# Christian Bale loses his temper **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 3, 2009, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-bale-loses-his-temper/484256 "2009-02-03T15:03:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 13
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2009, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-bale-loses-his-temper/484256/241 "2009-02-05T13:14:58Z")
> [@Equipoise](#): > > I shouldn’t have sounded so dismissive about McG in my earlier post, because that’s not how I feel. I know McG is somewhat (to very) scorned because he still uses his childhood nickname, and his early projects, but I started to view him as a serious filmmaker when I saw **We Are Marshall** , which while wasn’t brilliant or anything, was very good, well-directed, quite affecting and, I think, very respectful toward the tragedy. I can see his doing music videos to break into the business, then using Charlie’s Angels to make money and springboard into a position with clout, then using that clout to make projects he wants to make. I’ll see his movies and I wish him well in his career. I hope he and Bale _are_ on good terms. I scorn him for the name and I don’t think he will be taken seriously until he drops it. In my inexpert fan opinion he seems to be a competent but so far unremarkable director. I will probably go see this movie because I like Bale as an actor and I think the Terminator series is a lot of fun. A serious question. In most of the stories I have seen Shane Hurlburt named as the Director of Photography. On IMDB he is named as the Cinematographer. Is there a difference? He has credits for both going back ten years. ---
**Author:** ![Chum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3ab097/32.png) [@Chum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chum)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2009, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-bale-loses-his-temper/484256/242 "2009-02-05T13:54:37Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > I take it this way: > > We all get pissed and want to rip someones face off when they are disruptive at the movies. Whispering, texting, finding their seat after the movie started, etc. > > Well this guy did the same thing, being disruptive, but not during the showing of the movie, BUT THE ACTUAL FILMING OF IT! > > Thank you Bale for dressing someone down who deserved it. Someone oblivious to what’s going on around them even after being told multiple time to KNOCK IT THE FUCK OFF!! I love this, and I agree. This has been quite a thread. Personally, I have followed Christian Bale since Newsies and loved just about everything he’s done. He does take his roles very seriously - look at his body in The Machinist vs. Batman, the fact that he retains the American accent when doing publicity for Batman - and he is pretty widely regarded as an excellent actor. So it’s not surprising to me that he’d get really pissed at someone for messing up his scene more than once. Yes, the tirade went on too long, but I think it’s important that he didn’t make it personal at all. He focused on the incident. That’s why I officially don’t think he’s a dick. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2009, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-bale-loses-his-temper/484256/243 "2009-02-05T14:03:55Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > A serious question. In most of the stories I have seen Shane Hurlburt named as the Director of Photography. On IMDB he is named as the Cinematographer. Is there a difference? He has credits for both going back ten years. They’re the same thing. From [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinematographer): > [@](#): > > A cinematographer is one photographing with a motion picture camera (the art and science of which is known as cinematography). The title is generally equivalent to director of photography (DP or DoP), used to designate a chief over the camera and lighting crews working on a film, responsible for achieving artistic and technical decisions related to the image. The term cinematographer has been a point of contention for some time now; some professionals insist that it only applies when the director of photography and camera operator are the same person, although this is far from being uniformly the case. To most, cinematographer and director of photography are interchangeable terms. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2009, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-bale-loses-his-temper/484256/244 "2009-02-05T16:13:09Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > a recent graduate from the University of Ohio Film School (not knocking that institution) Well, you can’t, because there is no “University of Ohio.” By the way Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, has a nationally recognized drama program. > [@](#): > > And anyone who’s ever been on stage knows that you can see the faces of people in the audience, people going to the restroom, tech crew behind the scenes, etc.. Distraction is something you just have to get the hell over. Stage acting and movie acting are very different. In stage acting, you can ease into the character night after night and stay in character for the length of the play. Movie actors sit around for hours waiting for set up and then have to get into character instantly. And there’s a lot more “face” acting in a movie than on stage, because your expressions are much more visible. > [@](#): > > The great surprise is that Bale’s an excellent actor; this makes me wonder if he has a drug problem or is just plain psycho. This is probably a wildly unsupported conclusion. > [@Roadfood](#): > > Repeating their work is _part of an actor’s job_. It is a simple expectation that any actor will have to repeat any scene any number of times for any number of reasons. There’s a huge difference between (1) Doing repeated takes because the director or the actors are looking for something specific, or want to have a range of options to choose from, or for technical reasons (like coverage). (2) \*Losing \*a potentially good take in an emotional scene because someone’s walking around and distracting the actors. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2009, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-bale-loses-his-temper/484256/245 "2009-02-05T16:31:16Z")
I am not an actor, but I have to believe that in the middle of doing a scene you get the feeling that you and your colleguyes are nailing it. I have no idea if this is the case, but I can imagine that if you have been doing the scene over and over because it is a difficult scene and it is an important scene and you are in a take that in your mind is “the one” and then some jerk messes it up, yeah you might go off. Understandable after a long hard day. However, if it is basically the first take and it is early in the scene, then a step back is called for. My point is this, out of complete context it is impossible to say if he has 1) anger issues; 2) drug issues; 3) emotional issues or none of those and it was just the thing that burst the bubble on a long, hard and potentially aggravating day. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2009, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-bale-loses-his-temper/484256/246 "2009-02-05T16:39:05Z")
An [essay](http://open.salon.com/content.php?cid=99060) in Salon presents the view that Bale is very professional. ---
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2009, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-bale-loses-his-temper/484256/247 "2009-02-05T16:39:57Z")
> [@Chum](#): > > Yes, the tirade went on too long, but I think it’s important that he didn’t make it personal at all. He focused on the incident. That’s why I officially don’t think he’s a dick. He called the guy a prick and threatened to kick his ass. That’s not “personal at all”? I’m really surprised at the lengths people are going to in order to minimize or excuse this behavior. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2009, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-bale-loses-his-temper/484256/248 "2009-02-05T17:27:24Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > An [essay](http://open.salon.com/content.php?cid=99060) in Salon presents the view that Bale is very professional. Thank you for that link! I wish everyone would read it. It reminded me of Bale’s great and sadly overlooked performance in Rescue Dawn, and the fact that if Bale could get along with Werner Herzog, who pushes his actors to the limit, in difficult locations, this recent tirade is an exception, not a rule. Bale is no Klaus Kinski, temperament-wise. Kinski would terrorize people, and he got physical, such as the time he destroyed a bathroom, beating everything to dust. Literally. Bale’s tirade was a gnat. Kinski’s tirades were Jumbo jets. I also liked reading tidbits about the production in the essay and in the Comments, which I’m reading now, such as the fact that they shot in reverse chronological order, so Bale had to show up emaciated, 60 pounds underweight, and gradually gain weight so that he appeared healthy and normal at the end (start) of the film. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2009, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-bale-loses-his-temper/484256/249 "2009-02-05T17:46:41Z")
> [@Jodi](#): > > I’m really surprised at the lengths people are going to in order to minimize or excuse this behavior. I think most of us wish he hadn’t done this, but it happened. Still, there are mitigating circumstances that we’re trying grasp, which isn’t quite the same as minimizing or excusing. It’s also odd that it happened several months ago, but we’re only now hearing (about) it, which means that someone released the tape on purpose, to what end? What bothers me is that anyone would condemn him as a person and his whole career based on this. I assume people who do this would also condemn the lives and careers of Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Klaus Kinski and other great actors who were known to go off on wild tirades, far more often than Bale did. Oh to have one of Bette’s legendary rants on tape! ---
**Author:** ![anu-la1979](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/47e85d/32.png) [@anu-la1979](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anu-la1979)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2009, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-bale-loses-his-temper/484256/250 "2009-02-05T18:03:51Z")
> [@Jodi](#): > > He called the guy a prick and threatened to kick his ass. That’s not “personal at all”? I’m really surprised at the lengths people are going to in order to minimize or excuse this behavior. And I have an even bigger problem with the fact that people are making excuses for shoving someone for being verbally annoying and standing in one’s way. I find it doubly appalling when it’s a pretty built up guy shoving a woman likely to be slighter and smaller than him. I mean, seriously, I like both Alec Baldwin and Christian Bale as actors and watch them in nearly everything they’re in-but I can’t gloss over in my mind the fact that they both seem like really angry people who need therapy. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2009, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-bale-loses-his-temper/484256/251 "2009-02-05T18:35:39Z")
I’m sorry, but if you’re trying to leave to _avoid_ more confrontation and someone is in your way and won’t move, what in the world are you supposed to do? Add that it was his mother (and accidentally-shared DNA does not automatically mean that she’s a saint and blameless) and that she allegedly insulted his wife. What should he have done? If someone’s in your way there has to be physical contact to get by them. It’s not like he hit her or threw her to the ground. ---
**Author:** ![anu-la1979](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/47e85d/32.png) [@anu-la1979](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anu-la1979)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2009, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-bale-loses-his-temper/484256/252 "2009-02-05T19:10:07Z")
He’s a wealthy actor-wasn’t he staying at a hotel when that happened? Is it seriously that difficult to use the phone to call up hotel security and have them removed? Or is it REALLY necessary to absolutely “get out of someone’s way” at the expense of shoving them if they’re no real physical threat to you? Or, I don’t know, go off on crazy weird tirades at all? Who cares if she allegedly insulted his wife? Wasn’t Bale being an insulting douche to the DP in that audio? Does the DP have the right to pop him one in the snoot? Here’s the adult thing to do-sit down, shut up and shut down, then figure a way to extricate yourself from the situation. Nothing is more annoying to someone who wants to get a rise out of you than not responding. Tantrumming is childish behaviour, no matter what excuses people want to come up with. it’s letting your emotions drive you and lessen your control-maybe if Bale had stalked off to his trailer, calmed down and then chewed him out…I don’t know…privately, after THINKING about it for a while…there wouldn’t be any bloody audio of him screaming like a psycho, would there? Instead he lost control of his emotions and here we are…people have something on him. I really don’t get why method acting gives people the right to be verbally abusive to their daughters, hit people on the head with telephones at a hotel or shove their mothers. They may be great at what they do blahblahblah but I’m not going to start rationalising behaviour that I think is intolerable and downright creepy. IMO if people pulled these individuals aside and advised them to get therapy rather than pulling the whole “he’s an arteeste all arteestes are driven by a deep knot of angst” I think they’d avoid a lot of PR issues, legal fees and lead generally happier lives. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2009, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-bale-loses-his-temper/484256/253 "2009-02-05T19:18:31Z")
I don’t understand why anger necessarily needs therapy. Sometimes, it’s right to be pissed off. ---
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2009, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-bale-loses-his-temper/484256/254 "2009-02-05T19:22:30Z")
> [@Equipoise](#): > > I think most of us wish he hadn’t done this, but it happened. Still, there are mitigating circumstances that we’re trying grasp, which isn’t quite the same as minimizing or excusing. I don’t see many posts expressing any confusion or question as to _whether_ mitigating circumstances exist; I see post after post minimizing and excusing the behavior: He’s an actor. He isn’t always like this. He must have been provoked. It was a high-stress situation. It’s acceptable behavior in his industry. Other actors are worse. > [@](#): > > It’s also odd that it happened several months ago, but we’re only now hearing (about) it, which means that someone released the tape on purpose, to what end? An interesting question, but irrelevant to the issue of whether his conduct was excusable, or even whether mitigating circumstances existed at the time. > [@](#): > > What bothers me is that anyone would condemn him as a person and his whole career based on this. Having heard the tirade, I feel completely comfortable saying he was being an enormous honking dick, and his behavior was utterly and completely inexcusable. Maybe he’s curing cancer in his spare time, I don’t know. But if you act like an ass, you cannot be surprised that people assume you are an ass. And it’s not like this was the only thing: There was also the small matter of the po-po’s being called for a physical altercation with his own family. But don’t worry, we can minimize and excuse that too: They were sponges. He _had_ to shove his mother, because she was being insulting. (Who hasn’t been _there_, huh?) They called the police to humiliate him. There’s not factual basis for _any_ of it, yet you’re willing to give the gossip credit because you happen to like the guy and he’s OMG A Talented Actor. Seriously, I can’t believe some of what I"m reading: He shoves his mother in a confrontation that got so out of hand that the police were called, and your response is _it’s not like he hit her or threw her to the ground_?? WTF? It’s not like you’d _normally_ be leading the charge to minimize alleged assault, so explain it to me: Does the sun shine out this guy’s ass, or what? > [@](#): > > I assume people who do this would also condemn the lives and careers of Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Klaus Kinski and other great actors who were known to go off on wild tirades, far more often than Bale did. Oh to have one of Bette’s legendary rants on tape! “Lives and careers” are not so intertwined that being good, or even great, at a career means you’re a decent human being. I don’t have to condemn Bale’s career to say that he sounded like a complete and total dick. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2009, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-bale-loses-his-temper/484256/255 "2009-02-05T19:27:53Z")
Jodi, can you say what it was about his tirade that you found to be dickish, exactly? He blasted the person whose job it was to keep the shot pristine, and composed as planned — not just because he looked away while some nincompoop walked onto the set, but because HE HIMSELF walked onto the set. It would be like a moderator, whom you’re trusting to correct your quote tag, obliterating your whole post. Not once, but repeatedly. Given your talent for rhetorical flourish, I would be surprised if you did not express yourself with some colorful vigor. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2009, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-bale-loses-his-temper/484256/256 "2009-02-05T19:32:33Z")
> [@Jodi](#): > > He shoves his mother in a confrontation that got so out of hand that the police were called, and your response is _it’s not like he hit her or threw her to the ground_?? WTF? It’s not like you’d _normally_ be leading the charge to minimize alleged assault, so explain it to me: Does the sun shine out this guy’s ass, or what? The fact that the police were called doesn’t actually prove anything. Particularly when you consider that he was not arrested or charged with anything. I could call the police on the guy in the next cubicle at work right now, and they’d probably show up. That doesn’t mean that the guy’s actually done anything. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2009, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-bale-loses-his-temper/484256/257 "2009-02-05T19:33:39Z")
I don’t think most people here are dismissing his whole life and career. We’re just saying “yes, I heard the recording and he was being a dick.” I’ll take what I heard with my own ears over “he’s really a great guy! I heard he was at least!” Am I passing final judgement on him? No. I like him, and think he’s hot. It took Tom Cruise and Mel Gibson a few incidences to turn me off. Even at that, I’ll probably at least Netflix their movies if they seem good. I can know an actor is a dick and still watch their movies. That doesn’t make him not a dick. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2009, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-bale-loses-his-temper/484256/258 "2009-02-05T19:35:19Z")
Actually Jodi I agree with you and the others who are “defending” him. He absolutely was acting like an ass and it is pretty much inexcusable, especially for the length. I think the issue, which none of us can really answer, does he have the self-awareness after the fact to man up and apologize, not for the fact that he was frustrated, but for the over-extended over-reaction. And woulod you accept that apologuy because a) there is evidence that he is in fact a sincere, professional and well-liked guy; and b) you realize that yes you fucked up and you did deserve some sort of reprimand, if not necessarily in that manner. I can easily imagine this happening later, without microphones. “Dude, look I’m sorry I completely blew up at you in front of everybody. It was wrong and apologize. But please when I am trying to work don’t distract me, that should be common knowledge and we have asked you before. So please, for both of our benefits let’s bopth be professionals.” “Sure thing, I admit I also fucked up, and I am also sorry and it won’t happen again.” ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2009, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-bale-loses-his-temper/484256/259 "2009-02-05T19:38:16Z")
BTW, here is some more [detail from Ron Howard](http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977585328&grpId=3659174697244816&nav=Groupspace) whose daughter was working on the movie: > [@](#): > > Ron Howard says he has listened to the Christian Bale rant and understands what Bale was going through. Ron Howard says it was a very intense scene and the director of photography was disturbing the set, which is a big-time no-no in Hollywood. Ron Howard says Christian Bale is a very emotional actor and felt awful about the rant and **apologized to everyone on the set the next day**. The DP of the film was never fired. Bryce Howard and Christian Bale went on to film the rest of the movie without any drama. I don’t know if apologized in private to the DP, but it seems like it was pretty much dealt with then and there. ---
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2009, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-bale-loses-his-temper/484256/260 "2009-02-05T19:38:35Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > Jodi, can you say what it was about his tirade that you found to be dickish, exactly? I assume from this you haven’t listened to the recording, in which he calls the guy a prick and threatens to kick his ass. But that doesn’t do justice to the flavor of the rant; you’ll have to listen to it yourself. > [@](#): > > Not once, but repeatedly. Given your talent for rhetorical flourish, I would be surprised if you did not express yourself with some colorful vigor. I’m not all that and a bag of chips, but I can generally make myself understood without screaming at people, calling them names, or threatening to kick their asses. I’m as bad as I ever get on this message board, in terms of swearing and flaming people, but I can assure you that IRL I would _never_ conduct myself in anything like that fashion in either a professional or personal setting, and I sure as hell wouldn’t unload like that on a subordinate. It’s disrespectful, it’s counter-productive, it reveals a lack of self-control, and it makes _you_, the screamer, look like the asshole. That doesn’t mean I hold myself out as a paragon of professionalism and even-temper; it means that this sort of immature tantrum should be unacceptable to everyone, in every profession. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-bale-loses-his-temper/484256.md?page=12) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-bale-loses-his-temper/484256.md?page=14)