Bale, Renner, Cooper, Adams premiere 'American Hustle'

NEW YORK — You'd be hard pressed to find a cast more starry than the names populating American Hustle.
David O. Russell's romp about a '70s scam gone madly awry features portly con man Irving Rosenfeld (Christian Bale), who along with his slinky British partner Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams) is coerced into working with curly-haired FBI agent Richie DiMaso (Bradley Cooper), while also tending to Rosenfeld's volatile wife Rosalyn (Jennifer Lawrence) at home. Oh, and there's Oscar nominee Jeremy Renner as a dense and densely coiffed New Jersey politician and a cameo from the maestro of Mob films, Robert De Niro.
Renner called the shoot "grueling but electric. You never knew what was going to happen. It was very freeing. As for fatherhood, "it's tremendous," says the dad of daughter Ava.
But wait, back to hair and makeup. "All the guys sat in the chair longer than the girls. Bradley was the longest. I might have been the second. It was pretty elaborate. It's the first time I ever had the straight iron to my hair. I feel for women," says Renner.
Indeed, Cooper took the brunt of it. Getting ready every day took "three hours. Can you believe that? It was my hair," says Cooper.
As for Oscar buzz, "No. Is there talk? I don't read reviews," says Cooper.
The entire cast, except for Lawrence (who had to catch a flight back to her Hunger Games set in Atlanta) turned out to fete the film in Manhattan, even as the season's first snowfall was predicted for that night. Bale looked dapper in his suit, but says playing Irv left its mark.
"Not entirely," said Bale when asked if he's back to his fighting shape, after gaining 40 pounds to play Rosenfeld. "He's a con artist but he's a romantic as well. He doesn't like to admit it but he has a heart of gold as well."
He'll promote his films, but refuses to glad-hand on the Oscar circuit and sell himself. "I won't campaign. What it's basically saying to another actor is, 'I like you, but I'm better,'" says the immaculately polite Bale. "And I won't ever do that."
Winning a supporting-actor Oscar for The Fighter "was an incredible thing. I never expect to get it again. But oh my lord, did it give me a buzz."
So far, this movie seems a favorite during this otherwise schizophrenic awards season, with no clear frontrunner out yet. The influential New York Film Critics Circle already awarded Lawrence best supporting actress, and named Hustle best picture, while the National Board of Review shut it out in favor of Her. And at this year's Palm Springs International Film Festival, the cast will pick up the ensemble award. The New York Film Critics Online also recognized the film for best ensemble.
"It sure beats a kick in the (butt)," says Adams, of all the great reviews her dual performances, in Hustle and Her, have gotten.