Christian Bale bought $3,000 neck exercise machine to bulk up for Dick Cheney role in Vice

Christian Bale handed film bosses a $3,000 bill for an exercise machine as he tried to develop a thicker neck for his role as former US vice president Dick Cheney.

The British actor, 44, wanted his profile to match Cheney’s stocky figure.

Bale stars in Vice, which chronicles the politician’s rise from Yale University dropout to vice president to George W Bush from 2001 to 2009.

Last night in London, the film’s producer Kevin J Messick told a Q&A session on the film: “Bale is so detailed. He had fly fishing [a hobby of Cheney’s] and movement coaches to get Cheney’s gait right, but the weirdest bill we got was for a $3,000 neck machine. He wanted to exercise the muscles to look more like Dick.”

Director Adam McKay added: “He thickened his entire neck in this crazy way. He is wearing a fat suit for parts of the film.

“He needed some of the weight for himself to feel the character, so he did put on weight, but we didn’t want him to go beyond a certain point for the early years. We also insisted he did it with a doctor.”

The pair were speaking at a screening of the film at Picturehouse Central in Shaftesbury Avenue.

Vice is released in UK cinemas on January 25