Christian Bale's Pantera, Mastodon crash course

Actor Christian Bale has described how he took a “crash course” in metal drumming for his latest role – listening to Pantera and Mastodon as he learned.

The Batman star appears in The Big Short, playing the role of hedge fund manager Michael Burry. The movie is based on a true story and Burry is known to have played the drums to metal and rock to calm himself down.

Bale tells Screen Rant: “It was a wonderful crash course. Double kick drum – Pantera By Demons Be Driven. Fantastic song to begin with. This is how Mike Burry unwound, this is actually how he calmed down.

“He would listen to it all day in his headphones, not just that – Mastodon as well. His brain is on fire so much that death metal calms him. He’s a very different individual to most of us.”

The Big Short also stars Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling and Brad Pitt and is released in UK cinemas on January 22.

By Demons Be Driven appeared on Pantera’s 1992 album Vulgar Display Of Power.

Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock'n'roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022.