'Out of the Furnace': Casey Affleck picks Christian Bale up from prison

Christian Bale doesn’t normally like to watch himself on screen. But his new film for director Scott Cooper, Out of the Furnace (in theaters Dec. 6), has turned out to be an exception.

“It’s stunning. Scott is a hell of a director. It’s wonderful and I keep going in and watching it,” says Bale. “I keep calling Scott and going, can I please see it again?'” He laughs. “It sort of hypnotized all of us and the great thing for me is how much has come through in the end. As an actor you hope for the best, and sometimes you get experiences with the work when you’re really surprised it didn’t happen on film. There’s nothing you can do about that — that’s up to the director and editor to muster with what you’ve given them. But, this one — holy crap! It really came through.”

Out of the Furnace, which also co-stars Woody Harrelson, Forest Whitaker, Sam Shepard, and Zoe Saldana, centers on Bale’s character, Russell Baze, a quiet steelworker in Braddock, PA, who takes care of everyone around him — especially his younger, troubled brother (played by Casey Affleck). There’s a lot of painful twists of fate in this film that are best left unspoiled, but without ruining too much, you’ll note that in the exclusive scene below, Bale’s character is (happily) getting out of prison. And you’ll see exactly why this film is generating some Oscar buzz for this performance. (Full disclosure: this is one of my favorite movies of the year.)