, 61, doubled down on his accusations three years later while speaking to Vanity Fair.

“I would not stand for him humiliating and yelling and screaming at crew members, who weren’t allowed to defend themselves,” he told the outlet in 2003. “I don’t believe in it and it makes me crazy. So my job was then to humiliate the people who were doing the humiliating.”

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However, in February 2012, the Descendants star revealed that he and Russell had buried the hatchet. “We made a really, really great film, and we had a really rough time together, but it’s a case of both of us getting older,” he told The Hollywood Reporter. “I really do appreciate the work he continues to do, and I think he appreciates what I’m trying to do.”

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