Based in Braddock, Pennsylvania, Out of the Furnace tells the story of Russel Baze (Christian Bale), an ordinary man who is fated for tragedy. Russel followed his father into the mills as a steel worker, while his brother Rodney (Casey Affleck) enlisted in the Army. After four years in Iraq, affected both physically and emotionally, Rodney was back home in Braddock, which is also where the movie was shot. “It helped so much being on location… You’re just kind of doing, you’re existing,” said Christian Bale. He also added that the ‘performances all happened organically’. This explains the real brotherhood chemistry between the two. Not to mention the real intensity behind their performances. Casey Affleck, who agrees with Bale said, “There’s a real story just in the way that it looks. It has a lot of atmosphere… It helps to ground you.” Affleck’s character, Rodney refuses to work in the mills like his brother. Instead, he opts to make money by gambling and competing as a bare-knuckle fighter. Meanwhile, Russel is forced to leave his ill father and the love of his life, Lena Taylor (Zoe Saldana) to serve time in jail.

Although in love with Russel, Lena makes the difficult decision to leave him for sheriff Wesley Barnes (Forest Whitaker).  “Lena has been torn by her life. I needed to know why she just couldn’t stick by the person that she truly, truly loved and she went with somebody that worked in law. You know, that symbolically is going to keep her safe and it has to do with her inability to cope with danger and pain. I think that being torn between two men that have been really good to her is small potatoes in comparison to the torture that she has to live with herself knowing that she has to make decisions that are just gonna protect her physically,” said Zoe Saldana.

With the help of Willem Dafoe (John Petty), Rodney becomes involved with Harlam Degroat (Woody Harrelson), a sociopath and leader of a drug operation.  Director Scott Cooper commented, “When we wrapped, Woody came over to me… and he said, I have never wanted to shed a character so badly in my life. And truly for me I wanted Woody’s character to represent the very worst of America and Christian’s character to represent the best of America.” 

Soon after Russel is released from prison Rodney goes missing. Russel teams up with his friend Red (Sam Sheppard) to find his brother. After learning the truth and waiting on law enforcement, Russel decides to take matters onto his own hands by hunting down Harlam Degroat. “He wanted to inflict the most amount of pain he could upon this person. He wanted to see him struggle,” explained Bale.

All of the actor’s performances in this film are simply flawless.  They all seemed very happy to have collaborated with one each other. Cooper said, “I honestly and sincerely consider it a privilege to see the type of work and the preparation and care that these actors put into helping me realize my vision because there was no ego on the set. They were always questioning. They were taking a script that was decently written and elevating it in every way.”

This dramatic and agonizing tale, with the finest performances, is one thriller you don’t want to miss.

Out of the Furnace opens in theaters December 6.