Terminator: Rise of the Hot Head

Started by captmorgan72, February 04, 2009, 03:17:46 AM

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captmorgan72

*link removed*

Yes, it's just a movie, yes, he is making a gazzilion dollars these days and yes he might have gone overboard. I have to admit though, I kinda understand why he freaked out. To us it's just a movie but to him (and most actors) it's their craft and they pour their souls into it. I can see how it would be easy to lose your cool when you are filming an emotional scene and a pro makes a amateur mistake and ruins your scene. I still love ya Bats...I mean John...I mean Christian. 

*Mod Edited*

GhostMachine

Two things make his reaction a bit more understandable - although I think a 3 minute rant containing 35 f-bombs (according to one report) is a bit much:

1. Bale is a method actor and it was supposed to be one of the most emotional scenes in the film.

2. It wasn't the first time (or probably even the second) that the DP did what set Bale off.

I'm hot tempered myself (inherited, but I'm nowhere NEAR as bad as my father), and I probably would have cursed, too. But NOT a long rant; demanding the DP be replaced or steps be taken so it didn't happen again and calling the guy an idiot should have been more than enough.

zuludelta

#2
Well, that was a terrible rant. Yeah, Bale's a method actor and all, but sheesh, that was a bit much. I'm a real laidback and very unflappable person but man, I don't know if I could let somebody talk to me like that without responding with a shot across the chops, especially after I'd already apologized for my mistake.
Art is the expression of truth without violence.

Ernest Worthing

Quote from: zuludelta on February 04, 2009, 03:57:22 AM
Well, that was a terrible rant. Yeah, Bale's a method actor and all, but sheesh, that was a bit much. I'm a real laidback and very unflappable person but man, I don't know if I could let somebody talk to me like that without responding with a shot across the chops, especially after I'd already apologized for my mistake.

*channeling Lucius Fox* Now, let me understand this. You think that Bale, who secretly dresses up in a bat suit and goes around pummeling crooks at night with his bare hands, is a hot head and YOU want to take a swing at him? Good luck.

zuludelta

Quote from: Ernest Worthing on February 04, 2009, 04:03:04 AM
*channeling Lucius Fox* Now, let me understand this. You think that Bale, who secretly dresses up in a bat suit and goes around pummeling crooks at night with his bare hands, is a hot head and YOU want to take a swing at him? Good luck.

Oh, I'm sure Bale could very easily wipe the floor with me. It's just that if I was the DP, I just don't know how I'd be able to sleep at night knowing that I'd allowed somebody to verbally abuse me like that without mounting some sort of response, even if it's just to save face. I dunno, maybe it's a cultural thing, but where I was raised, verbally eviscerating somebody in public is a big no-no.
Art is the expression of truth without violence.

BWPS

Most people will put up with a whole lot to keep their jobs. And I imagine the diva stars can get the key grips fired if they want. Bale's ranting was ridiculous. It's hard to like someone who can be such a giant jerk after someone apologized like that. However his "I don't go up to you and smack the lights out of your hand" thing was really funny.
I apologize in advance for everything I say on here. I regret it immediately after clicking post.

Uncle Yuan

Christian Bale also has a job where if he has a bad day at work it is almost certainly being recorded.  And while I don't condone his behavior, I think everyone gets to have a bad day now and then.
"But there's no use crying over every mistake
You just keep on trying 'till you run out of cake
And the science gets done, and you make a neat gun
For the people who are still alive."

Vertex

You wanna hear verbal abuse??? Take my coffee away in the morning.. just try it. I"m an ex-sailor and I swear I will produce insults you've never heard of  :angry:
A wise man knows, he knows nothing
I must be the wisest man on Earth,
cause I don't know squat

catwhowalksbyhimself

If it's true that this wasn't the first time the DP has done this, then you should consider that this was merely the proverbial "straw that broke the camel's back."  Perhaps one could excuse this kind of mistake once, but repeatedly?  One could understand Christian getting angry then, and he apparently held his cool every single time until just this once.

If someone kept ruining what you were working on repeatedly you would probably lose it too.
I am the cat that walks by himself, all ways are alike to me.

The Hitman

I'm really backing Bale on this one. The DP (or assistant DP?) had ruined the shot for the 3rd or 4th time, and Bale is a character actor, i.e. if the scene required him to be angry through it, then he seriously got angry, for real. The guy just snapped for a moment. I have a temper, and I know that, under the right circumstances, that I could get this worked up. I don't see the big deal with this one.

zuludelta

Quote from: Vertex on February 04, 2009, 04:04:16 PM
You wanna hear verbal abuse??? Take my coffee away in the morning..

<takes away Vertex's coffee>

I've got a pretty foul mouth myself (my lab supervisor once jokingly put a swear jar on my table), seeing as how every third word that (unconsciously) comes from my mouth seems to be of the 4-letter variety. A lot of people who only know me through written correspondence have a hard time reconciling the way I speak with the way I write. I don't generally swear "at" people or things, though. I just seem to have a compulsion to use 4-letter words as random adjectives or adverbs every now and then.

Quote from: ips on February 04, 2009, 03:54:12 PMthis guy has the weight of a multimillion dollar movie on his shoulders in a creative profession that requires him to be invested completely in the job. he isn't showing up to work to sit in a chair. he is showing up and creating the work...

... when you get into any profession where a dollar value is directly attached to the outcome you will find a higher caliber of quality and professionalism and it should be that way.

Now, if I look at it that way, it makes me wonder how much Bale's 3 or 4 minute rant cost the production in terms of lost time, rattled crew, etc. Wouldn't it have been ultimately more professional of Bale to have finished the scene (as I understood it, the DP was in his line of sight, but not actually within camera view) and then just, I dunno, gotten the DP fired or chewed him out after the scene?

I'm by no means an actor nor do I have any experience in acting outside of high school plays, but I did spend some time in college working as a stagehand so I guess I've got a built-in bias towards the DP/assistant DP that just got ripped a new one, having been screamed at by directors and actors alike.

Not being an actor, I guess I just don't understand how Bale (or any other method actor for that matter) being a student of the Stanislavski/Strasberg/Adler Method of Acting somehow gives them more leeway for emotional outbursts. I remember reading an interview with Sir Anthony Hopkins (who probably has more critical and professional acclaim than any three or four of his method-acting peers combined) and he practically called method acting a load of horse-doody, and I guess that just stuck with me. 
Art is the expression of truth without violence.

Gremlin

Quote from: zuludelta on February 05, 2009, 12:18:36 AMNot being an actor, I guess I just don't understand how Bale (or any other method actor for that matter) being a student of the Stanislavski/Strasberg/Adler Method of Acting somehow gives them more leeway for emotional outbursts. I remember reading an interview with Sir Anthony Hopkins (who probably has more critical and professional acclaim than any three or four of his method-acting peers combined) and he practically called method acting a load of horse-doody, and I guess that just stuck with me. 

Method acting should not impact the emotional state of an actor in any way outside the scene. I'm not method, but I incorporate some traditionally (even stereotypically) method techniques when I perform, and while that can impact how I relate to people, I don't know of any reason why that should overcome one's professionalism. My guess is he had a bad day, and this poor guy found himself caught in the fallout.

zuludelta

Quote from: ips on February 05, 2009, 12:27:04 AMi don't think it has anything to do with his style of acting. it has to do with a professional snapping on what he perceives as incompetence.

My point exactly (although I think this leads us to two different assessments of the incident).

Quote from: ips on February 05, 2009, 12:27:04 AMit's just unfortunate that he lost his temperature publically and the public gets a chance to voice their opinions on him and his behaviour.

Heh. If the price of celebrity and a marriage to Sibi Blazic is that the internet gets to play monday-morning quarterback with the smallest little incidents in my life, where do I sign up?  :lol:

Quote from: Gremlin on February 05, 2009, 12:33:38 AMMethod acting should not impact the emotional state of an actor in any way outside the scene...

... I don't know of any reason why that should overcome one's professionalism. My guess is he had a bad day, and this poor guy found himself caught in the fallout.

Yeah, I'm thinking it's that as well ("it" being that the careless/unprofessional DP crossed Bale at the wrong time). I'm just a little surprised at the somewhat common sentiment being expressed that being "method" somehow eases societal restrictions concerning public emotional outbursts in the workplace that apply to everybody, actor or otherwise.
Art is the expression of truth without violence.