If you'd been wondering exactly what Christian Bale had been up to since last year's Civil War jaunt Hostiles, it turns out he's become a lifesaving cardiologist to the directors of Hollywood part-time.

Specifically, he saved the life of Adam McKay, who also did Anchorman and The Big Short, and looks a bit like a young David Hockney, and who has been chatting to Deadline about the toll which making Dick Cheney biopic Vice with Bale had taken on him.

McKay's doctor wasn't too impressed with how much weight he'd put on and the fact he was chaining cigs like he was in a mid-60s episode of Coronation Street, and during a gym session with his trainer McKay started feeling a bit weird. Then he remembered what Bale had told him while shooting a scene in Vice where Cheney has a heart attack.

"When we shot one of the heart attack scenes, Christian Bale asked me, 'How do you want me to do it,' and I go, 'What do you mean? It’s a heart attack. Your arm hurts, right?' He says, 'No, no. One of the more common ways is that you get really queasy and your stomach hurts.' I said, 'Really?' I’d never heard that before. And right in that moment I went, 'Oh shit', and I ran upstairs and downed a bunch of baby aspirin, and I called my wife who immediately called 911. Got to the hospital really fast, and the doctor said, because you did that, no damage was done, your heart is still really strong. That’s because I remembered Christian Bale telling me that."

So, one of Hollywood's better directors is still here because Bale really, really does his prep work.