THE OBENSON REPORT

Covering Cinema From All Across The African Diaspora

AUDIO - Don't F*** With Christian Bale On Set!

This is one of several reasons why I don't look forward to ever working with star performers.

Maybe he had a very good reason to be pissed off; but did the man deserve to be berated so viciously, especially in the presence of others?

And this wasn't some PA he was scolding; it was the freaking DP of the movie!! You'd think he was talking to his water-boy! Not that PAs or water-boys deserve this kind of treatment.


I like Christian Bale, and this doesn't drastically alter my view of him; I doubt that this will have any lasting negative effects...

Relax Christian... relax...

Here's the audio from the set Of Terminator Salvation.



via TMZ

9 comments:

  1. Anonymous said...
     

    I've never worked on s aet but it is interesting that McG (they really call him that) said he didn't see it happen. How can you direct and not see whats going on?

  2. The Obenson Report said...
     

    I'm guessing McG was just trying to save his DP's arse, and keep the peace as best as he could. He kept trying to calm Bale down, but Bale wouldn't.

    Towards the end of his rant he says, "seriously, you and me... we're fucking done professionally."

    He said that right after talking to McG, so I'm not sure if he was saying that to McG, or the DP, Shane Hurlbut.

  3. Anonymous said...
     

    The dp usually is the one directing while the director watches the screen. it depends on the director. i can see him not seeing it but he was probably just covering his own butt.


    did he say shane or steve? on imdb the 1st ad steve has a great resume.
    man that's a tough one. i hear dp's have to get paid if they get fired. i mean the guys reputation may be shot either way. i would of walked off after the first swear word was directed at me. yea man actor's are rough. i remember harry connick jr. calling after craft services calling her catering she and i laughed about that.

    i was called a name before on channel two but the ad thought i did something that someone else did. i'm kinda passionate about this subject b/c it is another reason why i want to lay off of the pa work. i want to be top dawg. as a matter of fact i'm gonna post my monologue about it.

  4. Sujewa Ekanayake said...
     

    Not enough info to know exactly what happened, BUT, I can see how if Bale was in the middle of a difficult scene, with make up & or other uncomfortable gear on, how it can be very distracting to have the DP walk in to his line of sight in the background. Generally, I think, once the scene is lit, tech issues have been resolved & figured out, & actors have been brought onto the set & they are either shooting or doing a run through before shooting, everyone else should stay out of the way & let the actors do their work.

    Also we do not know if Bale asked nicely a few times earlier before he had to blow up.

    A light out of place may not be a big deal in the final movie, but a distracted actor at a crucial moment in a crucial shot cannot be fixed in post/w/ CGI or whatever other tech (would be very difficult to do at least, if no other good shots exist).

    And, out of context, the clip may seem harsher than the situation actually may have been. For all we know Bale & the DP are friends.

    And also, generally it is not a good idea to blow up like Bale did on a set. Hopefully the team got everything worked out.

    - Sujewa

  5. Camille Acey said...
     

    This dude's anger is well known. He apparently attacked his mom last year.

    http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,389295,00.html

  6. The Wendilicious Wonder said...
     

    There is absolutely no reason to behave in this manner - none whatsoever. There are always other ways to deal with situations you're not happy with.

    Unfortunately, too many people will condone this sort of behaviour just because a person has some kind of rank or standing in the so-called pecking order.

    It's ill-mannered and reflects badly on Bale. Plus, he needs to bear in mind that he may have to deal with these kinds of people and situations on his way down, too... And people might not be so tolerant of such ignorant behaviour then.

  7. The Obenson Report said...
     

    Listening to it again, I think he was talking to McG when he said, "Seriously man, you and me, we're fucking done professionally." That's not good for McG's rep, I don't think.

    There's a pecking order on every set. It doesn't sound like McG, the director, had control of his set, which obviously reflects negatively on him. If the DP was indeed being a distraction, then McG should have been aware of it, and pulled the DP aside and had a chat with him - especially considering that this was the second time he did it, according to Bale's rant anyway.

    But that aside, McG should have done much more to assert himself, instead of allowing Bale to continue on for as long as he did. That kind of behavior could be very disruptive on any set.

    Obviously, Bale is the STAR (caps intended). But, again, if the director had full control of his set, this kind of shit wouldn't happen. Imagine if this was a veteran director behind the camera; I know disagreements occur on sets all the time, but, I doubt that this particular scene happens on a Soderbergh set; or a Clint Eastwood set; or a Coen Brothers set; or a Scorcese set; or a Spielberg set; etc, etc, etc...

    So, I blame McG for the entire thing.

    I never really cared for any of his work anyway. Both "Charlie's Angels" movies did absolutely nothing for me... not even a hard-on!

  8. Anonymous said...
     

    On another site a "insider" said that Bale complained to the DP and McG (I still can't believe they address him as McG)several times and nothing was done.

  9. Geniusbastard said...
     

    Having done some directing I have to agree that McG is the real loser in all of this. Yes, Bale was totally out of line, and yes he is starting to seem a little like Patrick Bateman after attacking his mum and sis, but as Tambay said, Bale wouldn't pull that crap with a director he really respected. And McG gives a lot of insight for this lack of respect by the lack of audible response.

    Sure, you can say Bale has a lot of pressure on him, cite the ever-faithful taken out of context defense, and I know how tempers can flare on a set after weeks of mounting frustration (I had an ugly donnybrook with my DP in front of my whole crew, cast and extras that resulted in the DP walking off/being fired, but I didn't just wear out the "F" word and it wouldn't embarrass me to have that incident recorded and played publicly), but this will hurt CB and he should be ashamed of his behavior.

    I must defend Mr. Joseph McGinty's earlier works. The Charlie's Angels films have some great moments, and while they may bode poorly for the tides of American Cinema, they are in and of themselves nearly irresistible examples of pop cinema.

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