Missed the edit window. Hurlbert recently worked with the director on We Are Marshall so I would assume he had no problem with his work.
This DP is notorious for tinkering with lighting while the cameras are rolling and the actors are working. This incident is being discussed on industry sites and almost everyone is taking Bale’s side. The general consensus is, Yeah, his reaction was over the top, but the photography staff had it coming, and what’s really going on here is, Bale was sick of McG failing to control his crew, and was deliberately making a huge scene in order to call leadership’s attention to the lack of focus and professionalism on the set. He was ranting, in other words, not at this guy specifically, but at what he believed to be a poorly-run production. Also being discussed is the sheer underhanded bitchiness of somebody on the crew getting a hold of this audio and releasing it to the world. There is crap like this on virtually every film set (the quiet exceptions, like movies directed by Clint Eastwood, are noteworthy for being different), and the recordings disappear into the archives if they’re retained at all. That this one escaped is unusual and speaks further to the unprofessionalism of McG’s production.
Please detail your experience working on movie sets.
[Nelson Muntz]
HA! First!
[/Nelson Muntz]
No
Please look up the definition of the words I used to compose my sentence.
Can anyone really be professional working for a guy who calls himself “McG”?
Now I’m not in the industry, but ‘don’t fuck with the lights during filming’ seems like a common-sense piece of advice. I’m a bit surprised that the guy has a job at all, since this is a habit of his. One of the links earlier in the thread mentioned that the DP finally stopped after the chewing out.
Bale may have been over the top, but this guy was begging for a whack from a clue-by-four, and Bale delivered it, if not with much style.
Well, if you’re baffled, then you should probably listen to the people with experience saying that it is in fact distracting.
There’s a similar (but obviously not identical) phenomenon that happens during filming which I read about in an essay by Stephen Fry on fame. You hear these rumors about how Actor X has demanded that nobody look him in the eye on set. How can these prima donnas live with themselves for being so high and mighty? As Fry explains, a film/TV actor has to get into the right frame of mind. They have to work themselves up into a particular mental state in order to produce a believable performance (one that holds up with a camera close up on their face, not an audience sitting 50+ feet away). When an actor reaches a certain level of fame, they may find folks on set such as extras and new staff staring at them. Especially in a crowded scene, everywhere the actor looks they’ll find someone staring. It’s disturbing and distracting and can really take you out of the mood. The actor asks the director if they could make sure people don’t stare quite so much, and when the order gets passed around it gets reinterpreted as unfairly as possible.
And that’s just a few people looking your way. In this situation you’ve got someone actively making noise and completely shattering concentration, and doing so repeatedly after being asked not to. Take into account the extra details Cervaise shared, which you had to have read given that you responded to the post, and it’s no wonder even an experienced actor like Bale decided to just let loose.
My understanding is the tape was kept for insurance purposes in case Bale decided to walk off the production. Still it should have never been released, IMO.
The funny thing is, Bale and the DP are probably Twittering each other right now, “Can you believe this shit.” “Really, did you here the re-mix? Pretty fucking funny.” (I’ll leave it to you to decide which one is Bale in that exchange).
Just because these people were able to accomplish that doesn’t mean they never cussed out a DP.
As far as I can tell that rant was fairly mild. He was pissed, but you know it’s his JOB to get his blood up, he’s an actor playing a soldier in a post-apocalyptic environment. You’re going to pay $ 11.00 to watch him barking at his underlings in a few months. Yes, it was a window into his pettiness, but as far as those types of rants go, that was really mild. It doesn’t even tell me that Christian Bale is a serious dick. Yes, it was a dick move, I don’t dispute that, but it wasn’t that big of a deal.
To me this makes it worse. If you have a problem with the director then take it out on the director. Taking it out on a lacky makes you a pussy. And this is 2009, its gonna get out. Get used to it. The only pass I’m going to give him is that this happened when bad shit was happening with his family and he was probably on edge.
What in the hell makes you think I’m not? When did I dispute any of them?
I like Bale a lot as an actor and really enjoy his work. However, I think he needs to find a better way to control his emotions.
As a great actor once said, “An actor should never be larger than the film he’s in.”
The lackey was hardly blameless and still likely deserved a good chunk of the chewing out.
Like my Mom would say, he just showed his ass.
And my, what a big ass…
I can see Bale’s point, but he came unhinged… that’s also unprofessional. It happens sometimes, but the length of his rage is worrying.
This reminded, BTW, of these two incidents with Lily Tomlin and David Russel on the set of I Heart Huckabees:
Plus, each “take” represents a lot of money.
AS has already been pointed out, that has nothing to do with Bale.
I didn’t say it did. The context of conversation was “they can just do another take”—>“they can’t because actors gets tired”—>“and also because in reality you don’t have infinite resources to waste”. It was a sidetrack from whether Bale’s fit was – actually I’m not sure what the question is, which is why I’m not weighing in directly. Everyone seems to agree it was over the top, but not whether going over the top is acceptable in his profession, or whether it speaks badly of him as a person. I would say anybody who blows up like that certainly has anger management problems if it happens repeatedly, and few people have the stamina for a full-blown rage-out if they don’t have practice.
I am not willing to let him off,
First of all if this was any other job in the world he’d have been fired or let go or at least reprimanded to the highest level for “creating a hostile working environment.”
In what other job can you threaten to “kick someone’s ass” and get away with it?
Second, this is BATMAN, it’s not any huge dramatic thing. People don’t say “I’m going to see a Batman flick for the acting.” No they want the ACTION.
Bale is a guy who is too full of himself. He should be let go from the film, it doesn’t matter even if the guy walked in his scene on purpose, because the fact is you don’t treat people like that.
I’m sick of people using excuses like “artistic temprament” for an excuse to be cruel and self-absorbed. It’s like teens who use drugs and blame it on “peer pressure.” It’s bull and we all know it.
This is the second movie in a row that this guy has worked with the director. He must like his work. He certainly knows by now how he does his job. So yes he is blameless. He is working the way his boss wants him to work. The reason why he was hired. If Bale has a problem with the way the set is run as was said upthread, then he should take it up with the boss, not the help.
It wasn’t Batman, it was the new Terminator movie. Bale plays John Conner.