Chase Ransom the diference was not in being mouthed off to, but threatened with violence.
Am I really the only one here who, when threatened with violence might just respond in kind?
I don’t think I would have really let loose on Mr. Bale, but I think a hard shove, punch might have gotten across that you don’t tell me you’re going to beat me up unless you plan on backing up said statement.
In my scenarios, I never said anything about my employee threatening to beat me up.
omg that is brilliant!:d
I’ve heard the latter on another message board, but who knows? Nobody seems to be talking, anyway.
Probably, the other person would avoid making eye contact, and walk away as quickly as possible, like they do with every other raving street loony.
If I did it to a coworker, he’s probably going to wait until I shut up, then go to HR and get me fired. But I’m not really in a position where I have subordinates I can browbeat. I’m pretty certain no one would take a swing at me, because that would just result in both of us getting fired, and him going to jail for assault. If we turn it around, and I’m the one getting reamed by my manager, it depends: if I fucked up, I’ll probably sit there and take it, because I don’t want to be looking for a new job in this economy. If it’s absolutely intolerable, then I don’t swing at the guy, I quit the job. Beat the guy up? Put him in the* hospital?* Because he’s yelling at me? No. That’s an absurd over-reaction, and is almost certainly going to get you arrested. Without question, it’s going to get you fired anyway, and good luck getting references from that place. You apply this to the situation in the OP, and you’re not just finished in that job, you’re finished in that industry. You think there’s anyway that guy would ever get hired for another job when he’s known as the guy who beat up Christian Bale? You really think destroying your entire career is worth the Tough Guy points you’d earn for decking a guy because he “got in your face?”
Everyone has the experience of someone else doing something they find annoying. There are good ways to deal with it, and really bad ways. Bale did not handle this well and it doesn’t reflect well on him.
It’s not his call who is working on the lights, who is hired, who is fired. He’s employed to do his job, and other people are employed to decide who is working on the movie.
Maybe this lighting guy made a mistake once, twice or several times. It’s annoying, but it doesn’t mean Bale is entitled to behave like a spoilt brat, swear and curse, threaten this guy and demand that he be removed from the set. Even when we feel annoyed, there are standards of civilised behaviour.
If you feel like excusing Bale because it was a high-stress situation, I suggest that we try this mind experiment. Next time I feel highly stressed and annoyed by something, I’ll run my keys along your car and smash the windows of your house, and then run away. My excuse is, I was feeling stressed, annoyed and angry. Do you feel this makes it okay for me to behave as it did? No, of course not. Ditto with Bale acting like a spoilt brat and threatening the guy he’s talking to. There is no excuse.
If Bale feels it is important for this man to act responsibly, then he must equally accept that he (Bale) has a responsibility to behave like a civilised adult, especially towards other professionals who are working with him on the movie.
There are other actors who perform just as well as Bale, and possibly even better. They have to put up with the same problems, annoyances and occasional disruptions caused by other people. Yet somehow, they manage to remain civil and behave like adults. Bale needs to grow up.
Hmm, that’s my Fight Club assignment for this week.
Depends. Did I do something to seriously piss you off? Because, see, the problem with your analogy is that I had nothing to do with why you’re pissed, so why are you taking it out on me and mine? But, yeah, if you fuck up repeatedly, why shouldn’t someone get mad and give you a chewing out?
Well there you go again, talking about Fight Club. What is wrong with you? Are you an idiot or something? I am going to kick your ass now for breaking the first rule!!
Its on!
Rules 1 & 2 are so ten years ago.
Oh, come on. You can’t honestly think that’s a valid comparison!
I think my interpretation of the events as they went down is flawed. But it’s not like we have video of the thing.
In my mind I’m thinking things turned physical, but they probably didn’t.
In my defense, every time (and no, it hasn’t been that many times 
) someone has told me they were going to kick my ass they weren’t standing yard away form me fuming. They were up in my face shoving and grabbing. Because that’s what people do when they want to kick your ass.
I guess I just had that mental image and was working form there. Thinking about it, the scenario probably didn’t play out like that at all and a beat down in that case would be needless escalation.
So although I still think Bale had no right to spout off like that to a coworker, I take back waht I said about how I would start a confrontation if I were in that role.
Word. Ditto. What you said. Hear, hear.
Film acting is one of the most emotionally stressful professions I can think of – “make yourself crazy” is pretty much the job description. You have to not only create a completely different person, but be able to snap in and out of them mentally and physically whenever the director says jump, over and over again for the rest of your life. Actors are, generally, more overtly emotionally over-the-top than people in other professions, but – that’s what they do! Nobody can act well and flip all the switches off all the way, especially not quickly, especially not after being interrupted during a scene.
When I worked in theatre, no matter how nice and pleasant and kind and skilled an actor was, you knew to keep away from them from curtain up to curtain down, because being a little crazy is literally part of their job.
All prior arguments aside, the thing that hits me here is that we’re even hearing this. And the only reason in the world we are is because Bale is a celebrity movie star.
I promise you, hundreds of screaming fits just like this at someone’s workplace every single day of the year. People yell at people, threaten them, and either they fight or they don’t. Sometimes, one comes back to work with a loaded gun, then we hear about it.
I’m sure Whatever Baldwin is not the first father to leave a shitty phone message for their kid while they were drunk, but because he’s a Baldwin, we got that.
I don’t care enough to argue whether or not being a film actor is all that intense. I’m guessing we can all think of quite a few more intense, pressurizing occupations right off the top of our heads, where if someone had a tantrum like that for any reason they’d be toast.
So the big star made a scene because the light guy made a big boo-boo. Is it really worth the space, ink or bandwidth it’s getting to even care?
The type of people that think getting yelled at like this is the. end. of . the. world. usually fall into one of two categories. Either they are the type of person that violently reacts to any situation in which they are made to look like a fool by someone else, or they are the type of person who does not know how to deal with loud noises and scary/stressful situations and so they break down and cry like small children.
This is not the end of the world and I would thank God for not getting canned on the spot. I would turn my emotions on myself for being such a fucking idiot and potentially ruining what is probably a high-paying career.
I just don’t see any justification for what Bale did. He’s yelling and threatening the DP like he’s some nimrod off the street. Hulburt is the friggin Director of Photography for Terminator IV. I’m pretty sure he knows what he should and shouldn’t do. Bale is the one who is acting like it’s the end of the world. OMG, he’s going to have to do the scene again! Is he this hard on himself when he forgets a line? Somehow, I doubt it.
It sounds like he was moving around off camera in Bale’s line of sight and it was so distracting that it pulled him out of character. I don’t see how it makes a difference. If you screw up the shot by distracting the actor you’ve blown the scene just as thoroughly as if you screw up the shot by walking in front of the camera.
It’s not suspension of disbelief, it’s concentration. If you’re trying to really concentrate hard on something, having someone moving around it your field of view can be distracting. Some people have no trouble concentrating in the middle of a crowded room with people shouting all around them. Some people need stillness and quiet to focus. If Bale is the latter sort, then it’s not unreasonable for the film crew to create an environment around him where he’ll do his best work. Frankly if the entire crew had to stand on their heads during a take to get a great performance out of Bale … well, they should be prepared to stand on their heads.
Why does the actor get more consideration than the rest of the crew? Because while the cameras are rolling, the success or failure of the shot is almost entirely on his back. He’s doing precision work in real time and if he blows it then all the effort that went into setting up the shot and capturing it is wasted. In many ways the actors are the weakest link. So a good crew gives the actors as much protection and support as possible because it makes everyone’s jobs easier.
Harry from Ain’t it Cool News has some insight. Take it for what it is worth.
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.
I’ll still pay to see his movies. This doesn’t bother me at all.