Christian Bale on LA vs England etiquette
by Francesco Eunchae: Christian Bale
Christian Bale said the biggest culture shock after moving from England to LA was realizing you can't just knock on someone's door without calling first. In LA, the reaction made him feel like he'd done something terrible. He admitted he hated it at first, but eventually learned to love it
Transcript (en)
Right, but you do, what I found was I did hate it for the first year or two. I really did. Why? I came, I would just, I just, you know, coming from a walking culture, I just would go, I don't know what to do here. I don't know what to do here, you know. I've got to jump in a car all the time. And also, I would just roll up at people's houses without calling beforehand. Just knock on the door, hey, do me. And they'd be kind of, what are you doing? I was like, I'm just coming over to hang out. Because that's what we did in England. You just knock on the door, you come, if you're busy, it's like, oh, go make yourself a cup of tea, I'll be with you in half an hour. Here it was like you just murdered their children, the look they gave you, like, you're insane. You got cool before. So you learn the sort of traditions and the etiquette of the place. But I've learned to love it and hate it. But initially, I just wanted to get back to England nonstop. And then gradually I went, you know what? I'm really starting to like LA. I really, really, it does grow on you.
