First look at Christian Bale’s transformation into former US Vice President Dick Cheney in his new movie 'Vice'

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) - Christian Bale's drastic transformation into Dick Cheney takes centre stage in the first trailer for Vice, which was released yesterday.

"I'm a CEO of a large company, and I have been secretary of defense, and I have been White House chief of staff. The vice presidency is a mostly symbolic job," Bale's Cheney says when George W. Bush (played by Sam Rockwell) asks him to be his right-hand man. "However, if we came to a different understanding..."

By the end of the clip, Cheney concedes. "I believe we can make this work."

The biopic, directed by The Big Short's Adam McKay, chronicles Cheney's life as the former US Vice President under President George W. Bush. Starting with his beginnings as a Washington bureaucrat, the film explores Cheney's service under the Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and George H. W. Bush administrations and as the CEO of energy management company Halliburton.

To play Cheney, Bale had to shave his head, bleach his eyebrows, and put on 18kg -- but that's nothing new for the Oscar winner, who is known for undergoing intense transformations.

He lost 27kg for 2004's The Machinist, only to gain it back in muscle to play Batman in 2005's Batman Begins.

Amy Adams co-stars as Lynne Cheney, accompanying a star-studded cast that includes Steve Carell as Donald Rumsfeld, Rockwell as President Bush, and Jesse Plemons.

Will Ferrell and Kevin Messick, from McKay's Gary Sanchez Productions, serve as the show's producers, along with Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, and Jeremy Kleiner from Pitt's Plan B.

Annapurna Pictures has scheduled the film's wide theatrical release for Christmas Day.