Christian Bale’s rant: producer says a ‘non-event’, dashes future Oscar hopes?

February 5, 12:43 AMLA Celebrity Headlines ExaminerTiffany Warner

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Christian Bale - Hot head or method actor?

Several days ago audio of actor Christian Bale cursing profusely at director of photography on the set of “Terminator Salvation” hit the internet.

Apparently, the rant happened last year. Director and associate producer Bruce Franklin told TMZ the blowup was a ‘non-event’.

“Christian is a method actor and was completely immersed in his scene ... his reaction was from the heat of the moment," said Franklin.

The three-and-half-minute rant included Bale telling the man, "I want you off the set! You p---k! No, don't just be sorry! Think for one f---ing second! What the f--- are you doing? Are you professional or not?"

The professional in question was Shane Hurlbut, who is the director of photography on the film who was changing a light during Bale’s scene.

"If you are working in a very intense scene and someone takes you out of your groove ... It was the most emotional scene in the movie and for him to get stopped in the middle of it ... He is very intensely involved in his character. He didn't walk around like that all day long. It was just a moment and it passed,” Franklin told E! News.

"This was my second movie with Christian, and it has always been a good experience with him," Franklin added. "He is so dedicated to the craft. I think someone is begging to make some noise about this, but I don't think it's fair. The art of acting is not paint-by-numbers, it's an art form."

He also told the site that despite Bale's threats to have him fired from the film, Hurlbut was not fired and he said that Bale was under a lot of pressure due to his intense promotion schedule for "Dark Knight."

On MSNBC.com, some have even questioned whether Bale’s antics will affect his future Oscar nods. In particular, Bale’s work on “Public Enemies” directed by Michael Mann and co-starring Johnny Depp coming out later this year, is rumored to be Oscar worthy.

If it happened to Russell Crowe after hurling a phone at a hotel clerk (which was caught on a security videotape and replayed on the internet), it can happen to Christian Bale.

On The Envelope, the L.A. Times Oscar weblog one actor said,

“Listen: every actor has meltdowns at different points in their career, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he did that after (director of photography) Shane (Hurlbut) had walked through his shot several times already. Bale’s getting big bucks for trying to conjure up an imaginary post-apocalyptic world, and he takes his job seriously. I’ve seen that kind of meltdown happen before,” says the actor. “What’s more difficult to excuse is that he went after the guy for so long.”

Story developing......

Here's a remix of Bale's rant. WARNING: The audio contains profanity.

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