It’s a Baledger-athon!

Two days after seeing Christian Bale and Heath Ledger act the hell out of “Batman: The Dark Knight,” I watched them both in “I’m Not There,” the trippy pseudo-biopic of Bob Dylan. As the Joker, Heath (we’re on a first name basis because I walked past his house the day he died before he was discovered) gave one of the best performances I’ve ever seen. Mesmerizing, start to finish. As a Dylanesque character, he was also great but his manner of speech kept harking back to his closed-mouth drawl in “Brokeback Mountain.” Bale, on the other hand, was stellar as a politically irate Dylan, and his embodiment of that character in his mannerisms and vocal delivery was incredible.

What’s the point here? I’m fascinated by non-Americans doing American accents. And I’m thrilled by those who can do not just a bland, vaguely British one (Kate Winslet), but those who can immediately catch the subtleties of any of a wide range of American speaking styles. Christian Bale is freakish in his prowess at this. Yes, Cate Blanchett also played a Dylan character, but she didn’t blow me away. (Neither did her terrible cartoon-Russian accent in “Indiana Jones.”)

I’ve heard that Christian Bale always does his press for a movie in the accent he used in the movie. What dedication! He’s such a chameleon, vocally, that I’d like to see him spend ten minutes with my friend Robert and see if he can do a suburban Philly accent. Or pick up the hybrid Northern and Southern California tones of my friend Eric. But the great thing is that Bale is not an impersonator like Rich Little or Dana Carvey. When taking on an accent he crawls into the soul that produces words in that way, and shines out from inside that character.

Plus, he’s dreamy.

(Photo of Christian Bale as "Jack" in "I'm Not There." P.S. This movie was weird and fascinating and you should all see it.)