Ridiculousness on a Hollywood Set!

themuzicman

Well-Known Member
I heard this clip, and knew I had to post it here!

It's a very explicit clip of Christian Bale going nuts on a Director of Photography after he wandered in to a scene to check out the placement of a light. Not sure how I feel on it, not knowing the setup.

Is Bale being a prima donna, or was the director of photography legitimately wrong =/

Bale Went Ballistic - TMZ.com
WARNING--May contain objectionable language.
 
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Uhm...helloooo...isn't this the guy who got arrested for smacking his chick and/or mother around in a hotel room in London right around time of the last Batman premier? My opinion: the guy is a major douche.
 
While this "Bale-Out" is hard to listen to, especially after f-bomb #37, he does have a point. Should he have handled it more professionally, yes. I'm not excusing his behavior at all, except that it makes for an entertaining start-up sound for your computer after you edit it down to a manageable length.

Anyway... as technicians we always need to be sensitive to the needs of actors as artists. Where they have to be in their own heads to maintain a character and believability to a scene. As technicians, we sometimes are just our of eyeline, and sightlines making things happen, at the same time we can't distract an actor. In his tirade, Bale even mentions about how mentally he disengages from the scene to start thinking about what the DP is doing.

How many times have you been on a crew or seen a crew do stuff like that? Techs having no sensitivity for an actors craft while dealing with a tech issue. Bale obviously doesn't have respect for the DP, one of the most important people on a film set, or he would NEVER go off like that, on a hot mic infront of full IATSE crew. I shudder to think what the next day on the set was like.

But seriously, we techs need to keep actors in mind when scenes are performing. Even rehearsing. The more Method an actor is, the more they have to take themselves places to get a performance.

BTW- This particular clip was released to the studios Attorneys to be a CYA if Bale did indeed bail on T4. It is after that point it has been released to the Web and the World. Artists need to remember that if they are wearing a mic, it can come back to haunt you. I bet his PR guy is not having a good morning.
 
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Anyway... as technicians we always need to be sensitive to the needs of actors as artists.
That's a good argument for why actor training programs need to require a technical component, so actors are more aware of the other side of the job. And to be fair, 1st year technicians could stand to do just a bit of performing. I'll walk onstage and start building set pieces or pull a designer up onstage for a conference mid rehearsal if it needs to be done, and my actors are all trained to keep working around the chaos. Not quite the same as a movie set I realize, but none of them would ever launch into a tirade like that.
 
I whole heartedly agree that actors do need to keep their concentration while doing a scene. At my school, we're putting on a production of A Moon to Dance By, with actors who have very professional demeanors and who respect the technical side of the show. But when two of the stagehands had a side conversation get loud and distract the actors during a very long and emotionally dynamic scene, the stage manager made it very clear that if it happened again, heads would roll.

However, given the (insert sarcasm) dramatic, intense aspects of TERMINATOR 4, bale's reaction was over the top. The whole confrontation could have been as simple as, "hey, you distracted me during that take. Would you mind keeping out of my sightlines?"
 
That's a good argument for why actor training programs need to require a technical component, so actors are more aware of the other side of the job. And to be fair, 1st year technicians could stand to do just a bit of performing.

Absolutely! Any good program needs to have Techs acting and Actors doing tech. In the program I run, I encourage my High School Techs to audition and get cast in at least one show so they can understand what an acotr goes through. When I'm working with actors, I do the same to them. I encourage them to work on a crew to get a feel and understanding of that side of the stage.

Without a doubt, actors and techs who do this are better for the experience.
 

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