Christian Bale Rant and Remix

You might remember the rumors circulating last summer about a huge blow up on the set of Terminator Salvation which wasn't due to pyrotechnics. Later when the director McG said to the press insisting that Christian Bale was really a nice guy we all started suspecting that something must have happened, sincel there is no smoke without fire.

So what did happen? Apparently Mr. Bale yelled at a crew member for repeatedly walking around the set in the background while they were shooting a scene. And he yelled, and yelled.

Listen for yourself:
http://www.aolcdn.com/tmz_audio/020209_christianbale.mp3

Now why did it happen? I've got three possible reasons for you:

1. He's an asshole. Period.

Personally, I don't think there's enough evidence to support that hypothesis.

2. He's only human. And yes, he's got a bit of a temper.

He is often described as an intense actor. It is possible that his control might have just slipped for a bit. Frankly, I've heard much worse from people who do remarkably less with their life. Of course that's not an excuse, and he should have handled it better.

3. He is a great actor caught up in the middle of an important emotional scene and he was still in the character when he lashed out. In which case the poor guy should be grateful he didn't take him for a terminator and ripped his head off.

I don't know Mr. Bale personally so I can't say I know the right answer. I did notice though while listening to the recording that when he said "Let's go again," he sounded in control and more like upset and disappointed than angry. It's only after that when he's denied that he starts ranting again and things get worse. I think that was poor management from the director's part who should have been more in control of what happened on his set and if he'd read Christian's mood right he would have spared us half the rant.

Anyway, that's not my problem. What does bother me is the fact that this recording was made available online and the form it is in, with Christian's voice level uped to the max for emphasis and little else. Isn't it amazing how this happened exactly three months before Terminator Salvation's opening? Just in time to catch people's attention, but not too close to the release date so it won't drive them away... and all on the expense of Mr. Bale's reputation, 'cause after all he's rich and famous so who cares if he's got a bad rep too?

One good thing got out of this whole mess, the fabulous remix of Christian Bale's rant. Listen for yourself!