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Christian Bale interview. BEVERLY HILLS -- Christian Bale welcomed the chance to wear polyester. After adopting Merchant Ivory manners for "Portrait of a Lady" and "Little Women," Bale glams it up as a gay groupie in "Velvet Goldmine." The film, directed by Todd Haynes, follows the career of pop idol Brian Slade (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) in the decadent '70s. "It wasn't a challenge, it was a breath of fresh air just to get out of costume drama," he said. "I've done an awful lot of that, top hats, waving handkerchiefs about, which I was dying to get the hell away from. It was actually one of the easiest films I've ever made, I think, really, because there was such a good relationship with Todd and the other actors." With refreshing candor, Bale dishes about his career in the elegant ambiance of the Hotel Nikko. Alternating between swigs of Diet Coke and drags on a cigarette, the 24-year-old import from Great Britain relaxes in a black sweatshirt and jeans. "Velvet Goldmine," loosely based on the career of David Bowie, features music from '70s stars Gary Glitter, Brian Eno and Roxy Music. Although not strictly biographical, the similarities between Bowie and the film's fictional character Brian Slade proved a little too close for comfort. Bowie refused to license any of his music for the film, which was executive produced by "R.E.M." singer Michael Stipe. "Supposedly he's got his own project that he wants to use the music for," he said. "Now, I always found that a bit dubious whilst we were making it, because I'd sit down and watch television and Blockbuster adverts would come on, and they were using David Bowie tracks, and other adverts would come on. I don't know, possibly that is the truth, possibly he read the script and found it was a bit too close to the bone and it made him uncomfortable, possibly." The film draws on the structure of "Citizen Kane" to reconstruct the life of the enigmatic Slade. Bale stars as journalist Arthur Stuart, assigned to write a feature article in 1984 about Slade's disappearance ten years earlier. As he reconstructs the glam movement, he flashes back to his days as a fan. The era's bold exploration of bisexuality shocked audiences, and the lines blurred between genders as male rock stars donned make-up and slinky costumes. The film also depicts the psychedelic drug use, resulting in hazy, surreal sequences. Bale said the non-linear sense of time in "Velvet Goldmine" is intentional. "There are so many layers to the film," he said. "It is meant to be sort of a kaleidoscopic fictionalization of the whole era. I think if it does confuse you, then that's entirely intentional. But it's certainly not a mess, all of the answers are there, if you have a look at them. There are clues all over the place." Although too young to have experienced the era of glam rock first hand, Bale drew on clues for his character in the descendants of punk. Bale said he preferred the sounds of Adam Ant and New Order, but familiarized himself with the history. "I was like kicking around in my mom's womb when it was coming out, I was born in '74," he said. "So it was pretty much on its way out by the time I was born. I knew about, growing up in England, I think in America people don't know so much about glam rock, but in England, I think almost anybody could tell you about it, at least. It has permeated the pop culture so much over there. It was a precursor to punk, and the new romantics, and the bands like Suede and Pulp now are direct descendants of it."
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