Christian Bale becomes Oscar front-runner with Dick Cheney biopic Vice

The black comedy from 'Big Short' director Adam McKay just had its first screening

Christian Bale has entered next year’s awards race in a big way.

While the films that’ll be battling for Oscars come February are largely known, Bale’s new film Vice – in which he plays Dick Cheney – has become a late entrant following a screening in California.

The release of Vice, from Anchorman director Adam McKay, has been on Hollywood’s radar ever since Bale unveiled an unrecognisable look in character as the former vice president.

Now, one critic has dubbed it “one of the best castings ever” while also heaping praising upon his co-stars Amy Adams, Tyler Perry and reigning Best Supporting Actor champion Sam Rockwell (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri) who plays George W Bush.

Reviews are embargoed until its US release in December, however Deadline has described the black comedy as a “consistently entertaining and wildly original biopic that’s also a fiercely intelligent observation of just how we got to where we are today.”

Variety predicts that Bale will join A Star Is Born sensation Bradley Cooper on the Oscars “top-tier” for his role in the “brilliant” film “Vice could be argued as the most urgent and important film in the race this year. One just wonders if the stomach is there for it.

IndieWire likens Bale’s transformation to that of Gary Oldman’s Oscar-winning performance as Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour, writing: “This is a case of a marriage between a great character actor channeling a real person as well as the makeup and prosthetics team that enabled him to change his appearance.”

Elsewhere, awards expert Sasha Stone said Bale is “so good you really do forget you’re watching an actor.”

The film unites Bale and McKay who worked together on The Big Short for which the former Batman star earned a Best Supporting Actor nomination. He won in the same category for The Fighter in 2011.

Support free-thinking journalism and subscribe to Independent MindsOther strong Oscars contenders include Alfonso Cuarón’s Netflix drama Roma, Green Book -– starring Viggo Mortensen and Mahershala Ali – and The Favourite from director Yorgos Lanthimos (The Lobster).