By We last saw Christian Bale and Amy Adams together in 2013 for David O'Russell's black comedy American Hustle, in which the pair played a con-man and his seductive partner. Now their forthcoming film sees them join forces again, as they play former Vice-President of the United States Dick Cheney and his wife Lynne.
Vice, directed by comedy veteran Adam McKay, also stars Sam Rockwell as George W. Bush and Steve Carell as Donald Rumsfeld. The biopic charts Cheney's ascent from the early days of the Nixon White House to becoming 'the most powerful Vice President in history'.
McKay recently directed the The Big Short, which was nominated for Best Picture and saw Bale earn a Best Supporting Actor nomination. Cinema circles are speculating that Adams could finally take home an Oscar for her role after receiving five nominations but no Academy Award wins thus far.
Bale, who won an Oscar for his role in The Fighter, will likely be in the running come award season and the actor has duly piled on 45 pounds for the role.
Bale has been forbidden from contacting the former veep by his lawyers but told The Hollywood Reporter this week, "I would like to be able to sit and look Cheney in the eye and say why I feel like it's justified to tell his story. And I hope I will do it one day."
Adams, who was also interviewed commented that, "'It's a film about Dick, but Lynne was very accomplished. I like that she wasn't afraid to be ambitious at a time when ambition in women wasn't as encouraged."
Similarly to how Michael Lewis' recent book exposed how easily Trump has underestimated the vast responsibilities of the presidency in terms of assembling the federal government, in Vice we see Cheney manipulating Bush into conceding power to him.
"I can handle the more mundane jobs," Cheney says in the trailer while Bush looks confused and chews on a chicken leg, "Overseeing bureaucracy, military, energy and err foreign policy".
"Yeah, right. I like that," Bush says nodding slowly.
Though there's clearly comedy in how easily conned Bush was and how cunning his second-in-command proved, there has been some debate as to whether the film is a drama or a comedy.
"It’s a tricky thing, given what is going on in the world right now and you see the suffering that resulted from that era with Cheney and Bush," McKay told the Inquirer yesterday. "Yet, at the same time, we’re living with it now. The means that got us there are so ridiculous. The idea that George W. Bush, when he left college, worked for a tropical plant company and he had a 10-year gap in his employment history and we elected him President is ridiculous."
"And the idea that Cheney knew that this was an opportunity for power is undeniably funny," he added.
The Anchorman director went on to say that watching the film on one occasion had made him laugh whereas a second viewing left him in tears. A range of emotions viewers will be accustomed to experiencing in relation to politics.
Vice is released 25 January, 2019
