Bradley Cooper And Christian Bale Step Back Into The '70s In First Look At American Hustle

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Thanks to USA Today, the rest of the world finally gets to join the CinemaCon attendees who got a first look at the 1970’s-garbed characters of David O. Russell’s upcoming crime drama American Hustle. It isn’t, unfortunately, all of the characters, but that’s understandable since the cast list for this film is as long as the arm of the law. What we do get in the picture seen above are the hilariously-coifed Bradley Cooper and Christian Bale standing in an art gallery, each with his own questionable fashion sense.

While Bale’s character plays a crafty art thief, his apparel makes him look like he’d give lectures about art heists in some stuffy university. Is it just me, or is Cooper’s face a skin tone darker than his hands? And while the part in Bale’s hair looks perfectly windblown, the obvious curly-haired elephant in the room is Cooper’s ‘do, which Russell says is “not a perm, just for the record.” Ben Affleck’s mountain hermit look in Argo has nothing on this.

Bale and his rounded sunglasses also feature in the second still, as seen below.

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As you can tell, Amy Adams and the side of her boob are also in this picture, which also features a bull figurine that I want. Adams plays Bale’s lover in the film, and all it takes is one look at Bale to understand why. (That’s said with trace amounts of sarcasm.)

American Hustle, which formerly went by the much more fun title American Bullshit, is a fictionalized take on the famous Abscam sting case that took place in the late 1970s and early 1980s. In it, Bale stars as Bronx con-man Irving Rosenfeld whose crimes draw the eye of FBI agent Richie DiMaso (Cooper). Together with accomplice Sydney (Adams), Irving is forced to go undercover into the corrupt world of New Jersey Mafia and politicians. Also reteaming with Russell for this film is Jennifer Lawrence, who will play Irving’s unpredictable Long Island house wife, who stands to destroy the entire operation.

Jeremy Renner will play a New Jersey mayor, Carmine Polito who is worried about the fate of his city during the recession. I’m guessing he doesn’t use the most legal of ways to fix things, as a group of important men and political figures all ended up getting busted when the case finally came into light. The rest of this awesome cast is filled out by Robert De Niro, Louis C.K., Michael Peña, Jack Huston, Elisabeth Röhm and Erica McDermott.

Currently in the editing phase of post-production, American Hustle

Nick Venable
Assistant Managing Editor

Nick is a Cajun Country native and an Assistant Managing Editor with a focus on TV and features. His humble origin story with CinemaBlend began all the way back in the pre-streaming era, circa 2009, as a freelancing DVD reviewer and TV recapper.  Nick leapfrogged over to the small screen to cover more and more television news and interviews, eventually taking over the section for the current era and covering topics like Yellowstone, The Walking Dead and horror. Born in Louisiana and currently living in Texas — Who Dat Nation over America’s Team all day, all night — Nick spent several years in the hospitality industry, and also worked as a 911 operator. If you ever happened to hear his music or read his comics/short stories, you have his sympathy.