The Bride's Christian Bale thought he read the "wrong script" because of how risky it was: "This must be a low-budget indie"

Christian Bale and Jessie Buckley in The Bride — (Image credit: Warner Bros.)

Christian Bale has asked for more "desperately original, fiery films" like The Bride! during the London premiere of the film this week, revealing his surprising first reaction to reading the script by Maggie Gyllenhaal.

"I thought I had the wrong script," the actor told Deadline on the red carpet. "I thought, what I read, I said, 'This must be a low-budget indie, because it's way too risky for anyone to put any serious money into, but I want to do this movie, I want to do this low-budget indie that Maggie has written.' And then they said to me, 'No, no, no, they're taking a big swing.'"

Praising Warner Bros. and the rest of the producing team, Bale continued: "They are recognizing movies are in death rows right now, and if we don't start coming up with desperately original, fiery films that you must go see in the movie theater then we got no right to keep making movies. So I wanted in."

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Bale also had high praise for his Dark Knight co-star Gyllenhaal, calling her a "phenomenal director" and "incredible writer," and for Jessie Buckley, who plays the titular character in the new film. "[Buckley] is just so experienced but most people don't know much about her. So she's arriving, she's a trailblazer, a total pathfinder, nobody better," he said.

The actor teased "dynamite" characters, and hoped they have created "something very original even though" it's a remake of the classic 1935 film The Bride of Frankenstein.

Set in '30s Chicago, The Bride! follows scientist Dr. Euphronious as he brings a murdered young woman back to life to be a companion for Frankenstein's monster. The supporting cast includes Jake Gyllenhaal, Peter Sarsgaard, Annette Bening, and Penélope Cruz.

The film arrives only a few months after Guillermo del Toro's critically-acclaimed and Oscar-nominated adaptation of Mary Shelley's novel, starring Jacob Elordi as the creature and Oscar Isaac as Victor Frankenstein.

The Bride! arrives in theaters on March 6. For more on what to watch, check out our guide to the other best upcoming horror movies on the way in 2026.

Mireia is a UK-based culture journalist and critic. She previously worked as Deputy Movies Editor at Digital Spy, and her work as a freelance writer has appeared in WeLoveCinema and Spanish magazines Fotogramas, Esquire, and Elle. She is also a published author, having written a book about Studio Ghibli's 'Kiki's Delivery Service' in 2023. Talking about anime and musicals is the best way to grab her attention.