Christian Bale has led a tour round the new village in California where he plans to build 12 foster homes, as well as two studio flats to help children transition into independent living, and a 7,000 sq ft community centre.
The actor, who broke through aged 12 in Empire of the Sun before starring in films such as American Psycho and Christopher Nolan’s Batman series, has spearheaded the building of a unique complex of facilities with the aim of keeping siblings in the foster care system together, and ideally under the same roof.
Work is under way on the project, which has an estimated cost of $22m (£17.5m) and completion date of 2025. Situated next to a park in Palmdale, a city 60 miles north of Los Angeles, the village will be the first of its kind in the state.
Bale, 50, who is the co-founder of Together California, the organisation steering the development, called the village “something absolutely new, totally transformative and something completely needed.
“Imagine the absolute pain and the trauma of losing your parents or being torn from your parents, and then losing your brothers and sisters on top of that. That’s no way to treat kids. And so, we will be the hub for that. I hope that this village will be the first of many, and I hope that people, Californians and Angelenos, know to come join us in opening our eyes to what’s happening right under our noses. These are our children, and we must help our children.”
Bale credited his late father, David, for his interest in philanthropy and direct action. “I grew up with a dad who was always very active and altruistic,” he told the Hollywood Reporter, “and we would be headed to protests and shouting at Maggie Thatcher and stuff. As a kid, I didn’t really know what I was doing, but I loved it, and I just admired the hell out of my dad in that way that he went out of his way to care for other people.”
Bale continued: “We were always having other people coming and living in our house who didn’t have homes, etc. That’s just the guy that he was.”
David Bale was an environmental activist who worked for organisations including the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund and the Humane Society of the United States. He died in 2003, aged 62, three years after he married the writer and activist Gloria Steinem.
Christian Bale was born in Wales and grew up with his father and his mother, circus performer Jenny James, moving to England when he was two. The family relocated frequently, and Bale has said he had lived in 15 towns by the time he was 15.
The actor said he first became galvanised to try and help children in need after the birth of his daughter, Emmeline, in 2005. “I found myself trying to imagine what it would be like if we weren’t around,” he said. “At the same time, I was doing all-night searches for what was going on in LA proper and where we could help.
“I was stunned and mad to learn that we have more foster kids here than anywhere else in the country. I was also kicking myself for not knowing that before so I thought, ‘Well, this is it. Let’s focus on this.’ My wife and I decided that we were going to do everything we could in our power to change that.”
The planning and approvals stage had taken longer than anticipated, said Bale. “I had the very unrealistic idea that within one year I’d have created a miniature Sound of Music with kids singing on hills in an endlessly joyful environment. But I discovered no, it takes an awful long time and really well-motivated people. It’s complicated and tough to help kids. It should be a hell of a lot easier than it was but I didn’t flinch for one second.”
Bale won the best supporting actor Oscar in 2018 for The Fighter but has not acted in a film for some years, after releasing three in 2022: Thor: Love and Thunder, Amsterdam and The Pale Blue Eye.
Next week he starts work on Maggie Gyllenhaal’s Frankenstein film opposite Jessie Buckley.
