Updated: Why You Shouldn’t Think Bale is off his Rocker

Update: Hopefully Bale’s words will put this word to rest, though Letterman’s phone call bit was pretty good, as was James Lipton’s reenactment.

“The thing I really want to stress is that I have NO confusion what-so-ever. I was out of order beyond belief. I acted like a punk. I regret that and there is nobody that has heard that tape that is hit harder by it than me. I make no excuses for it, it is inexcusable.”

 

“In [T2] you will meet Sarah Connor. And she is in an insane asylum—why is she there? Because she is crazy. Now I play John Connor her son, and on the day that all of this happened, the scene that we were doing, I was trying to show a little of that in-the-blood craziness, and it went a little wrong… I took it way too far, and I completely mixed up fact and fiction. I’m half John Connor, I’m half Christian there.”

“I’ve not only talked with [DP Shane Hurlbut], we’ve resolved this completely. That very day we kept working for a number of hours. Listen when I’m saying I’m not coming back on that set if he’s still hired, it’s hot air. I don’t believe that. I have no intention of getting anybody fired.”

“And another thing: a lot of people that I was a bully to this guy. That’s an insult to Shane. He is a big guy. I couldn’t have bullied that guy if I tried. He’s much bigger than me—he’s an ex-friggin football player.”

Again, I hope this is the end of this, “news worthy” story.
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This is from Harry Knowles over at aintitcool, and I am glad that someone put this in a bit of perspective. Even if the audio was a bit insane, its nice to have a look at the situation. And while Bale might have gone over the top a bit, the DP wasn’t exactly handling the situation very well either, and apparently Bale was right on with the un-professionalism of it all…

“Hey folks, Harry here… I’m getting slammed with assloads of people angry at me for not posting the Bale explosion from the set of McG’s TERMINATOR: SALVATION. Well, first off – there’s a real simple reason. It isn’t news. And it certainly isn’t cool news. It is a moment in a man’s life taken completely out of context and most likely leaked to personally embarrass Christian Bale.

Now, I know what a lot of you are thinking… There’s no excuse for a temper tantrum like that to ever occur and if you are going to act that way, you deserve to be embarrassed by your own actions.

Except, you want to hear the REALITY behind that clip?

I know this because I happen to be somewhere where someone that was there that day and for the shoot is. And this person isn’t a publicist, nor are they invested in Bale’s career. They’re just someone that thinks it is absolute bullshit that this moment in Bale’s life is being aired and that the real story should get out there.

The DP on TERMINATOR SALVATION, Shane Hurlbut, is a apparently a light tweaker. He’s a fairly young DP and likes to fiddle with his lights on set during action, which is a big “NO NO” on most productions unless worked out in advance with performers. But apparently Shane was a pretty unrepentant light tweaker.

The scene in question, was a very emotional and tough scene between Christian Bale and Bryce Howard. A scene that required soul bearing and a deep level of immersive concentration. The sort of scene where everyone on set knows not to get in anyone’s eye lines, and definitely not to move lights around while FILMING. You lock that shit down before the scene starts.

Bale had indeed warned the DP on multiple occasions about messing with lights while the cameras were rolling, and Bale was in the midst of a painful scene with Bryce, what was described to me as being the emotional center of the film and his character for the film.

Now, the reason I know all of this is because the person that was there, felt that it should be made perfectly clear that Christian Bale was the utmost gentleman and cool guy on set. And the DP really was doing something that professional DPs with experience just don’t do. Not during a performance.

You don’t need me to give you a link, it’s all over the internet, I just felt that you should know what really went down – and that this particular outburst did indeed modify the DP’s behavior – and for future DPs. Fuck with the lights before and after your actors are acting. Not during.”

So there is a bit of perspective, you can find the verbal tirade fairly easily if you want with google. And if you listen to it, you can’t definitely tell Bale has been on this guy professionally in the past and he is on the last straw with Bale.