I wrote this when Christian Bale had his meltdown in 2009. Sorry for the broken links. Just a reminder:

I can't believe I'm going to do this, but, well... I am. I'm going to give a teensy bit of perspective to Christian Bale's on set meltdown. I am not a huge fan of actors (other than my cousin who is the bee's knees), but I have to say that I think people are not understanding a few things with that rant. Seriously, I can't believe I'm going to defend an actor.* Anyway...

Anyone walking on set when a scene is being filmed is an amateur. I don't care how long you've been in the business, you do.not.do.that. Ever. Bale mentions that this guy did it twice and the DP certainly was trying to excuse his actions with a certain amount of insolence when Bale went off on him. Now, let me state without any equivocation: there is NO excuse for the way Bale treated that DP. He should not have berated him in front of others and he should not have used such hateful language. However, he was right in his objection to the DP's actions. A DP is rather high up in responsibility and respect on the set, so the fact that someone with that much supposed influence and experience did such a thing is really terrible. I could be wrong, but it indicates an arrogance on the DP's part; he was probably thinking that because he is the big shot DP, he can do whatever he wants. He's the shooter! he has clout! It could be true that he needed a stern talking to and it is UNBELIEVABLE that the director didn't keep this guy in check.

Another thing to keep in mind is that Bale wasn't just going off on the guy while everyone stood around waiting for him to finish. This tirade was compounded by the fact that once filming stops, things need to be reset, perhaps wardrobe or make up/hair needs to come in and tweak here or there. He mentioned needing someone to come back and put something back on him, twice. So, the standing around and waiting would be happening, but not because of Bale's meltdown. I think that compounds the frustration because you can't just go somewhere else, you're all stuck in a confined space waiting for the loader to reload or lights to be fixed, or the dolly to be taken back, or set dressing to be replaced, or any number of things.

This has to be hard on Bale to have this spread around and lampooned. His mother has used this opportunity to garner some attention and sympathy for her plight with Bale; what kind of a mother does that? The first AD has come out in defense of Bale, explaining that it was the most emotional scene in the film. Again, I don't condone his actions, but you can understand how someone who is having to tap into deep reserves of emotion and is suddenly forced to leap out of it by a jarring experience would have an emotional reaction. We've all done it. Actually, I am rather ashamed of the one time I went off on someone on set and I wish I could apologize to him. He took it well and the problem never occurred again, but I should not have done it. Why did I do it? I had been working 20 hour days, 6 days a week, I had a PM from HELL who made everyone's life miserable and it was a bonehead mistake that was going to force me to lose what precious sleep I was getting. None of that excuses my behavior, but it certainly puts it into perspective. That's all I am trying to do with Bale's meltdown: give it a little bit of perspective.

And now, I go into battle with a clear conscience. I battle the vagaries of fate and dastardly deeds. I battle ivy.

*It's just a crew/actor thing and it doesn't apply to all actors; just the ones who are jerks.