Christian Bale packs on weight and dyes eyebrows to play Dick Cheney

Actor Christian Bale and Dick Cheney. Photos / Getty

Christian Bale is renowned for the extreme lengths to which he is willing to go to look the part for his film roles.

Audiences have seen him bulk up into the chiseled caped crusader for Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy and also morph into the emaciated insomniac factory worker Trevor Reznik in the 2004 film The Machinist.

Christian Bale attends the Telluride Film Festival 2017 on September 2, 2017 in Telluride, Colorado. Photo / Getty

For the latter film, Bale lost over four stone in four months by subsisting on nothing more than a cup of coffee and an apple or a tin of tuna a day.

Now the 43-year-old is undergoing another dramatic transformation to play former US Vice President Dick Cheney in the upcoming biopic Backseat.

Filming is due to start this month and Bale was pictured at the Telluride Film Festival in Collorado over the weekend.

This is what Christian Bale normally looks like. Photo / Getty

The Oscar-winner looked unfamiliar as he's gained considerable weight to emulate the former Vice President's stocky frame and even dyed his eyebrows to complete the look.

The actor was at the festival promoting his new film Hostiles and also collected the Telluride Silver Medallion award for his achievements in the film industry.

Backseat will explore the considerable influence Dick Cheney wielded during the Bush administration.

Christian Bale has dyed his eyebrows for the role of Dick Cheney. Photo / Getty

The Republican was dubbed the most powerful Vice President in US history for his expansive role shaping the administration's policies post 9/11.

Steve Carell is also rumoured to be starring alongside Bale as the former Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

Last year Bale was reported to have pulled out of playing Enzo Ferrari in Michael Mann's biopic of the famous car manufacturer over concerns he could not safely gain the weight the role required in time.

Ex President Bush, along with Vice President Dick Cheney. Photo / Getty