Christian Bale is set to take an extended break from Hollywood after filming back-to-back movies.

The Oscar-winning actor’s latest project, Thor: Love and Thunder, hits cinemas this summer and it will be followed by David O. Russell’s period drama Amsterdam later in the year – but Bale is now planning to take a break from the movie business.

He told Total Film: “I usually need quite a lot of time in between because I can’t spin on a dime. I’m very slow. But the way that things worked out (because of the Covid-19 pandemic), I had to go straight from David’s film to Taika’s. It was like boom, boom. Straight to the other.”

The two movies are very different and Bale insists he’s done enough work to last for a while. As a result, he’s decided to take a step back from his acting career.

The 48-year-old movie star added: “I worked way more than anybody wanted me to, and I think I will disappear for a while now.”

Bale famously uses a method acting technique for many of his on-screen roles, which could explain his need to have long rest periods between projects.

However, his Thor: Love and Thunder co-star Natalie Portman has revealed that Bale didn’t stay in character the whole time while playing villain Gorr the God Butcher.

She shared: “On this one thankfully, he was not (in character the whole time). It was terrifying whenever he was in character … But on this one, he’d be like ‘Hey, what’s up?’ It was just a normal conversation, which was jarring because he looked terrifying (because of the prosthetics).”