It appears from the audio, first posted on TMZ on Monday, that Bale (who plays John Connor in the film) got angry after cinematographer Shane Hurlbut walked within his frame of view during filming for a second time.
During the heated exchange, which reportedly was recorded in July 2008, days before Bale began promoting The Dark Knight in London (where he was arrested on allegation of assault), the actor can clearly be heard ranting angrily toward Hurlbut.
TMZ report:
It happened on the set after a director of photography accidentally ruined a scene by walking onto the set.
Bale lost it, screaming, yelling and threatening to quit if the bosses didn’t fire the dude.
Film execs sent the tape to the insurance company that insured the film in case Bale bailed.
According to a source close to the film who spoke to Access Hollywood, despite the incident, Terminator Salvation wrapped up and no one was fired.
The actor and Hurlbut have also reportedly made up.
The film’s assistant director Bruce Franklin – who can be heard in the tape – told E-Online:
‘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. 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 was my second movie with Christian, and it has always been a good experience with him. He is so dedicated to the craft.
‘I think someone is begging to make some noise [controversy] about this, but I don’t think it’s fair. The art of acting is not paint by numbers, it’s an art form.’
However, once something like this gets out people can have all kinds of fun with it.
This dance remix by Revolucian is very impressive:
You may have seen the rather tacky ad the John McCain camp issued recently, equating Barack Obama to a Paris Hilton-style celebrity unfit for the US Presidency.
Well, now Paris and the folks at FunnyOrDie have hit back with this response:
This is a clip from a 2001 film called The Ghost (also known as ‘Code of the Dragon’ in some countries) which was a forgettable action film about a Chinese soldier going undercover in America as an Asian Internet bride.
However, it involves this soon-to-be-a-viral-classic clip of a guy with no legs beating up some thugs (the bad German dubbing makes it even more surreal).
Have you ever laughed or sighed when a film on TV has a ridiculous piece of editing to replace ‘offensive’ language?
This Basic Instinct video that compares the original film with the badly dubbed version altered for sensitive TV audiences.
Check out the differences between Scarfaceand the US TV cut (“this town is like one big chicken, just waiting to get plucked!”):
How about the safe-for-TV version of Die Hard 2? (“Hey turkey!”):
Or what about this scene from the TV edit of The Big Lebowski, with possibly the strangest substitute line ever? (“This is what happens when you find a stranger in the Alps!”)
And what about Casino, where the f-word is said 422 times?
This scene with De Niro and Pesci in the desert finds a way of avoiding it completely (“You better get your own fighting army pal!”):