Bale loses it on T4 set

[The Dark Knight]

I don't think any of this stuff will stop a sequel. That will happen.

Anyway, goes to show you can be good at what you do, but if you're not a good person, it all means zero.

[Dark Knight Detective]

I don't think any of this stuff will stop a sequel. That will happen.

Oops. I meant to say that if Bale keeps this up, he might not play Batman in the next film.

Anyway, goes to show you can be good at what you do, but if you're not a good person, it all means zero.

I agree with that 100%.

[DocLathropBrown]

Yeah, and remember the blowing up at a fan during filming (well, after a day of filming) of Batman Begins? And recently he blew up at a papparazzi who was trying to bug him while eating out with his wife/mother or someone.

Now, he had been in the bat suit all day during the Begins incident and I'm not keen on fanboys bothering stars who have been working all day. And any papparazzi deserves to be yelled at.

But this? The guy is a hothead.

Now, I've never particularly hated Bale, but to me, he's only got one act overall. His John Conner comes off A LOT the same as his Batman, and his Batman is very similar to his charatcer from Equilibrium. I wouldn't exactly call him a bad actor, but folks, there's a reason he hasn't won any major awards (at least, I don't think he has, might be wrong). I've never been impressed by his acting, although his performance in TDK was much enjoyed by me over all his other performances.

It looks like he's starting to become egotistical with his recent success, which is unfortunate.

All I know is, Keaton never lost it at a fan, has never publically lost it, period. Always cool headed and a class act. But then, he's a comedian in the first place, that certainly helps. Even when you can tell he'd rather talk about anything other than Batman, he doesn't lose his cool.

I don't mean to turn this into Keaton v. Bale, but I'm much more inclined to root for/enjoy/look up to a nice guy when they play my favorite literary character. This one just makes me lose all respect for Christian Bale. Every other Bat actor has been a nice guy (Robert Lowery aside).

EDIT: After finally listening to it, just... WOW. What a ****ing dick head. I've lost more than just respect for him as an actor, I've lost respect for him as a human being. That's just ****ing low. Now I believe that he hit/attacked his relatives. What a prima donna. A disgrace to the Batman character, if you ask me. Really, It sounds overly-dramatic to say, but anyone playing that character ought to be a better person than that. If the guy had deserved it, I wouldn't care. But the guy basically did NOTHING.

He needs to get the **** over himself because in my eyes, he isn't worth even HALF of what even George Clooney is as Batman, now.

What's even worse? All of the Nolanites are ****ing making ****ing excuses for him. That makes me sick. Keaton had it worse on the first Batman film, and he would have NEVER gone off like that (like Bale did during BB). Keaton was hated by every fan and worked in a suit that was much more like Hell on Earth, and he STILL wouldn't have lost his cool to a fan.

EDIT AGAIN: As a cool little aside... I have never liked TMZ, until now. They got it dead-on with their reporting. They aren't blinded by being up Bale's ass....

http://www.tmz.com/2009/02/02/batman-4-schools-batman-7-on-people-skills/

[Paul (ral)]

At one point you can hear him going for someone and being held back.

Personally, I've never had a desire to meet / talk to Bale in person - in interviews he comes off as a little "off".  This audio confirms that for me.

I agree with Doc - a heroic character should be played by a genuinely respectable person.  Take Superman - Reeve may have taken the role a little serious at times and that may have rubbed some up the wrong way, but he never blew up like that (as far as I've read) and felt enormous responsiblilty towards the character.  I think of Routh the same way.  I don't think Bale could care less - even if a good script and director were to come along he probably wouldn't do another Batman without Nolan.


[edit - i forgot to add the remix!]

http://uk.youtube.com/watch/v/YTihsJQHt48

[phantom stranger]

This won't change my view of his acting skills--I still think he's a great actor--but I'll probably think of him as a person a bit differently from now on. Having said that, his behavior isn't that unusual. Have you ever chewed out a waiter for messing up your order? Or at a coworker for doing something wrong? I haven't done either just because that's not the type of person I am but I know people do it all the time.

remember the blowing up at a fan during filming (well, after a day of filming) of Batman Begins

Actually, I don't recall hearing that. Is there a link you could provide so I could read it?

[thecolorsblend]

This won't change my view of his acting skills--I still think he's a great actor--but I'll probably think of him as a person a bit differently from now on. Having said that, his behavior isn't that unusual. Have you ever chewed out a waiter for messing up your order? Or at a coworker for doing something wrong? I haven't done either just because that's not the type of person I am but I know people do it all the time.

Don't get me wrong, folks, I've bawled out co-workers on two occasions... and one of them saved the guy's job (for a few weeks anyway).  There's a time and a place to do something like that, but it ISN'T when a guy makes a simple mistake and it for damn SURE isn't supposed to humiliate him in front of his peers and co-workers.

In fairness to Bale, we don't know what else was going on that day that might've played into this... but part of me doesn't really care.  You don't threaten to beat someone up in the adult world.  Even if you're not serious and you're just venting.

A good actor Bale may be, but if this is how he is all the time, he needs to grow the hell up.

[phantom stranger]

@thecolorsblend

I agree completely. Unless this was a pal of his, and it doesn't appear to be the case, then he was being a jackass.

I'm just saying that people lose their temper over stupid stuff all the time.

Now the Russell Crowe phone-throwing incident, on the other hand, was significant because that showed that he was clearly an unbalanced individual.

Now that I think of it, I imagine "3:10 to Yuma" (a Bale/Crowe film) was really "fun" to work on. 

[Gotham Knight]

Yeah, and remember the blowing up at a fan during filming (well, after a day of filming) of Batman Begins? And recently he blew up at a papparazzi who was trying to bug him while eating out with his wife/mother or someone.

Now, he had been in the bat suit all day during the Begins incident and I'm not keen on fanboys bothering stars who have been working all day. And any papparazzi deserves to be yelled at.

But this? The guy is a hothead.

Now, I've never particularly hated Bale, but to me, he's only got one act overall. His John Conner comes off A LOT the same as his Batman, and his Batman is very similar to his charatcer from Equilibrium. I wouldn't exactly call him a bad actor, but folks, there's a reason he hasn't won any major awards (at least, I don't think he has, might be wrong). I've never been impressed by his acting, although his performance in TDK was much enjoyed by me over all his other performances.

It looks like he's starting to become egotistical with his recent success, which is unfortunate.

All I know is, Keaton never lost it at a fan, has never publically lost it, period. Always cool headed and a class act. But then, he's a comedian in the first place, that certainly helps. Even when you can tell he'd rather talk about anything other than Batman, he doesn't lose his cool.

I don't mean to turn this into Keaton v. Bale, but I'm much more inclined to root for/enjoy/look up to a nice guy when they play my favorite literary character. This one just makes me lose all respect for Christian Bale. Every other Bat actor has been a nice guy (Robert Lowery aside).

EDIT: After finally listening to it, just... WOW. What a ****ing dick head. I've lost more than just respect for him as an actor, I've lost respect for him as a human being. That's just ****ing low. Now I believe that he hit/attacked his relatives. What a prima donna. A disgrace to the Batman character, if you ask me. Really, It sounds overly-dramatic to say, but anyone playing that character ought to be a better person than that. If the guy had deserved it, I wouldn't care. But the guy basically did NOTHING.

He needs to get the **** over himself because in my eyes, he isn't worth even HALF of what even George Clooney is as Batman, now.

What's even worse? All of the Nolanites are ****ing making ****ing excuses for him. That makes me sick. Keaton had it worse on the first Batman film, and he would have NEVER gone off like that (like Bale did during BB). Keaton was hated by every fan and worked in a suit that was much more like Hell on Earth, and he STILL wouldn't have lost his cool to a fan.

EDIT AGAIN: As a cool little aside... I have never liked TMZ, until now. They got it dead-on with their reporting. They aren't blinded by being up Bale's ass....

http://www.tmz.com/2009/02/02/batman-4-schools-batman-7-on-people-skills/

solid post

[DocLathropBrown]

Actually, I don't recall hearing that. Is there a link you could provide so I could read it?

I wouldn't even know where to look! But I kind of mislabelled it, he didn't really "blow up" at the fan, but he had been in the bat suit all day, working hard in Chicago and at the end of the day on the way back to his trailer, a fan bugged him for an autograph (or picture, forget which), and Bale either just snidely said "f*** off" (or words to the effect) or gave him a mini-lecture. It was something like that. I remember it because a lot of people were questioning that move as this was prior to BB coming out, it was before Bale could do no wrong in the eyes of many people.

Now, I'm not one that can't separate incidents. The fan shouldn't have needled him, really (but inversely, he didn't need to be a dick, he could have respectfully told the guy he didn't feel good and didn't want to be bothered), and the paparazzi he lectured a couple months ago deserved it.

Y'know, had the guy he was yelling at actually been doing what he did on purpose? Then it would be justified. But you can hear on the clip, the guy isn't even "talking back" to Bale. He's just taking it, apoligizing, and Bale's still being a douchebag. Letting his ego fly, as if he's too good to act past a guy being in his line of sight during filming.

Every Nolanite's "he just had a bad day" excuse is bullsh*t. The way he lost it bespeaks of what kind of person he really is. I've had bad days of hard work and gotten mad before, I never lost it in the way he did. The way he lost it reveals that he thinks higher of himself than others, and doesn't respect the guy, maybe not even any of the crew. Even at his worst, Keaton would probably lecture the guy, but in the end, Keats wouldn't devalue and humiliate the man. He'd probably apoligize after he was done, though still having made the point the guy is causing problems.

Bale really is just a big angry Welshman. You can tell, he's just an angry guy, period. And with all of his success, his ego's been inflated and now he's evolved into a douchebag.

Y'know, it seems like a silly no-brainer for me to say it, but I don't like Christian Bale. Seriously, I may have prefurred Michael Keaton's Batman, but I still respected Bale and his version. Not any more. I just can't respect a performance from a douchebag. And now it makes sense why I didn't like his performance best.

[fanboy gushing] Literally, the answer just fell into my lap. I never felt for Bale's Wayne. Never felt sorry for him or looked up to him, like I do with the Batman character. It wasn't just in how the films were written, but it's because Bale is a douchebag, and it shows in his performance. Not like it's obvious, but that's what's missing from it. The empathy, the sadness, the compassion and the tragedy. The humanity and the admirable nature. Bale doesn't even have it in any fiber of his being, and Keaton does in-spades. He's not my favorite actor just because I grew up with him as Batman, but because of what kind of person he is.

I've searched and read so many interviews about Keaton, and snippets and all kinds of little things. Seeked out interviews and the like, I seriously know what kind of person he is. And he is all of the things that Bale is not, and THAT's why his Batman/Bruce Wayne is so much better. I mean, really. Your heart could sink for Keaton's Batman when you see him brooding. Bale? Not so much. It just ain't there. But above the role of Batman, you can see what kind of person Keaton is in the roles he takes, what tickles his fancy. Even his comedies bespeak of a very friendly guy, as opposed to some comics who are really dicks (Bill Murray, supposedly).

Really, I can't tell you how many little candid pieces I've read on Keaton. There was a Michael Keaton fansite years ago that had a ton of 'em (and I think the site's finally offline, now), even throughout the mid 90s, on movies of his that slipped through the cracks. I remember one day I was literally reading for hours. I indentify with him not only because he's one of the best actors of our generation, but because he's a brilliant, worthwhile human being. And really, you can see it in him with every interview, every role, and every candid moment. Keaton is the real deal.

I don't think there's ever been more potent proof of who's more suited to to the role, between the TMZ clip of Keaton I posted above, and the tape of Bale being a douchebag. Would Bruce Wayne or Batman have done what Bale did, or what Keaton did?

The answer should be quite obvious [/fanboy gushing]

[thecolorsblend]

Y'know, the more stuff comes out about this, the more convinced I become that the guy's just a dick and that's all there is to it.  I'm sorry, nothing against you Nolan fans, if you can separate a performance from a personality, kudos, but I've seen people go through this same crap in life and it always sucks for them.  If I know beyond any shadow of a doubt that a performer of some kind is really this big asshole, I just can't sit through their songs or movies or whatever.  Can't.  Future TDK viewings are going to be hard to get through.  And let's be honest, Bale slept through most of TDK anyway.