If and when a movie is greenlit on the alleged slayer of an Irvine dad at Malibu Creek State Park, recently crowned Golden Globe Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy Christian Bale should get a look for the lead.
Why even go there? Because an anonymous detective reportedly told NBC Los Angeles this about the case against 42-year-old parolee Anthony Rauda:
“It’s a 10-year crime spree that could make a Hollywood movie.”
Now look at the side-by-side photos above. Bale, who famously gained 40 pounds for his Golden Globe-winning role as Dick Cheney in Vice and lost 62 pounds for his European Film Awards-nominated turn in The Machinist, would not have to do anything to his frame to play Rauda.
Nor would Bale have to hide behind the makeup, prosthetics and wigs he had to deploy to play the former vice president from ages 21 through 75. All he would need to do is change his clothing, and then we could find out how great an actor Bale really is without appearance enhancers.
Rauda was charged Monday with killing Tristan Beaudette, who had traveled from his home in Irvine to the state park in Malibu so he could camp with his two young daughters, brother-in-law and the girls’ two young cousins last June.
It is believed the 35-year-old outdoorsman and pharmaceutical scientist was shot dead while sleeping with his daughters inside the tent.
Rauda faces one count of murder, 10 counts of attempted murder and five counts of second-degree burglary.
He has not yet entered a plea and is being held on $1.1 million bail pending a Los Angeles County Superior Court hearing later this month.
He is accused of trying to kill 10 others in a series of shootings over the past two years as well as burglaries dating back to 2016 in the Malibu and Calabasas areas, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office, which notes Rauda could be sent to state prison for life with a conviction.
The survivalist may have been living in the Malibu-area wilderness for the past decade, according to the unnamed authorities.
The burning question when it comes to playing Rauda is who would serve as Bale’s inspiration. After all, the actor already burned through the most evil of them all to portray Cheney, having mentioned during his Golden Globe acceptance speech Sunday night, “Thank you to Satan for giving me inspiration on how to play this role.”
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.