ben📹

In July 2008, Batman lost control right on the film set. The same month The Dark Knight was breaking every box office record on the planet, Christian Bale interrupted the filming of a scene for Terminator Salvation, called his cameraman a “prick,” and threatened to “kick his f**king ass” in front of the entire crew. He had no idea someone was filming it. The man on the receiving end was Shane Hurlbut, the film’s director of photography. His crime? He walked behind the actors to fix a light in the middle of a take. That was all it took. In the video below, Bale goes off like a man possessed. “I want you off the f**king set, you prick!” Hurlbut apologizes, and it only makes Bale angrier. “Don’t just be sorry! Think for one fking second! Are you professional or not?” Hurlbut tries to explain he was checking the light. “Oh, good for you. And how was it? I hope it was fking good, because it’s useless now!” Then Bale turns on the director, McG, who’s standing right there and saying nothing: “Have you got something to say to this prick?” For four minutes nobody dares to stop him. Then comes the line that made headlines in every country on earth: “I’m going to f**king kick your f**king ass!” He ends it with an ultimatum: either Hurlbut goes, or Batman walks. “You and me, we’re f**king done professionally.” Seven months later the tape leaked, and within a week the internet had turned it into a dance remix with millions of plays. Bale had to go on the radio and apologize publicly, and you can hear the apology in the clip below: “I acted like a punk.” Hurlbut kept his job. The movie flopped, and the trilogy it was supposed to launch was cancelled. So was this a genius protecting his art, or the biggest star in Hollywood showing everyone who he really is when he thinks the cameras are off?