For Christian Bale, it's the full-immersion method

The actor whole-heartedly falls under fiction's spell.

IN the opening sequence of the remake of the 1957 Western "3:10 to Yuma," which opens Friday, Christian Bale limps toward a burning barn with the desperation of a man who has nothing left to lose. While the flames dance behind his shaggy head and sun-scarred face, it's difficult to find any part of the real-life Bale, even around the edges of Dan Evans, the character he plays. The 33-year-old, Welsh-born actor has so slipped inside Evans' skin that it's difficult to believe he is anyone but a Civil War vet who is trying to scratch out a living as an Arizona rancher, struggling with bankruptcy, starvation and the loss of his family's respect.