Yesterday, Page Six had some excerpts from Christian Bale’s WSJ Magazine profile, and the quotes were pretty interesting. It seemed like Bale slammed George Clooney hard, sort of out of nowhere, for “whining” about the paparazzi. I disputed the idea that Clooney is, like, the biggest celebrity whiner out there. Anyway, the WSJ released the full interview, and I sort of see why Bale said what he said. There was a bit more context, it wasn’t just like Bale went off on Clooney for no reason. Bale didn’t even bring Clooney up – he was asked specifically about Clooney. Here’s the Clooney part:

AG: Speaking of George Clooney, I was just seeing all those pictures of him and his new wife being photographed in that boat in Venice, and it occurred to me that I had no idea what your wife, Sibi, looks like.

CB: I feel I should have as much privacy as anyone else.

AG: But I’ve heard Clooney railing about tabloids and privacy too.

CB: I know, but it’s boring, isn’t it? You know what I mean? It doesn’t matter that he talks about it. It’s like, come on, guys, just shut up. Just get on with it and live your lives and stop whining about it. I prefer not to whine about it.

[From the WSJ]

See, he didn’t go after Clooney out of nowhere. You can read the full interview here (the photos are great!) and here are some additional highlights:

His wife liked when he was in character in American Hustle: “You know, my wife kind of liked Irv in American Hustle, ’cause she looked really skinny standing next to me. That’s what she said. She loved it. She was like, ‘Keep getting bigger. I look fantastic and skinny.’”

Starving himself for The Machinist: “I was just a bit ponderous. I’d have a whiskey and roll my own ciggy every night, and I felt, I mean physically, just nothing going on, but mentally, wow, sharp as anything and feeling absolute tranquility. I’d sleep two hours a night and sit and read a book for eight hours without moving, start to finish. There was no roller coaster. Nothing could fluster me. I might sit there taking two minutes to answer a question or just staring out the window for five hours straight.”

Whether he’s ever stormed out of an interview: “Yeah. You get people who are very rude. When you do these press junkets, you end up doing a lot of interviews, and you feel like you’ve gone a bit insane. And some people poke you like you’re an animal in a zoo, looking for a response. If you’re smart, you don’t give it to them. If you’re dumb, occasionally, like me, you give it to them. And then they’ve basically got what they wanted. I usually regret it afterwards. But some people have brought up things that are just abysmal, bringing up [the 2012 shooting incident in] Aurora in a way that I could not fathom… And that haunts me to this day, haunts all of us who were involved. I know it haunts Chris [Nolan] as well, because we were stuck in a hotel in France when it happened.”

Losing an Oscar to Matthew McConaughey: “What did I look like? I haven’t watched it. I put my head down, didn’t I? (Laughter) There were a number of occasions when I was like, oh f—, I’m the only one sitting down. It’s going to look like a statement. I’m not trying to make a statement; I’d better stand up. I hate it when you’ve got to get excited about every damn thing that happens. There are certain moments that you go, “It doesn’t mean much to me.” I hate to sound like an ass, but I was all good with it. Yeah, I didn’t mind at all. I was like, “Oh, right on, Matthew, nice guy, mate. Good for you.” But whatever. It was a fun night; it was an open bar.

[From The WSJ]

I can actually feel Bale trying to not say something mean about McConaughey. I feel you, bro. He also shades director McG, who he worked with on Terminator: Salvation and says that “I won’t be working with him again, but I wish him very well. Okay?” It really feels like the WSJ reporter was trying to get Bale to talk some trash and Bale gave in a few times, but avoided the traps a few times too.

Here are some photos of Bale promoting Exodus in Paris yesterday:

Photos courtesy of WENN, WSJ.