We're just about finished here. The Christian Bale story has been squeezed dry. It's time to stop making mashups and start taking care of your children. Battle lines have been drawn between those who feel that Bale's rant was an egotistical melt down revealing him to be a narcissistic nightmare, and apologists, but none of this, in the end, will have any affect on how much money Terminator Salvation makes. Or Bale's future prospects as a millionaire action star. The only question now is how many diapers to keep stocked in his trailer at all times, and how absorbant those diapers should be.
But before we move on, there is one final update on the story from Radar (with an addendum from Defamer) that is stirring the pot anew, and which I figured we might as well address. It concerns Shane Halbut, the DP target of Bale's tirade, and what people think of him.
From Radar:
Bale became a hero to cast and crew after his tirade against Hurlbut, who was widely despised, sources tell RadarOnline.com exclusively. "Hurlbut was a condescending (bleep) to everyone," a source told us. His favorite line was "Why don't you go stab yourself in the head, you idiot."
Maybe Bale's not such a bad guy after all.
And then this "corroboration" from Defamer:
I was on the crew of another film Shane was recently DP on and he was despised. Crew hated him - actors had hard time. He would tell his crew, if he was displeased with them, to "Stab themselves in the heart and die." or "Blow yourself up." On this film he would constantly re-light when actors got to set and tweak during takes - it was bad.
The problem with these reports is that contrary to their intentions, they don't actually make Christian Bale not an asshole. Sure, they cloud things by making it into a story about one major league asshole screaming at another major league asshole, but that doesn't then make the first major league asshole a major league nice, well-rounded person with a good sense of perspective about his actual place in the world. In this situation, Christian Bale is still a fucking jerk. And in the relationship between these two men, he's the more powerful jerk (by a matter of many degrees), so it is actually the exact same power relationship and inappropriately aggressive reprimand that everyone is degrading Halbut for. In Standard Aptitude Test terminology, Christian Bale is to Shane Halbut as Shane Halbut is to the browbeaten intern.
We all like to see jerks get dressed down because in our powerlessness to fight back against what we feel is inappropriate and unfair behavior on their part, there's an obvious and important desire for them to be treated to a taste of their own medicine. But, and I should stop soon because my armchair is getting totally worn out from all this psychology, do you guys not think that maybe someone abusive and monstrous like Shane Halbut takes his cues from the people who are a step above him on the Hollywood totem pole? That the reason he tells people to stab themselves in the face and die is because he himself is always a heartbeat away from getting thrown off the set by someone equally ridiculous but with more power? That the circle is unbroken?
Even more problematic to the apologists' argument that Shane Hurlbut "deserved" it because he was hated by the crew is the fact that THAT'S NOT WHAT CHRISTIAN BALE WAS YELLING ABOUT. There is no place in his self-involved rant in which he takes up the mantle of the poor crew members who have been so unfairly abused by Halbut. He doesn't say "I WANT YOU OFF THE FUCKING SET BECAUSE YOU TOLD PEOPLE TO GO BLOW THEMSELVES UP AND THAT'S MEAN." His rant is completely confined to his own inflated-ego. So, you know, no.
Admittedly, I wasn't there. And neither were you. But two jerks don't make one jerk. Math. The end.
