Bale couldn’t stay in character because Rock made him laugh too much.

The new David O. Russell film, Amsterdam, is set to preimer in theaters in October. The film stars Christian Bale and Chris Rock, alongside an ensemble cast, in a murder mystery set in the 1930s. It is a generally serious film full of mystery and intrigue, but for Bale, the hardest part of filming it was staying in character.

In an interview with IndieWire, Bale revealed that he had to go out of his way to avoid Rock while on the set of the movie. Bale has no problems with Rock; rather, the problem was that Rock’s behavior made Bale laugh so much that he couldn’t stay in character.

“Chris is so bloody funny and I found that I couldn’t act, because I was just becoming Christian laughing at Chris Rock,” Bale said. “So I had to go to him, I went ‘mate, I love talking to you, and we have mutual friends, but I can’t do it anymore. Because David didn’t ask me to make this film so he could just watch me giggle. He wants me to be Burt, and I’m forgetting how to be Burt.’”

Christian Bale said he stopped talking to Chris Rock on the set of #Amsterdam because he was "so bloody funny I couldn't act." https://t.co/yuZP2WxNph

— Variety (@Variety) September 26, 2022

After a period of isolation, Bale was able to stay in character until the end of filming. He doesn’t blame Rock for this difficulty, and in fact, this is something he has to do regularly in his acting work.

“I often meet these incredible people, but I isolate myself,” he said. “Because if I get to know people too much, I find I just don’t believe what I’m doing in the scene.”