Wednesday, February 04, 2009

Internet overreacts to Bale's tirade

AICN defends Bale and I completely understand why Bale did what he did after reading that.
The scene in question, was a very emotional and tough scene between Christian Bale and Bryce Howard. A scene that required soul bearing and a deep level of immersive concentration. The sort of scene where everyone on set knows not to get in anyone's eye lines, and definitely not to move lights around while FILMING. You lock that shit down before the scene starts.

Bale had indeed warned the DP on multiple occasions about messing with lights while the cameras were rolling, and Bale was in the midst of a painful scene with Bryce, what was described to me as being the emotional center of the film and his character for the film.

Now, the reason I know all of this is because the person that was there, felt that it should be made perfectly clear that Christian Bale was the utmost gentleman and cool guy on set. And the DP really was doing something that professional DPs with experience just don't do. Not during a performance.

You don't need me to give you a link, it's all over the internet, I just felt that you should know what really went down - and that this particular outburst did indeed modify the DP's behavior - and for future DPs. Fuck with the lights before and after your actors are acting. Not during.
I'm not going to link to the video, which is highly profane and vulgar. And yes, I realize that there's a certain word that appears on the blog right now.

Bruce Franklin, a producer of the movie, defended Bale.
But Bruce Franklin, an assistant director and associate producer on the new "Terminator" (Hey, someone had to spring to his defense!) has now told E! News that Bale, whom he refers to as a "consummate professional," was not off-base in his reaction to Hurlbut’s intrusion into his 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," said Franklin. "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.”

This is Franklin's second movie with Christian Bale.

"He is so dedicated to the craft," says Franklin to E! "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."

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