Training Day screenwriter David Ayer cast Christian Bale in his gritty new film about Iraqi war veterans struggling with civilian life after marvelling at the actor's "focus" as he starved himself for The Machinist.

Ayer passed on Bale when he auditioned for "Training Day" and gave the rookie role in that film to Ethan Hawke, but he never lost touch with Bale and was amazed by his transformation the next time they met.

Ayer says, "I've always admired Christian's determination. He flew 24 hours from Greece for the 'Training Day' audition and ended up not getting the job but he still wanted to read whatever I had written in Harsh Times. When I met him to first talk about this role we went to the Chateau Marmont hotel in Los Angeles and slammed Bloody Marys all morning.

"He couldn't eat because he was getting ready for 'The Machinist,' so he was pretty disciplined. He was drinking water and Bloody Marys that morning and that was it. The guy is focused."

Bale dropped an amazing 63 pounds to play emaciated insomniac Trevor Reznik in "The Machinist."

(This news article provided by World Entertainment News Network)