CHRISTIAN BALE - BALE LANDS ROLE AFTER EATING SNAKES

Actor CHRISTIAN BALE only landed the role in RESCUE DOWN because he was willing to eat snakes and maggots, according to director WERNER HERZOG. The German-born filmmaker was reluctant to use special effects in the movie so was only prepared to cast an actor who was willing to bite a snake in half to make the role appear believable. And Bale managed the feat without hesitation. Herzog says, "He (Bale) had wanted to work with me for a long time and the first question I asked him was this: 'are you willing to bite a snake in half?' Because the audience must be able to trust their eyes. When you see Christian catch the snake and bite it, you know immediately this is not a digital trick or special effects. And when he eats live maggots earlier in the movie everybody can see it's not a trick."