Bale: 'Unemployment allowed for long hair'

Christian Bale has explained that he grew his hair out during a recent period of unemployment.

The Dark Knight star told Access Hollywood that he didn't feel it was necessary to trim his hair during the extended hiatus.

"This is unemployment, this is all this is," he joked.

Bale continued: "I haven't worked since The Fighter, and it's nice to just not bother cutting your hair. When you're [not] in a job that everything always has to be, you know, worked out for a character, I just sort of 'let it all hang out', but it's unemployment, that's all it is."

The actor added that he plans to shed his long locks before starting work on director Zhang Yimou's The 13 Women of Nanjing in "a couple of weeks".

Bale won the 'Best Supporting Actor' Golden Globe award on Sunday for his performance in The Fighter.