Today, Christian Bale turns 51, and it’s simply impossible to believe — he still looks 20 years younger. In honor of the great artist’s birthday, we recall one of the most paradoxical and, perhaps, unexpected stories in his life: how the future Batman ended up in the USSR during one of the largest environmental disasters in history.
Two years before he got into Steven Spielberg’s project, 11-year-old Christian went to the Soviet Union to star in the film Mio in the Land of Faraway. It was his film debut, and also his first trip without his parents — first to Moscow, then to Yalta. The future Oscar winner admitted that it was then that he first felt independence and self-confidence.
But life threw the young actor a surprise. Right during filming, the Chernobyl reactor exploded. The film crew stopped working... for only two weeks. They really believed that this was enough for the radiation to “dissipate.” To at least somehow protect themselves, they checked their food with a Geiger counter and the water in the pool before each swim.
"The fact that I now feel at home anywhere in the world has its roots in that early experience I had in Russia. But the difficulties weren't limited to psychological challenges. During filming, Chernobyl exploded."
Despite the nightmarish events, Bale recalled those days with warmth: filming took place surrounded by Russians, Swedes and Englishmen, and the director was Vladimir Grammatikov. A unique experience that will remain in his memory for the rest of his life.
