Esquire talks to Christian Bale about all kinds of things

Esquire just posted a fabulous, fascinating interview with Christian Bale, who just so happens to be one of our favorite actors around here.

He talks about missing his father, how much he and his wife love their daughter, and the time he watched Beverly Hills Ninja two nights in a row.

He also says, among many other frank and brutally honest observations about the film industry and his own contributions to it, “Everybody talks about the process too much. The interesting thing about a movie is the movie.” And I kind of love that.

Click the link or the photo to read it. Fascinating. I said that already. But it really is.

November Nevsky Update #1: Winning Mr. Universe!

On October 30, my good friend (and soon to be my producer) Alexander Nevsky defeated 300 competitors to be crowned Mr. Universe.

And here’s a photo he sent me with his trophy in hand! The lovely lady standing beside him is Oksana Sidorenko, who just won the World Fitness Championship herself.

My writing partner Kevin Rice and I are writing Alexander’s upcoming Hercules movie, and I’m so excited I can’t stand it. (As you can see from his outfit, his winning program was based around the heroic exploits of Hercules.)

Some of the greatest bodybuilders in history have played Hercules on the big screen, including Lou Ferrigno and former Mr. Universe winners Steve Reeves and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Our movie will be filled with muscles, magic, swords, monsters, and mythology … and I can’t wait to tell you everything about it.

Hopefully soon. In the time since Alexander asked Kevin and me to write the movie, he has produced and starred in the movie Magic Man (which I got to visit the set of back in 2008), promoted the international theatrical and DVD releases of his movie Treasure Raiders, written and promoted a best-selling book on women’s fitness in Russia, filmed a role in the movie Somewhere by Sofia Coppola (The Virgin Suicides, Lost in Translation), trained for/competed in/placed in the top five in the Russian version of Dancing with the Stars (in which Ms. Sidorenko was his dancing partner), promoted the theatrical release of Magic Man in Russia, and finally trained for — and won! — the Mr. Universe competition a couple of weeks ago.

After some promotion of the U.S. DVD release of Magic Man in early January, we should be ready to get some more movement on Hercules. More news on that and all of Alexander’s other international exploits as it happens! I think 2011 is going to be a wild, busy year. And I like that. A lot.

GREEN LANTERN footage hits ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT!

They were the first to show us the set of Thor, and now Entertainment Tonight has our first look at footage from Green Lantern, starring Ryan Reynolds as a test pilot named Hal Jordan who’s recruited to join an intergalactic police force powered by rings that channel their imaginations into weapons. Check it out:

And before anyone flips out and says the footage doesn’t look finished, keep in mind that the footage isn’t finished. Director Martin Campbell (The Mask of Zorro, Casino Royale) will be perfecting this thing right up until its release date on June 17, 2011, and the awesomeness we’re seeing here doesn’t even scratch the surface of the ride I think we’re in for.

We see Blake Lively as Carol Ferris, alien drill sergeant Kilowog, Hal generating an emerald fist to knock out some assailants, and just a hint of the film’s star-spanning scope. I loved the early issues of the current comics run by writer Geoff Johns, and I hope the movie captures that balance between old-fashioned test pilot romanticism and fish-out-of-water space adventure.

Look for the first full trailer attached to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 next week.