Bale looses it during filming... (1 Viewer)

[Jeff Gatie]

Then there are those who criticize this behavior, but don't recognize they are guilty of it themselves. The other day, I was having a heated conversation with a team member inside his closed office. A manager came in (without knocking) and lectured us for being loud and unprofessional. I told him his "lecture" was about 10dB louder than our discussion ever was, and further reminded him that as far as professionalism is concerned, I once saw him throw a pair of glasses at a vendor's head. He mumbled something about insubordination and sulked back to his office.

 

[TravisR]

And on the opposite end of the spectrum, there were some people in this thread who appeared to defend everything he said. Even Bale said "I was out of order beyond belief. I was way out of order. I acted like a punk -- I regret that, and there is nobody that has heard that tape that is hit harder by it than me. So I make no excuses for it -- it is inexcusable, and I hope that is absolutely clear."

 

[Jeff Gatie]

He only did that because a) The tape was made public and b) There are those who believe that there is never an excuse for behaviour like that.

He certainly isn't going to lose any points with those who sympathize with his rant, so issuing that statement is a win/win situation. PR 101.

 

[BrettB]

I must say, a lot of you guys work in much more exciting workplaces than I do.

 

[Holadem]

Well Jeff, work is a place where I would find such behavior completely unacceptable. Girlfriends, immediate family and close friends can yell at me to their hearts content -- in private. I will not tolerate it in public, and never from anyone else, at all.

So you would have had no "heated conversation" with me; I would have walked away (assuming I was able to overcome the bloodlust that such situations provoke )

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H

 

[Jeff Gatie]

It was "heated" in that we were commiserating on the same subject, not adversarial. In other words, we were going over ways to compensate for a huge managerial foul up. The fact that management could hear the conversation was not planned at all.

 

[Nick Martin]

Actually, when the charges against Bale were dropped, the whole 'tearing him down a notch' thing was brought up as a reason it started.

 

[TravisR]

I think it's unfair to assume that he's just saying it solely for the sake of PR. He has smoothed over any problems with the DP so I think he legitimately feels bad about the incident.

 

[Michael Elliott]

The apology is always up to ones own opinion. I personally never buy them. Even with the recent pot smoking swimmer, I can't help but think that wasn't his first time and if he was sorry he would have came out before the photo was released. He apologized only because the photo was out. In certain cases, I just don't think the "person" is smart enough to write up an apology so it strikes me as nothing more than reading what the PR person wrote. That Hannah Montana strikes me as one of these as it seems she's saying sorry every other day.

 

[TerryRL]

AUDIO - Christian Bale: ‘Terminator’ Tirade Was ‘Inexcusable’ | Access Hollywood - Celebrity News, Photos & Videos

Bale apologizes.

 

[Holadem]

It is not conceivable to you that someone who went off like that in anger could actually sincerely be sorry about it, because gee, it's a celebrity. More, some of them are actually too dumb to pen a simple 3 sentence-long apology.

I have to wonder what celebrities have ever done to you personally to deserve this level of contempt. Yet judging by the "Track the Films you Watch" thread, here you are watching them every single day perform their craft and obviously deriving great enjoyment from it.

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H

 

[Michael Reuben]

Participants in this thread insist that isn't what they're doing, but just look at how quickly the celebrity references multiply: Polanski, Woody Allen, Michael Phelps, Hannah Montana. (Come to think of it, those all came from the same person. )

 

[Michael Elliott]

There isn't any contempt. Could they mean it? Of course and I believe Bale because he spoke from his mind and not from something someone wrote for him. That would be like Michael kicking me off the board and saying I could only come back with an apology. Instead of really being sorry I just had you write something up and I cut/paste it to him.

To take it further, as I said earlier I don't care as I can seperate personal/religious/issues or whatever else from a movie. I don't like Polanski or Chaplin for having sex with 13-year-old girls but that's not going to stop me from watching their movies. I think Sharon Stone is a bitch but that's not going to keep me from watching her movies and being honest about her. Allen shouldn't have done what he did but I still love his movies. Brando did a lot of harm to himself and various movies but that's not going to make me quit watching his movies. I don't care about ANYTHING Jolie doesn't and I don't care about any of her causes. I do enjoy her movies though.

I said this in the Oscar thread but I don't care if Jolie and Pitt were dating while he was married. More power to Pitt. I don't care if Nicholson is dating women younger than his great-granddaughter. More power to him. I don't care if Spears sleeps with fifty-men a day. Again, more power to her. Is Lohan a lesbian? More power to her. I said the Oscars have become about everything except the movies to a lot of people but if you're half way familiar with the "Track" thread then you'll know I'm a film buff. Not a "who are they sleeping with buff" or "what dress is she going to wear buff".

Now, I'm sure someone is going to object to something I've just written.

 

[Greg_S_H]

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[Michael Reuben]

First page of the thread; post 23.

 

[Greg_S_H]

I went back to every page except the first one to see if it had been posted before. I figured I had followed the thread for the first couple of pages, so I would have seen it if it had been there. Oh, well. Now I remember seeing the embed and not clicking on it.

 

[JohnRice]

I stopped reading every post in this thread about 1/3 of the way through, but I can't help putting myself into what appears to be the situation. Some of you know I am a life long photographer and the fact is, when I was deciding what direction to take in my secondary education, I nearly went into film rather than still photography. Anyway, I'm finding myself thinking through what seems to have happened here, and while I'm not going to exactly defend Bale's actions, especially how long the rant went on, I can also understand it.

First of all, actors are notoriously egocentric. It just goes with the territory. Not that they all fall into that category, but I don't think there is much doubt that particular profession calls for an elevated degree of self-obsession.

Second, and most of all, it is absolutely inconceivable to me that anyone, particularly a high level creative person like a DP, would be screwing around with or even checking lights during filming. No doubt several hours had already been spent setting up the lighting of that scene, including using stand-ins, before the actual filming began. Again, not to excuse the duration and content of Bale's rant, but that is amateur behavior, assuming it is actually what happened.

During my senior year of college, I did take an elective short film production class and ended up with a shooting partner who had very little actual photographic experience, though he was under the impression he really knew what he was doing. During one studio session, after spending nearly 2 hours setting up lighting for a shot, he just walked in the studio, told me I was doing it wrong and started grabbing lights. Needless to say, not only did I nearly take the guy's head off, I'm certain everyone on the entire floor heard me. I'm the first to admit I don't have the most even temper, but that was just a college film project, not a 200 million dollar movie.

 

[Lew Crippen]

I'd object, but I'm in agreement.

 

[JohnRice]

I also agree. If you saw Beethoven coming down the street, you'd cross to the other side. If you met him, you would probably wish you hadn't. He was still a great composer.

 

[Brandon Conway]

Damned if he apologizes, damned if he doesn't. Might as well hang him.