Bale and Damon go into overdrive for 'Ford v Ferrari'

France's legendary Le Mans race, the central contest depicted in James Mangold's "Ford v Ferrari," runs more than 3,000 miles over the course of 24 hours. But that's nothing compared to the distance Christian Bale had to cover coming off playing Dick Cheney in "Vice."

"When I first signed up for it, Jim said, 'This is great, we've got six months until we start. Christian weighs 240 pounds,'" recalls Matt Damon. "I was like, 'He weighs what?'"

Bale, sitting next to his co-star, lights up. "He's rolling down the track!" Bale says, laughing. "Without a car!"

This Sept. 8, 2019 photo shows co-stars Matt Damon, left, and Christian Bale posing for a portrait to promote their film "Ford v Ferrari," at the St. Regis Hotel during the Toronto International Film Festival. The film, directed by James Mangold, hits theaters on Nov. 15. (Photo by Chris PizzelloInvisionAP)

"I would just get these periodic updates. But he did it," says Damon, shaking his head. "When I saw him on set, I said, 'How did you lose 70 pounds?' And he just said, 'Didn't eat.'"

In "Ford v Ferrari," Damon plays visionary automotive designer Carroll Shelby and Bale plays maverick British racer Ken Miles. Shelby and Miles were brought together by the Ford Motor Co. to defeat perennial Le Mans champions Ferrari in 1966. They are both dedicated, driven personalities who chafe at the dictates of the overlords at Ford. "Ford v Ferrari," a rare big-budget original film, is about high-speed mavericks shrugging off corporate control to accomplish something singular.

For its two movie stars, it's a story not so unlike the battles of getting movies — movies like "Ford v Ferrari" — made in today's Hollywood.

This Sept. 8, 2019 photo shows co-stars Matt Damon, left, and Christian Bale posing for a portrait to promote their film "Ford v Ferrari," at the St. Regis Hotel during the Toronto International Film Festival. The film, directed by James Mangold, hits theaters on Nov. 15. (Photo by Chris PizzelloInvisionAP)

"The parallels to the movie business, they were pretty easy for all of us to see," says Damon. "Shelby and Ken needed Ford. They weren't going to get anywhere without Ford, and they knew it. And Ford needed them. That's the movie business. There's always that tension."

"There should be," adds Bale. "There has to be that tension in order to create something wonderful. There's got to be love for something and there's got to be a certain amount of hate for it as well. I think both sides understand, 'Hey, we can't do it without them. And they can't do that without us.'"

"But if you get too pally, the films won't be any good," quips Bale, letting out a roar.

This Sept. 8, 2019 photo shows co-stars Matt Damon, left, and Christian Bale posing for a portrait to promote their film "Ford v Ferrari," at the St. Regis Hotel during the Toronto International Film Festival. The film, directed by James Mangold, hits theaters on Nov. 15. (Photo by Chris PizzelloInvisionAP)

Bale and Damon were meeting for an interview earlier this fall at the Toronto International Film Festival shortly before "Ford v Ferrari" premiered there, quickly finding glowing reviews as a fine-tuned throwback thrill ride predicated on the swaggering, charismatic performances and easy chemistry of its two stars.

Damon, having flown in from France where he was in the middle of shooting Tom McCarthy's "Stillwater," had his own role-to-role transformation to make. Before posing for a photograph, a make-up artist worked to remove a shoulder tattoo Damon had acquired for the film. "Be gentle," said Damon. "I'm an actor."

"Ford v Ferrari" is their first film together even though Damon, 49, and Bale, 45, are roughly contemporaries.

This image released by 20th Century fox shows Christian Bale, right, and Matt Damon in a scene from "Ford v. Ferrari," in theaters on Nov. 15. (Merrick Morton20th Century Fox via AP)

"I think I've taken a lot of roles that Matt passed on," says Bale. "I've worked thanks to Matt, just not with Matt."

A significant part of the fun of "Ford v Ferrari," which will open in theaters Nov. 15, is seeing their dynamic together. Shelby, a sunny, hat-wearing Texan and already a Le Mans champion, was the more famous of the two. He's more adept at balancing their racing needs with those of their corporate overlords. Miles, with his chin upturned, is a proud, pugnacious perfectionist who can't, for a second, suffer fools.

Mangold, the maker of muscular genre films like "Cop Land" and the Oscar-nominated "Logan," had worked with Bale before on the 2007 western "3:10 to Yuma," and he was convinced Bale was intended to be Miles.

This Sept. 8, 2019 photo shows co-stars Matt Damon, left, and Christian Bale posing for a portrait to promote their film "Ford v Ferrari," at the St. Regis Hotel during the Toronto International Film Festival. The film, directed by James Mangold, hits theaters on Nov. 15. (Photo by Chris PizzelloInvisionAP)

"Jim had taken the script to Christian and I guess he was taking his time with it," remembers Damon. "Jim finally called and he goes, 'This is you! What is taking you so long?!' And Christian's like, 'Do you think I'm a (expletive)?' He goes, 'No, not that part. The part about him being a perfectionist and a pure racer.'"

"Yes, he was a real purist and would happily, knowingly win the battle and lose the war at the same time," says Bale, an actor renowned for the intensive immersion of his performances. "They're both absolutely insane. "They just exhibit it in different ways."

Bale and Damon are playing extensions of themselves, Mangold says.

This image released by 20th Century fox shows Christian Bale, left, and Matt Damon in a scene from "Ford v. Ferrari," in theaters on Nov. 15. (Merrick Morton20th Century Fox via AP)

"Matt's been a movie star forever. Shelby was a star in racing forever," said Mangold, speaking by phone from Los Angeles. "And Christian, one of the things I've always felt about him is he's such a lovely, charming, loving person. So many of the characters he's chosen to play along the way are incredible portrayals but are very, very dark. But there's something extremely effervescent and playful and inspired about this character and it's so much closer, to me, about who Christian really is."

"Ford v Ferrari" cost nearly $100 million to make for 20th Century Fox. Following the studio's acquisition, the movie will be released by the Walt Disney Co., and it will likely be the company's top awards contender. While films sometimes split leads into separate categories, both Bale and Damon will be campaigned as best-actor candidates.

The actors, though, say they always thought "Ford v Ferrari" was, first and foremost, a crowd-pleaser, a "movie-movie." Both already have an Oscar (best-supporting actor in "The Fighter" for Bale, best original screenplay for "Good Will Hunting" for Damon). But they identify with their characters in that they care more about results than trophies.

"I do think it's different in that in what we do, any awards are a matter of opinion," says Bale. "This is, straight up, who crossed the line first."

Much of the dialogue around "Ford v Ferrari" — a limited model, indeed, in a movie landscape crowded by franchise films — is about what a rarity it is. Bale and Damon have heard that, too, but they had — like their characters would — different responses.

"I was trying to put together an RFK movie and running into a brick wall. It seemed like it should be an easier pitch," says Damon, still nursing the wound. "It's really hard to find a way to put these things together because the business is so different."

"People kept saying that to me at the beginning, that they don't make films like this anymore," says Bale. "I was like, 'I don't give a (expletive) about that. I want to know if it's a good story and do I want to make it. I'm a little bit myopic with it. I don't honestly see a hell of a lot of films. I just don't have a great perspective on the state of the film industry. I don't really know. I just know what's right in front of me. And I feel very happy because they might not be giving us the money, but I'm still getting the bloody work."

Follow AP Film Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP

WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S.-built pier is in place to bring humanitarian aid to Gaza by sea, but no one will know if the new route will work until a steady stream of deliveries Begins reaching starving Palestinians.

The trucks that will roll off the pier project installed Thursday will face intensified fighting, Hamas threats to target any foreign forces who “occupy” the Gaza Strip and uncertainty about whether the Israeli military will ensure that aid convoys have access and safety from attack by Israeli forces.

Even if the sea route performs as hoped, U.S, U.N. and aid officials caution, it will bring in a fraction of the aid that's needed to the embattled enclave.

Here's a look at what's ahead for aid arriving by sea:

No, not even if everything with the sea route works perfectly, American and international officials say.

U.S. military officials hope to start with about 90 truckloads of aid a day through the sea route, growing quickly to about 150 trucks a day.

Samantha Power, head of the U.S. Agency for International Development, and other aid officials have consistently said Gaza needs deliveries of more than 500 truckloads a day — the prewar average — to help a population struggling without adequate food or clean water during seven months of war between Israel and Hamas.

Israel has restricted land crossings used to bring in food, fuel and other supplies since Hamas’ deadly attack on Israel launched the conflict in October, creating a growing humanitarian catastrophe for civilians.

International experts say all 2.3 million of Gaza's people are experiencing acute levels of food insecurity, 1.1 million of them at “catastrophic” levels. Power and U.N. World Food Program Director Cindy McCain say north Gaza is in famine.

At that stage, saving the lives of children and others most affected requires steady treatment in clinical settings, making a cease-fire critical, USAID officials say.

At full operation, international officials have said, aid from the sea route is expected to reach a half-million people. That's just over one-fifth of the population.

The U.S. plan is for the U.N. to take charge of the aid once it's brought in. Then U.N. World Food Program will then turn it over to aid groups for delivery.

U.N. officials have expressed concern about preserving their neutrality in an operation with the Israeli military — one of the combatants in the conflict — and say they are negotiating that.

There are still questions on how aid groups will safely operate in Gaza to distribute food to those who need it most, said Sonali Korde, assistant to the administrator for USAID's Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance, which is helping with logistics.

U.S. and international organizations including the U.S. government's USAID and the Oxfam, Save the Children and International Rescue Committee nonprofits say Israeli officials haven't meaningfully improved protections of aid workers since the military's April 1 attack that killed seven aid workers with the World Central Kitchen organization.

Talks with the Israeli military “need to get to a place where humanitarian aid workers feel safe and secure and able to operate safely. And I don’t think we’re there yet," Korde told reporters Thursday.

Meanwhile, fighting is surging in Gaza. It isn’t threatening the new shoreline aid distribution area, Pentagon officials say, but they have made it clear that security conditions could prompt a shutdown of the maritime route, even just temporarily.

The U.S. and Israel have developed a security plan for humanitarian groups coming to a “marshaling yard” next to the pier to pick up the aid, said U.S. Vice Admiral Brad Cooper, deputy commander of the U.S. military’s Central Command. USAID Response Director Dan Dieckhaus said aid groups would follow their own security procedures in distributing the supplies.

Meanwhile, Israeli forces have moved into the border crossing in the southern city of Rafah as part of their offensive, preventing aid from moving through, including fuel.

U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said that without fuel, delivery of all aid in Gaza can't happen.

U.S. President Joe Biden's administration, the U.N. and aid groups have pressed Israel to allow more aid through land crossings, saying that's the only way to ease the suffering of Gaza's civilians. They've also urged Israel's military to actively coordinate with aid groups to prevent attacks on their workers.

“Getting aid to people in need into and across Gaza cannot and should not depend on a floating dock far from where needs are most acute,” U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq told reporters Thursday.

“To stave off the horrors of famine, we must use the fastest and most obvious route to reach the people of Gaza — and for that, we need access by land now,” Haq said.

U.S. officials agree that the pier is only a partial solution at best, and say they are pressing Israel for more.

Israel says it places no limits on the entry of humanitarian aid and blames the U.N. for delays in distributing goods entering Gaza. The U.N. says ongoing fighting, Israeli fire and chaotic security conditions have hindered delivery.

Under pressure from the U.S., Israel has in recent weeks opened a pair of crossings to deliver aid into hard-hit northern Gaza. It said a series of Hamas attacks on the main crossing, Kerem Shalom, have disrupted the flow of goods.

Associated Press writers Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations, Tara Copp in Washington and Josef Federman in Jerusalem contributed.

A ship is seen off the coast of Gaza near a U.S.-built floating pier that will be used to facilitate aid deliveries, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, Thursday, May 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

The image provided by U.S, Central Command, shows U.S. Army soldiers assigned to the 7th Transportation Brigade (Expeditionary), U.S. Navy sailors assigned to Amphibious Construction Battalion 1, and Israel Defense Forces placing the Trident Pier on the coast of Gaza Strip on Thursday, May 16, 2024. The temporary pier is part of the Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore capability. The U.S. military finished installing the floating pier on Thursday, with officials poised to begin ferrying badly needed humanitarian aid into the enclave besieged over seven months of intense fighting in the Israel-Hamas war. (U.S. Central Command via AP)