He’s played a serial killer, a superhero vigilante, a washed-up prizefighter, and both Moses and Jesus in different films. Now, Oscar-winning actor Christian Bale in talks to play what could be his most polarizing role so far: former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney.
Bale is reportedly in talks to star in an upcoming biopic of Cheney that will be written and directed by Adam McKay, whose adapted screenplay won The Big Short won him an Academy Award last year. Steve Carell and Amy Adams are also said to be in talks for roles in the film.
According to Variety, Bale will play the controversial vice president under George W. Bush, with Carell portraying former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Adams as Cheney’s wife, Lynne Cheney.
Widely regarded as one of the most influential — for better or worse, depending who you ask — vice presidents in U.S. history, Cheney was the former CEO and chairman of the Halliburton Company before serving as the country’s VP from 2001 to 2009.
If Bale does indeed take on the role, he won’t be the first actor to portray Cheney on the big screen. Richard Dreyfuss portrayed Cheney in Oliver Stone’s 2008 biopic of Bush, W.
“I’ve always found Cheney fascinating,” McKay told Deadline in a November 2016 interview. “Questions of what drove him, what his beliefs were; but once we started digging, I was astounded at how much he had shaped modern America’s place in the world and how shocking the methods were by which he gained his power.”
The film still doesn’t have an official title.
