Christian Bale wins Golden Globe for Vice, thanks Satan for inspiration in playing Dick Cheney

Christian Bale’s dramatic transformation to play former Vice President Dick Cheney paid off: The Vice star won Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy at Sunday’s ceremony.

The 44-year-old actor gained more than 40 pounds and bleached his eyebrows to play Cheney in Adam McKay’s political satire, which traces the politician’s rise to power. While accepting the award, Bale thanked McKay for casting him to play someone “absolutely charisma-free and reviled by everybody,” and he joked that from here on out, he’ll be “cornering the market” on playing “charisma-free assholes,” adding, “What do you think, Mitch McConnell next?”

“Thank you to Satan for giving me inspiration on how to play this role,” he added.

Golden Globe Awards - Season 76
Paul Drinkwater/NBC

The Church of Satan later thanked Bale for his thanks in a tweet, writing, “To us, Satan is a symbol of pride, liberty and individualism, and it serves as an external metaphorical projection of our highest personal potential. As Mr. Bale’s own talent and skill won him the award, this is fitting. Hail Christian! Hail Satan!”

Going into the ceremony, Vice led with six nominations, including best musical or comedy, best supporting actress for Amy Adams, best supporting actor for Sam Rockwell, and best director and best screenplay for McKay.

Vice is Bale’s fourth Globe nomination, and he previously won in 2011 for his role in The Fighter.

Bale beat out Lin-Manuel Miranda for Mary Poppins Returns, Viggo Mortensen for Green Book, Robert Redford for The Old Man and the Gun, and John C. Reilly for Stan & Ollie.

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