BRAVE MAG

Christian Bale told PEOPLE in an exclusive interview that he doesn't "watch that many films"

NEED TO KNOW

• The actor has won an Oscar, plus SAG Awards and Golden Globe Awards, among other accolades

• Bale's latest film, The Bride!, is now playing in theaters

Christian Balemight be an award-winning actor, but he admits he needs to catch up on his film viewing.

The actor, 52, who plays Frankenstein's monster inThe Bride!, spoke exclusively with PEOPLE at the film's premiere in New York City on Tuesday, March 3.

During the conversation at The Rose Theatre at Jazz at Lincoln Center, he revealed that he hasn't watchedJacob Elordi's performance asthe same characterin Guillermo Del Toro's2025 adaptation ofFrankenstein.

"I hear it's fantastic," Bale — who has won an Oscar, plus SAG Awards and Golden Globe Awards, among other accolades — said.

"I just don't watch that many movies," the actor further explained.

It's not just Elordi'sFrankensteinthat Bale has missed. TheAmerican Psychoactor told PEOPLE he hasn't caught up on his costarJessie Buckley's performance inHamnet, which has been sweeping major awards this season ahead of her Best Actress nomination at the 98th Academy Awards.

"I just know Jessie as The Bride," he said.

Advertisement

Meanwhile, Buckley, 36, revealed her favorite role of Bale's.

"I mean,The Fighter, I think, is extraordinary.The Machinist, I mean, I don't think anybody has created a character like that, that he has," she told PEOPLE at the Manhattan premiere.

"He annoyingly never does a bad performance," Buckley continued. "When you step onto set with Christian, you're going to work. You're gonna have to stand beside and fill a space opposite this incredible artist, and bring it with him, but I love him dearly."

She added: "I think he's the most incredible actor, and I feel so lucky to have worked with him."

Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE's free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

The Bride!is now playing in theaters.

Read the original article onPeople

A third Monsters, Inc. film is in development at Pixar, reports The Wall Street Journal.

Key points

• The studio is also developing a new musical from Turning Red director Domee Shi as well as a project called Ono Ghost Market.

• It also revealed planned release dates for Incredibles 3 and Coco 2.

Mike and Sully are headed back to work — again.

Pixar is developing a thirdMonsters, Inc.movie,reportsThe Wall Street Journal.

The studio is also working on a pair of previously unannounced original films. One of the projects,Ono Ghost Market, which was originally developed as a streaming series before being retooled as a feature film, will draw inspiration from Asian myths about supernatural marketplaces.

The other new project will be Pixar's first-ever musical, with filmmaker Domee Shi at the helm. Shi previously directedTurning Redand took over the co-directorial reins ofElioafter original director Adrian Molina departed the project.

WSJalso reported that the previously announcedIncredibles 3is expected to hit theaters in 2028. Additionally, it's aiming to release its first sequel to 2017'sCocoin 2029.

Entertainment Weeklyhas reached out to representatives for Pixar's parent company, Disney, for more information.

Monsters, Inc.is among Pixar's most beloved films. Released in 2001, the movie followed monsters James "Sully" Sullivan (John Goodman) and Mike Wazowski (Billy Crystal) as they struggled to return a young human girl nicknamed "Boo" back to the human world.

Advertisement

The film made $579 million on a reported $115 million budget, and was nominated for the first-ever Oscar for Best Animated Feature, losing the award toShrek. The movie did win the Oscar for Best Original Song for Randy Newman's "If I Didn't Have You," and also received nominations for Best Original Score and Best Sound Editing.

Monstersis one of the studio's widest-reaching franchises to date. The film spawned a prequel,Monsters University, in 2013, which saw Mike and Sully meet for the first time in college. That movie was an even bigger hit than its predecessor, earning $743 million on a reported $200 million budget.

There's no word yet on when the thirdMonstersmovie will take place in the timeline.Monsters, Inc.has yet to receive a theatrical sequel (sinceUniversitywas a prequel), though the franchise recently continued with the TV seriesMonsters at Work, which premiered its first season on Disney+ in 2021. The second season aired on Disney Channel in 2024. The show saw Goodman and Crystal reprise their roles, and also introduced Ben Feldman as a new character, Tylor Tuskmon.

A decade ago,Monsters, Inc.director Pete Docter, who is now the CEO of Pixar,told EW his thoughtson a potential third film in the franchise.

"You never say never — who knows what will happen?" the filmmaker said. "We purposely went with a prequel forMonsters Universitybecause we didn't want to answer some of the questions about what happens to Boo, and how does she grow up, and things like that. It would have to be really compelling, which is hopefully the benchmark for all of our sequels, anyway."

Get your daily dose of entertainment news, celebrity updates, and what to watch with ourEW Dispatch newsletter.

Monsters, Inc.has also held a significant presence in Disney's theme parks, with attractions in Disney California Adventure in Anaheim, Calif., Magic Kingdom in Orlando; and Tokyo Disneyland. The company also recently announced thatMonsters, Inc.will receive an entire land at Disney's Hollywood Studios,replacing the area surroundingMuppet*Vision 3D.

Read the original article onEntertainment Weekly

Maggie Gyllenhaal says she wanted the sexual violence in The Bride to feel "horrible, brutal, massive, and really difficult to watch."

Key points

• The filmmaker adds, "If you gloss over it, it doesn't feel like the brutality that it is."

• Gyllenhaal says that she's "interested in violence" and has been "surprised sometimes by the response to the violence" in the film.

The Bridedoesn't shy away from depicting intense sexual violence — and writer-directorMaggie Gyllenhaalsays that the discomfort of assault is an important aspect of her vision.

The filmmaker'sFrankensteinriff sees the Bride (Jessie Buckley) survive several instances of sexual assault, including groping at a shady nightclub, an aggressive attack outside that same nightclub, and attempted rape by a sadistic police officer (Louis Cancelmi) on the side of the road.

Gyllenhaal tellsEntertainment Weeklythat she insisted that these troubling sequences reflect the gravity of real-life sexual assault.

"I have to say, I felt strongly that the sexual violence had to be brutal, real, because if you gloss over it, it doesn't feel like the brutality that it is," she says. "And I got taken to task on that, too. I do not believe that there is any aspect, not one bit of the sexual violence in the movie that is unconsidered or that is gratuitous. I am totally taking responsibility for my take on all of that."

The filmmaker says that she owed it to survivors of sexual violence to make these scenes appropriately visceral. "I think that it is honoring people who have gone through things like that by making it feel horrible, brutal, massive, and really difficult to watch," she says. "That's my take. And it might be different if a man were making the movie."

The film's depiction of sexual violence is just one facet in Gyllenhaal's broader fixation on violence as a theme. "I'm kind of interested in violence, as you can tell in the movie," she explains. "I'm surprised sometimes by the response to the violence; people are like, 'It's a lot.'"

TheLost Daughterdirector points to one particular moment, in which the Bride shoots a police officer during a tense standoff at a swanky New York party. "I wondered if [people's strong reaction to the violence] was because she shoots this cop in the ballroom and I have a slow motion closeup of this beautiful face — him looking down at the gunshot wound, then he looks up at her," Gyllenhall reflects. "He had no idea that that's what was coming, and she didn't mean it, either. It's the horror of violence — then you feel it more."

Gyllenhaal wants on-screen violence to feel severe so that its victims are not ignored or forgotten. "It's the opposite of the stormtrooper thing, right? Where everyone has no face, so you can just shoot them and you don't really care," she says. "I want the violence to be very connected to humanity and to humans and to see the faces of the people that are killed and what they feel about it. And that's, I think, what makes it hard to watch."

Advertisement

Get your daily dose of entertainment news, celebrity updates, and what to watch with ourEW Dispatch newsletter.

TheDark Knightstar also says she sought to interrogate the audience's relationship to revenge, particularly the differences in how we view men and women who lash out in vengeance. She notes that viewers seemed more comfortable with Frank (Christian Bale) fighting the Bride's attackers outside the club than they are with the Bride's own acts of violence.

"Those guys come after the Bride — maybe they're going to rape her — and Frankenstein smashes their heads in," Gyllenhaal says. "We've seen that before. We're all good with that. He's a hero. When she does it, I think it's harder for people. I really do."

She continues, "It's very complicated. The message of the movie is not violent revenge is the answer. It's the opposite of that."

The Brideis now playing in theaters. For more on the movie,read EW's cover story here.

Reporting by Sydney Bucksbaum.

If you or someone you know has been a victim of sexual abuse, text "STRENGTH" to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 to be connected to a certified crisis counselor.

If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go torainn.org.

Read the original article onEntertainment Weekly