# 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:** 8
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-bale-loses-his-temper/484256/141 "2009-02-04T03:18:03Z")
I’m not trying to be rude, but it’s fairly obvious that you are confused about what actually transpired during the tirade. Shane fucked up. Bruce interrupted one time (early on) to try and calm Bale down, not three or four. There is a fourth person involved, the assistant director. He is brought into the conversation by Bale & does his absolute best to say very little and let Bale finish. The DP (Shane) started by apologizing, then clammed up until Bale started screaming “give me a fucking answer”. The very fact that the DP didn’t tell the screaming lunatic to go fuck himself speaks volumes about where the power was in this exchange. When someone in a position of power very specifically asks you for an answer, you provide one. ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-bale-loses-his-temper/484256/142 "2009-02-04T03:46:26Z")
> [@DeadlyAccurate](#): > > The longer it went on, the more his real accent slipped through. I couldn’t even remember if he was an American or not until I heard that and then checked. Yeah he was slipping in and out of American/British accents. I sometimes do that to, so I found it interesting. ---
**Author:** ![mshar253](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@mshar253](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mshar253)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-bale-loses-his-temper/484256/143 "2009-02-04T03:53:53Z")
He lost his temper. It happens. Maybe _you’d_ handle it differently, but tell me when he murders the guy. _That_ would be a real overreaction. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-bale-loses-his-temper/484256/144 "2009-02-04T03:55:28Z")
Is it just me or does he seem like the new Russel Crowe? Christian Bale…fightin’ round the world! ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-bale-loses-his-temper/484256/145 "2009-02-04T05:17:57Z")
I’ll just note that in the article linked to in the other thread on this, it said that the recording was from last June and took place a few days before he had the big shout out with his mom. So this really isn’t the “second” incidence of him going ballistic. More likely something was going on in his private life that week that made him a bit ornery. ---
**Author:** ![straykat23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@straykat23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/straykat23)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-bale-loses-his-temper/484256/146 "2009-02-04T05:34:50Z")
What a jerk. Here’s good take on it: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/YTihsJQHt48/hqdefault.jpg "Bale Out - RevoLucian's Christian Bale Remix!") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTihsJQHt48) ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-bale-loses-his-temper/484256/147 "2009-02-04T05:40:24Z")
I dunno, if Christian Bale is right, I don’t see it as that big of a deal. Actors are paid to bring up their emotions in a scene, that’s their craft. The lighting guy should not be walking around on the set while there’s a take. So what, he lost his temper. This isn’t like Russell Crowe shit. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-bale-loses-his-temper/484256/148 "2009-02-04T05:44:04Z")
For those that don’t think it’s a big deal I guess they don’t understand that fucking up a take can cost tens of thousands of dollars. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-bale-loses-his-temper/484256/149 "2009-02-04T05:48:01Z")
> [@Kinthalis](#): > > But I don’t see the need for it. > > Was the chewing out all that happened Dio? Or did your manager explain what you did wrong, and helped you figure out how not to make that mistake again? And if so, why was the chewing out necessary? > > See, that’ the difference I guess. That’s what I would have done. even if I would have been pissed I would not have hurled insults at you or questioned your parentage in a professional environment. I might have told you to stop what you are doing and wait for me outside. I would have explained what you were doing wrong and how that affected the service and tried in some way to help you NOT make that mistake again. > > If you went and fucked up service again I would have pulled you aside and told you, sorry, it’s not working out, pack your things, I have to let you go. Why am I going to curse you out? > > What purpose would be served by me acting like an unprofessional ass? Just an ego trip? No thanks. You clearly don’t understand how this works. You think that it’s better to put production on hold while they have someone fly out from LA to Albuquerque so they can start shooting again? At a cost of maybe like $ 100,000 dollars in lost time that they have to pay people for who are now sitting around doing nothing waiting for a DP to be replaced. Sure he acted like a dick, but your posts show an incredible ignorance of how a film is put together. ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-bale-loses-his-temper/484256/150 "2009-02-04T05:49:30Z")
> [@criminey.jicket](#): > > Appallingly bad manners and abusive in real life, funny as hell in [The Remix](http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=YTihsJQHt48). YT-NSFW link. > [@fluiddruid](#): > > Also, [this fella’s](http://www.myspace.com/revolucian) musical remix of the incident is freaking hilarious. > [@straykat23](#): > > What a jerk. > > Here’s good take on it: > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTihsJQHt48](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTihsJQHt48) So do you guys think there’s a good remix out there of all this? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-bale-loses-his-temper/484256/151 "2009-02-04T06:02:48Z")
Maybe too much from Bale, but I have to side with him after being in similar situations. On more than one project, my co-workers and I have had days or weeks of work flushed down the drain because someone made an idiotic mistake\*. Again. And again. We can’t fire the person because he works for a different company, and going to his boss gets a reaction of “Yeah, he’s an idiot. No, I won’t fire him. You have to work with him, so deal with it.” So after the third time he fucks up our work in exactly the same way he gets verbally ripped a new asshole in front of everyone, which usually lasts a lot longer and gets a lot more personal than Bale’s little speech. The point of us humiliating someone like that is that by the time you’re 40, you should have already encountered and understood all the calm, rational, productive reasons for doing your job the right way. If it hasn’t sunk in by that time, and we can’t fire your useless ass, the only left is to shock the stupid out of you. If that still doesn’t get you to shape up, at least we can hope to leave enough emotional scarring that you sit down, shut up and stay out of the way. \ ***Example 1:** 15 people working for three weeks to put together an ad that finally gets shown to the client’s top guy and approved. Right in front of the client, idiot says “wow, I’m surprised you said yes.”, causing the client to reconsider and sending everyone back to square one. **Example 2:** before filming a TV ad (involving dozens of workers and several hundred thousand dollars), the same idiot had just one job: check with the models’ agency that none of them have done ads for competing products. 90% through the shooting, we learn that one model had just had a lead role in an ad for the client’s #1 competitor forcing re-shoots or heavy edits of nearly every scene. The man is on a roll to waste more man-hours than he has been alive. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Cymbeline](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_cymbeline/32/9244_2.png) [@Green\_Cymbeline](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Cymbeline)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-bale-loses-his-temper/484256/152 "2009-02-04T06:22:47Z")
> [@criminey.jicket](#): > > Appallingly bad manners and abusive in real life, funny as hell in [The Remix](http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=YTihsJQHt48). YT-NSFW link. This is FANTASTIC!! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-bale-loses-his-temper/484256/153 "2009-02-04T06:26:42Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > He’s filming a fucking Terminator movie, not performing open heart surgery. I vote he’s an ass. That really disappoints me, because I’ve always liked him. > > If an actor is performing “an intense scene” and can’t reproduce that intense scene 50 times he’s not much of an actor. Come on. It’s what he spends his professional life doing, just as a cardiac surgeon spends his life doing open heart surgery. It’s the most important thing in the world to him at the moment. I think it’s pretty low to mike him for the entire outburst and then release it to the Internet. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-bale-loses-his-temper/484256/154 "2009-02-04T07:20:27Z")
> [@mswas](#): > > For those that don’t think it’s a big deal I guess they don’t understand that fucking up a take can cost tens of thousands of dollars. Thus it would make sense if the producer or director was going ballistic, but I seriously doubt it costs Christian Bale tens of thousands of dollars whether it takes one take or fifteen. This is clearly not about the money it takes. I’m irked at the people in this thread and the many other boards who seem to think that those who believe Bale’s a dick deny that he had a _right_ to be pissed- no question, I can totally understand why he’s pissed. (Again, a real actor is going to be able to get it again- if Beatrice Lilly can give three comedy performances within 24 hours of learning her only child had been mortally wounded by the Nazis or Henry Fonda can deliver an Oscar winning performance while on oxygen between takes or Jerry Lewis can complete a scene in spite of chest pains from a massive heart attack that happened as soon as he yelled cut [_Cinderfella_] then I’m pretty sure Bale can get his groove back.) It’s the _degree_ and _amount_ of his being pissed off that makes him a dick- 30 seconds of turning the air blue, even threatening to have the guy fired- all that’s fine and excusable, but the “I’m gonna fucking kick your fucking ass” threats and the fact that he’s still going 4 minutes later just makes him seem like a coked up nutball. Dude, you’ve got a wife and a kid and you’re a multimillionaire, life should be pretty good- chill. ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-bale-loses-his-temper/484256/155 "2009-02-04T07:55:35Z")
> [@Kinthalis](#): > > I would have kicked his ass IF he would have gotten in my face cursing at me and threatening to kick my ass, yes. > > I have no way of knowing if he’s just talking shit or if he’s one of those celebrities that throw phones at their co-workers/employees so, yeah. Yeah like - cus we all know that its ok to respond with violence when someone pisses us off right? Orrrr…it’s only ok when you do? ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-bale-loses-his-temper/484256/156 "2009-02-04T08:00:51Z")
> [@Hi\_Neighbor](#): > > He says the word “fuck” 36 times. Yeah, he doesn’t have much variety in his swearing, does he? ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-bale-loses-his-temper/484256/157 "2009-02-04T08:12:13Z")
I thought it was hilarious. Now, I wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of that, but I think I’d be laughing my ass off a few days later. I think the context matters, 100 percent. I’ve had guys cuss me out like crazy playing sports, but it’s a context where emotions are high and you let some stuff go. To Bale’s credit he does seem to back off a bit… it’s probably registering in his head that there’s a tape rolling of this somewhere. Amazing how his voice changes accent during the tirade. And seeing how the project is well underway, isn’t it likely that the director of photography will stay on the project unless he’s truly bad at his job, rather than get shitcanned because a primadonna actor goes off on him? Judging from the folks that I know work in theater and in Hollywood, I think stuff like this happens all the time. We just got to hear it. Chances are, I expect, they’ll patch up and at least manage to finish the project… Maybe it’s a guy thing, but I didn’t hear anything in there that I thought was anything more than male bluster. “Fuck you, be a professional, I’ll kick your ass” is pretty much run of the mill shit-talking from agitated guys. Now if he started talking about his wife, or said his mom was a slut I’d say Bale went way too far and photo guy was justified in whupping his ass. I figure the photo guy will get a lot of sympathy for this, and Bale will pay a price for it, even if it’s just having his rep sullied. Which is one good reason to keep your shit together if you’re in the public eye, besides being a decent human being. ---
**Author:** ![Linty\_Fresh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Linty\_Fresh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Linty_Fresh)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-bale-loses-his-temper/484256/158 "2009-02-04T11:37:46Z")
**Labrador** , having been on both sides of that exchange in my life, I stand by my take on it. It seems to me that Bale is yelling at the fuck-up and the guy who just won’t let it slide, and whatever they’re saying is just making things worse. They’re talking back, hence the problem. > [@Hippy Hollow](#): > > I figure the photo guy will get a lot of sympathy for this, and Bale will pay a price for it, even if it’s just having his rep sullied. Which is one good reason to keep your shit together if you’re in the public eye, besides being a decent human being. He probably will have his rep sullied. I agree with you on that. I myself, on the other hand, actually like Bale more now, and this makes me want to see more of his movies. How many times have _I_ wanted to go off on some asshole in the workplace who doesn’t get it and doesn’t seem interested in learning how. Man, if I could get away with it, I would do and say exactly what he did–without the threats of physical violence, of course. WWCBD? Yeah, right about now, I want to see a Christian Bale movie. _Any_ Christian Bale movie, just to support the guy. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-bale-loses-his-temper/484256/159 "2009-02-04T11:48:26Z")
My philosophy is " What happens on the set, stays on the set." They are all getting paid a fantasical amount of money to make a steaming pile of crap. Why can’t I work in Hollywood? ---
**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 4, 2009, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-bale-loses-his-temper/484256/160 "2009-02-04T11:56:40Z")
I have not read any of the explainations but are we sure the guy made a mistake? I know Bale thinks so but would a reasonable person? This guy isn’t new. I looked him up in IMDB. He has been working in the film industry for twenty years. He is listed as a cinematographer for the last ten. I think it might be safe to say he was doing things the way he has for years, on many different projects. He just never had to deal with such a prima donna. Given the timing I think it is likely that things from Bale’s personal life were intruding into his work. It happens to the best of us. Doesn’t change the fact that he was being a dick. I’ll still watch his movies. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-bale-loses-his-temper/484256.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-bale-loses-his-temper/484256.md?page=9)