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The Christian Bale rant - so what?
The online world is all-atwitter about Christian Bale’s (insert dramatic music here) “explosive rant” on the set of Terminator Salvation. However, even though that’s a big movie, and this is a movie blog, you won’t find an attempt to analyze or exploit that video here.
Why not? The answer is simple: I don’t care.
Look, I understand there’s a certain fascination with watching a star go nuts and people like to gossip about it. If you’re into that sort of thing, check out our Celebrity Worship blog. I’m not interested.
Neither is Harry Knowles of Ain’t It Cool News - he has a post that’s far more illuminating than any other report I’ve read about this incident.
Bale’s rant doesn’t matter one whit to me. It doesn’t affect me personally in any way. It does not change my feelings about Terminator Salvation, which are that I’m curious about the film but more than a little leery given that the director is McG, who made one of my least favorite action movies, Charlie’s Angels Full Throttle.
The rant also does not change my impression that Bale is a great actor. OK, apparently he’s a bit of a hothead, but why should that matter to me or to anyone who sees his movies? I find it inevitable but extremely distasteful that this episode dredged up his arrest last year when Bale had a domestic dispute.
Some people may say that I’m only adding to the fire by blogging about it at all. And I suppose I am. But I do so to take a stand and make it clear that I’m only interested in this kind of news when it will seriously affect a movie or a movie star. I don’t think this “news” changes the fortunes of Bale or Terminator Salvation much at all.
People may gawk and gossip about Bale all they like, but if you’re looking for celebrity rubbernecking, you won’t find it here.
Permalink | Comments (7) | Post your comment | Categories: Celebrities
Comments
By Allie D.
February 5, 2009 11:37 AM | Link to this
SRC — I agree about the media dropping the ball. This is their usual schtick. When Tom Daschle withdrew his name, that took away their biggest piece of carrion. So now it’s time to swoop down and obsess over a taped incident that happened MONTHS ago, actually at the same time as the incident between he and his mom and sister in London. The Dark Knight had just premiered. I have a feeling that one incident beget the other or vice versa. The dude was stressed out for whatever reason. It’s not my place to judge one way or another. And from what I’ve read from others who have worked on movie sets, this is run-of-the-mill stuff. But sadly, it’s usually the director or the AD who do the yelling. If the talent is yelling, it tells me that McG maintains little leadership or professionalism on his set. I only hope the poor morale on set won’t be reflected in the movie. That reminds me… maybe Eric can do some research on some movies that had notorious production problems (Apocalypse Now and Waterworld come immediately to mind) and see if it ultimately affects the outcome of the film. I wonder if there is a trend to be observed.By Anonymous
February 5, 2009 7:20 AM | Link to this
Right on, Eric. I am beginning to think we aren’t getting the whole situation either. It always gives me pause when media outlets start demonizing people. Whether Bale is right or wrong, the coverage is very judgemental and onesided.By SRCputt
February 5, 2009 6:46 AM | Link to this
Brought to you from the gossip world that continually tries to knock stars down so those of us in boring 9 to 5 jobs can feel better about our lives. It’s the same stupid metality that makes crap like The Jerry Springer Show successful. Personally, I don’t need to see others knocked down to feel good about myself. Kim: I wish that were true, but with all the confirmations going on in Washington the awful truth is it wasn’t a slow news cycle, just a lot of the media have taken their eye off the ball.By Kim S.
February 4, 2009 4:06 PM | Link to this
I’m going with “slow news cycle”, as evidenced by the fact that on the night of the Super Bowl, the lead story on my local newscast was Michael Phelps’ alleged drug use (like I care at ALL about that either)…By Allie D.
February 4, 2009 1:40 PM | Link to this
And anyone who thinks this kind of stuff doesn’t happen on movie sets probably never saw David O. Russell go off on Lily Tomlin. What he did made what Bale did look like a tea party.By ME
February 4, 2009 1:25 PM | Link to this
I agree Eric! You know we don’t really know the WHOLE situation either. The media loves to play the rant, but not put it in perspective. We weren’t there. And frankly I’m glad. Does this incident do anything to help or hurt the fact that millions have lost their jobs or homes. What is important here? I think the media spends way too much time on this crap and not enough on the real news!! (coming from someone in the biz)By Allie D.
February 4, 2009 12:39 PM | Link to this
Nicely said, Eric, and I agree wholeheartedly. When I heard it, I was like “and??” An actor lost his cool! It’s like saying the weather is sunny in San Diego.