Christian BaleÂ’s career took off when he was chosen by Steven Spielberg out of 4,000 hopefuls to play Jim Graham, a pampered upper-class British adolescent living in China.

Shouldering the bulk of the movie, Bale delivered a mature performance and was immediately hailed as the “next big thing”. Bale quickly withdrew from the limelight of the press, shocked by the power of his own success.