Krittika Mukherjee
From his Academy Award-winning performance in The Fighter to his renowned appearance as DC’s Batman, Christian Bale turned into one of the most bankable Hollywood stars. However, Bale initially started as a child actor, when Disney came calling for him to turn him into a cult movie star with their $15M project.
Well, considering Disney’s notorious success during the 1990s, it was a no-brainer for Christian Bale to accept the offer. But unfortunately, the role didn’t shape his career as he expected it to do, since the film turned into a box office disaster. However, despite the commercial failure, Bale eventually became a cult movie icon for his Disney film.
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Christian Bale Made An Appearance In A Disney Movie
During his initial years in Hollywood as a child actor, Christian Bale struggled to create a name for himself in the entertainment industry. It wasn’t until his teenage years that the actor gained stability in his career when Disney approached him with a grand opportunity.
Since Disney was notoriously successful during the 1990s, it was a no-brainer for Christian Bale to accept the offer. That’s when Bale starred in Disney’s Newsies (1992), which was a period piece that showed the newsboys’ strike of 1899. The Dark Knight actor portrayed the role of Jack Kelly, the leader of the boys.
The movie was supposed to be a heartwarming tale of young kids, but due to a problem occurring almost immediately, Newsies changed from a dramedy to a musical. Considering the fact that Christian Bale wasn’t a trained singer, the actor faced immense problems while delivering the project.
Christian Bale Freaked Out With Last-Minute Changes
Freaking out with his last-minute changes to Newsies, Christian Bale felt very uncomfortable in his new role. However, as he joined hands with Disney to catapult his fame, the actor tried his best to be a part of the $15M project. However, according to Insider, it wasn’t just him, even David Moscow, who played Bale’s sidekick, faced issues.
“This was their big hope that musicals were going to come back. They had to calm both me and Christian down, like, ‘Look, we’re never going to make you look bad. We have so much rehearsal time,’. They brought in Madonna’s voice coach for us. It was wild.”
Evidently, as Newsies didn’t start out as a musical, the movie turned into Disney’s greatest failure, despite its surprisingly rich legacy. The idea of revolutionizing the live-action-musical genre with Newsies turned into a box office catastrophe.
Despite Christian Bale accepting the offer of Disney to build his career, the actor faced an unfortunate end, as his movie almost derailed his career, instead of building it. However, in the end, irrespective of how the movie turned out, Bale became a cult icon, for being a part of Disney during his teenage years.
Watch Newsies on Disney+.
Source: Insider
