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Christian Bale as Bill O'Reilly


Marcus Joseph

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http://www.aolcdn.com/tmz_audio/020209_christianbale.mp3

 

I'm baffled at how this was released, but even more so that the director didn't intervene instead of just saying "I didn't see anything" or something along those lines.

 

An actor should have no right no matter how big they are to skitz out on crew members like that.

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Similar incidents, though usually not quite that extreme, happen all too often on a movie set. You have a heady mix of powerful people some of whom never left adolescence emotionally, combined with a high-pressure, high-stakes environment, plus long hours over a number of weeks or months...

 

It's my least favorite aspect of moviemaking and the one that takes most of the joy out of the process when it happens.

 

Under the pressures of making a movie, even some of the nicest people I have ever met can have moments of unreasonable unpleasantness -- you find yourself having to forgive an awful lot.

 

This sort of incident is usually part of a trend -- if Bale wasn't screaming at the DP for this innocent mistake, then he probably would be screaming at the 2nd AD outside of his trailer or a make-up person, etc. for some other mistake. The anger is out of proportion to the incident.

 

I had one actor once go on a tirade against the director and me one day -- later a longtime friend of that actor said he only showed his anger to people he trusted and liked, which seems an odd way of relating to people!

 

I find that some "star" actors, male or female, tend to be stuck in the emotional and social conventions of high school -- the guy still thinks he's the star quarterback and the actress still thinks she's the prom queen. Once you realize you're talking to a 14-year-old -- even if the actor is middle-aged -- you gain some perspective on what they are going through.

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Must say as much as I respect Bale as an actor there are no excuse for in public go on like that.

As David Mullen so well describe there are a lot of pressure at a filmset, but still, after being a dp at

five features and ten tv-series I have never ever been close to something like this.

A lot of pressure, sure, but this is smply to far out.

I did like the 14year old thing, never thought about it before.

 

Andreas

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In my 15 feature films (and countless commercials) as a crew member I have only seen this situation once before. It sure wasn't pretty and the incidents became routine between the two involved. I swore then that if anyone ever talked to me like only once that I would walk off the set never to come back.

 

Since working on movie sets I have found that is the closest to royalty here in the US are "celebrities". I have had my share of unpleasant encounters with them, although nothing even remotely near the Bale example. That whole "above / below the line" thing infuriates me, "nobles and commoners" anyone?

 

But even crew members can become like that, in my experience mainly transpo guys. Some are really nice and some are just out of control who love to get into shouting matches with anyone unlucky enough to piss them off, and the ones out for a fight have hair-trigger tempers too.

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Oh, it seems evident to me that someone in the sound department leaked this out, as the source of the sound seems to be a lav, judging that all others sound distant from the source and that there is no video of it, being that they seemed to be rehearsing a take when the DP stepped in to look at a light.

 

If that is the case, those sound dept. guys could find themselves looking hard for another career soon. Or maybe it will turn to this big expose, along the lines of "When movie stars attack!!" :lol:

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The sound people had to turn a copy over to the producers in case there was an insurance claim if Bale walked off the set, so it didn't necessarily get leaked to the public through the sound department. The sound had to go through both the production offices and a post house probably, maybe even editorial.

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this situation shows 2 problems for me.

 

- first no one for no reason should do anything else than focus on what is going on during a take and should only think on how to fix the problem AFTER the cut.

i know often people wants to do theire best in theire craft and try to save time working during the takes and it can come to this situation.

 

- second it's a shame that the sound crew put this stuff on internet, the sound is clear and sharp and come from an open mic.

it's sad to see a high level film crew doing stuff like that.

 

working on a film set is often verry fun but one should never forget it's a place of creation that needs focus and respect.

 

i can understand what bayle felt : "they respect theire craft more than my work, they don't give a poop of me" and at this time you could here he wasn't beleiving anymore to nothing".... sad

 

my opinion

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The sound people had to turn a copy over to the producers in case there was an insurance claim if Bale walked off the set, so it didn't necessarily get leaked to the public through the sound department. The sound had to go through both the production offices and a post house probably, maybe even editorial.

 

That is true. Thanks, David.

 

Wouldn't want to get those guys in trouble . . .

Edited by Saul Rodgar
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What gets me is the mixed accent. There's nothing wrong with swearing like an American - as long as you are actually an American. There's nothing quite so redolent of insecurity, in that context. Gotta be one of the gang.

 

Is there really nobody around whose job it is to say "shut up, Bale, you're acting like Paris Hilton on the comedown?"

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If this sort of recording gets wide exposure, I wonder what sort of damage this could have on not only on T4 but Christian Bale's career. I was thinking that tabloid shows could/would never be able to play over the air, but then again they love this sort of scandalous garbage-- bleeping out half of what he says makes it all the more "shocking" and "appalling."

 

Klaus Kinski's tantrums became legendary because they were sort of hilarious and pathetic and a few underhanded directors could actually manipulate his little fits into his bettering his "performance."

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Does anyone know Shane Hurlbut (the DP) if so, can they share the other side to this story?

On his IMDb board page.

 

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0403397/board/nest/112880831 (notice the date?)

 

There was a release about a shot being messed up months ago, but not much details beyond that. So it seems he replied around that time (which is probably when the incident occurred considering they've wrapped shooting).

 

He also replied to this one:

 

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0403397/board/nest/112683233

 

But now the board is full of Bale fans, trolls and such. So I doubt he'd be making any more replies.

Edited by Marcus Johnston
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- second it's a shame that the sound crew put this stuff on internet, the sound is clear and sharp and come from an open mic.

it's sad to see a high level film crew doing stuff like that.

 

i disagree with your opinion. If you don't confront people, they'll get away with murder. I do agree that bale handled this way terrible.

 

Also, like david said, this isn't 100% definitely the sound crew.

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Here's a little background. Of course, we don't know (do we?) how long they'd been at it, how many takes were wasted, etc, etc.

 

http://defamer.com/5144753/audio-christian...vation-meltdown

Well, he says that it was the 2nd time in the audio....

We also don't know what horrible offense was really perpetrated. It's hard to make excuses for the guy, at least at this point.

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I don't get what you don't get.

 

It's obvious to me that Bale had to take control of a set that was being operated like charlies angels.

 

So, he comes off as a hard ass a-hole. Who cares. Hurlburt should know better. And Mcg should have control of the set and been as pissed if not more pissed. But that's just it! It had happened before, how many times? Obviously Mcg didn't take care of his business, and friend Hurlburt. No offense , but they aren't making a drew barrymore movie. Bale demands a certain level professionalism, even though he reacted in an "unprofessional way". But I bet that set ran pretty frickin smooth after he was finished. Fear can be a great motivator. Directors sometime purposely piss off actors and confuse them, almost to a degree of emotional torture. This was nothing.

 

Bale had to explode. Oh, you could say, " well..he didn't have to insult him and threaten him...", and I would agree with that. But the case remains Bale is the only one who has seen a set operate at a high level besides Gale Anne Hurd on the whole frickin movie.

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- first no one for no reason should do anything else than focus on what is going on during a take and should only think on how to fix the problem AFTER the cut.

i know often people wants to do theire best in theire craft and try to save time working during the takes and it can come to this situation.

 

This is how I saw the situation. Never do I EVER see a DP jump out into the scene during a take, let alone a rehearsal, to "check a light." It's ALWAYS something that's done between takes. Especially with an actor like Bale, who is certainly one of those guys who completely surrenders himself to the characters he plays (see The Machinist & Rescue Dawn vs. Batman Begins), one should probably have a better sense of when he/she is walking on eggshells. He is after all playing John Connor...so the tension had to be a little high.

 

Hurlbut has done some great work, so I don't doubt his knowledge and skill. But the best of us have lapses of judgement under great pressure sometimes. I'm sure they got past it. And despite being directed by McG, I'm very much looking forward to the film :)

Edited by Jonathan Bowerbank
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Unless you were on the set I don't think anything can be obvious.

 

I would also mention that Bale isn't the only one (other than Gale Anne Hurd) that has seen a set of that high level - say what we will about McG, but the 2nd Charlie's Angels was a $100+ Million movie and the ASC doesn't extend invitations to join their ranks to just anyone (Hurlbut is a member).

 

An explosion like this, in my opinion, is never called for unless a safety issue is being ignored and there's a life in danger. Tempers obviously can rise on set, and people (as David mentioned) can have a bad moment where they snap and become unpleasant - but to this degree seems utterly unreasonable.

 

If the DP was, in fact, doing something to distract or otherwise interrupt a performance, then it's valid that it be addressed and remedied, but to throw down a gauntlet like that on set accomplishes very little of anything productive and certainly doesn't set the stage for a high bar of professionalism.

 

It's also interesting that despite this explosion, Hurlbut wasn't fired - if the indiscretion was really that significant, wouldn't it stand to reason he would have been replaced?

 

After something like this, the set may run "smoother" in the sense that people are all keeping their heads down to avoid being a target - that's hardly an environment where people are motivated (or comfortable) to do their best work - at that point it becomes about self-preservation and the overall quality of the film suffers.

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It's ALWAYS something that's done between takes.

 

Not ALWAYS.

 

But working with actors is obviously difficult...which is why most DP's are most comfortable around lighting & camera gear

 

It's very important for the DP to have good relations with everyone, especially main Actors. I'm sure you were generalizing and joking, but to some extent, it's important to emphasize that we should not just be techie geeks. I find that I watch the director a lot whether I'm shooting or not, and if they are having trouble communicating, I try to help when I'm 1 on 1 with the actor.

 

This kind of incident happens in EVERY profession. Just be happy it didn't happen to you. ( mean everyone reading this. I'm not singling you out john)

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