Comprehensive information and links about The Machinist

The Machinist thriller film, written by Scott Kosar, directed by Brad Anderson and starring Christian Bale.

Bale, who plays the protagonist, Trevor Reznik, starved himself for several weeks prior to filming, as his character needed to look drastically thin. He reportedly lost over 60 pounds (27 kg), around a 1 weight. He later regained the weight, plus an additional fifteen pounds due to weightlifting, during his preparation for playing the lead in his next film, Christopher Nolan's .

Despite being set in a West Coast American city, the film was shot in its entirety in Barcelona, Spain.

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Trevor Reznik (Bale) has not slept for over a year, and has become extremely emaciated. He does not know what is wrong, and carries on working as a machinist. His alarming appearance and behaviour cause his co-workers to shy away from him; they eventually turn on him after he is involved in an accident that costs a man his left arm. Trevor, distracted by an unfamiliar coworker named Ivan (Sharian), bears the blame for the accident. No one at the factory admits knowing "Ivan", however, and there are no records that he was ever an employee. Trevor seems to find peace only in the arms of Stevie (Jennifer Jason Leigh), a prostitute who develops genuine affection for him, or in the company of Marie (Aitana Sánchez-Gijón), a waitress at the airport diner where he spends his nights.

Growing increasingly distracted and alienated, Reznik forgets to pay his utility bills and his electricity is disconnected. A mysterious series of Post-it notes that appear on his refrigerator depict a game of hangman; these vaguely threatening incidents send Reznik further into paranoia. Another near-accident at work causes him to lash out in incoherent rage, for which he is fired. Reznik is no longer able to think clearly, and begins to suspect that the bizarre events in his life are a concerted effort to drive him insane. He nevertheless attempts to establish a tentative romantic relationship with Marie. Meeting her at an amusement park, Trevor accompanies her son Nicholas on a grotesque funhouse ride that causes the boy to suffer an epileptic seizure.

After several unsuccessful attempts at confronting Ivan, Trevor tries to trace him through his license plate. When the DMV clerk insists that he cannot release personal information unless a crime has been committed, Reznik flings himself in front of a car in order to accuse Ivan of striking him and leaving the scene. After filing a police report with the plate number, the battered Trevor is dumbfounded when the investigator tells him that the car in question was reported wrecked, but not stolen, a year ago by its owner, Trevor Reznik.

In the film's climax, Reznik realizes that he was involved in a hit-and-run car accident a year ago in which a young boy was killed. The guilt and shame he feels over the boy's death have caused his insomnia and drastic weight loss. Reznik has invented not only Ivan as a manifestation of his responsibility for the accident, but also an imaginary relationship with Marie, the mother of the boy he killed. He turns himself in to the police and at long last falls asleep in a holding cell.

Scott Kosar, the writer of the screenplay, was noted during the movie commentary on the DVD release to have stated that the plot was influenced by the Dostoevsky story . Reznik's imagined alter ego is named Ivan, a possible reference to the character Ivan Karamazov, who is racked with guilt, goes insane, and has nightmares of the devil in Dostoevsky's The name Trevor Reznik is an alteration of Trent Reznor, whose music under the guise of Nine Inch Nails features guilt and despairing feelings as well as machining and factory sounds as predominant themes. (inability to remember the past, associated with guilt over misdeeds that are then blocked from memory) and (inability to sleep associated with guilt over past misdeeds; the character finally falls asleep in the closing scene, marking redemption), two films by director Christopher Nolan.