Christian Bale strenuously dieted for over four months prior to filming, as his character needed to look drastically thin. According to a biography of Bale written by his former assistant, his daily diet at this time consisted of "water, an apple and one cup of coffee per day, with the occasional whiskey" (approximately 55–260 calories). According to the DVD commentary, he lost , reducing his body weight to . Bale wanted to go down to , but the filmmakers would not let him due to health concerns. In fact, the weight that the 6 ft 0 inch (183 cm) Bale dropped down to was actually intended to be for a much shorter actor, but Bale insisted on seeing if he could make it anyway. At the end of filming he was left with just six months to regain the mass to be ready for his role in "Batman Begins", which he achieved through weightlifting and bingeing on pizzas and ice cream.