Christian Bale Sincerely Apologizes

By now most of us have heard the infamous audio tape capturing the tongue-lashing of a scurrilous Christian Bale on the film set of Terminator Salvation.

That tape has become the butt of many late-night talk show jokes, numerous opinions and even a dance remix version that is steadily climbing the charts.

Not since Tom Cruise bounced on Oprah’s couch professing his love for his then fiancée Katie Holmes has there been so much hoopla.

Recently Christian Bale apologized for his outburst, calling it, “Inexcusable.”

His tone was serious as he spoke on the phone to two Los Angeles disc jockeys at radio station, KROQ.


“The thing that I really want to stress is I have no confusion what-so-ever. I was out of order beyond belief. I regret that and there is nobody that has heard that tape that is hit harder by it than me. So I make no excuses for it - it is inexcusable and I hope that - that is absolutely clear.”


Last year the audio tape was apparently sent to the film's insurance company in case Bale quit the film and it was leaked to the media.

On the tape Bale lets loose on director of photography Shane Hurlbut for walking through the middle of Bale’s scene.

I have always liked Christian Bale. He was a cute little boy in Steven Spielberg's, Empire Of The Sun battling to survive Japanese occupation, he had a killer beauty regime in American Psycho before he unleashed his wrath on unsuspecting victims and he was a budding magician in The Prestige working his magic for all to see.

Bale had been under the acting radar for a long time before he was chosen for Batman Begins and it’s sequel The Dark Knight.

He may not have the box office power of Brad Pitt, Johnny Depp, Leonardo DiCaprio but he certainly has been working as long as them.

It is unfortunate that an actor who has worked so hard in his career and has some decent acting performances will be forever known for his darkest night.

While I am not excusing his despicable behavior, it seems like the world is quick to kick a man when he is down. There have been several websites with the Bale tirade, but very few mentioned his apology.

I question our need to peer into other people’s lives and rip them apart. People seem to take great pleasure is seeing someone fall and less in watching them get up.

The reason we apologize is because we are acknowledging our bad behavior - our humanness. We acknowledge that sometimes we make mistakes and we have the opportunity to correct them.

Christian Bale doesn’t seem to be a bad guy, he seems like a regular guy who got caught up in the moment and regrettably had one of his worse days come back to haunt him.

He does not feel good about it and wants people to heed his apology.


“Please - I just want to make it completely clear. I am embarrassed by it and I regret it. I ask everybody to sit down and ask themselves, have they ever had a bad day and have they ever lost their temper and really regretted it immensely?”




What does an apology mean to you? How do you feel when you hear it - or say it? What did you do to overcome your bad day?

Full Transcripts of Christian Bale Apology

“The thing that I really want to stress is I have NO confusion what-so-ever. I was OUT of order beyond belief. I was WAY out of order. I acted like a punk. I regret that and there is nobody that has heard that tape that is hit harder by it than me. So I make no excuses for it - it is inexcusable and I hope that - that is absolutely clear.

One thing that has really disturbed me throughout this because I’m not familiar - I’m not comfortable yet with this notion of being a movie star - I’m an actor and I don’t quite know how to handle the movie star thing.

And the thing that disturbs me so much is that I’ve heard a lot of people saying that I seem to think I’m better than anybody else and NOTHING could be farther from the truth. I am a LUCKY SOB and lucky doing what I do.

I never forget that and that is WHY I put SO much into what I do and why I CARE so much about it and why sometimes that enthusiasm just goes awry.

Please - if ANYBODY ever sees that I really am thinking that I am better than anybody else stick a fork in my backside - turn me over - I will be done. That’s just not me.

Let me try to put this into a little bit of context because there seems to be SO many people who have given opinions about this, but none of them were there.

We’re making Terminator. Im assuming you’re familiar with the mythology. Have you seen T2? It is a GREAT movie and in it you will meet Sarah Connor and she’s in an insane asylum - why is she there - because she is CRAAAZY.

Now I play John Connor, her son and on the day that all of this happened, the scene we were doing. I was trying to show a little of that in the blood craziness. And you know what? It went very wrong. And for reasons that myself and Shane, the DP and every crew member who was in that hanger at Kirtland Air Force Base that day, they know the reasons.

I got annoyed and then what happened, I made it ugly and that was awful of me. I took it WAY too far and I completely mixed up fact and fiction. I’m half John Connor, I’m half Christian there and we’ve all heard.

[freedom to speak freely on the set?] I hear you completely, but it’s no excuse. That confidentiality, that trust is really not there for covering up bad behavior.

That is there - and it IS essential - that is there though so creatively you can experiment and you can try things that maybe are abysmal and maybe are embarrassing beyond belief and you know there’s a trust with the director and producers that nobody will ever see that, it will be destroyed if it didn’t work - but you have to try those things.

This [incident] was back in July of last year. [2008]

I’ve not only talked with him [the DP.] We have resolved this completely that very DAY. We kept working for a number of hours. Listen - when I’m saying I’m not coming back on that set if he’s still hired, it’s hot air. I don’t believe that. I have no intention of getting anybody fired. I absolutely believe in Shane’s capability. He’s done a wonderful job on that movie.

We not only kept working that day, we worked together for at least a month after that every single day. We saw each other two weeks back and we worked together then. Everything is RESOLVED between us. There is NO problem whatsoever. He’s done a GREAT job with it.

I want everyone to know I’ve seen a rough cut of the movie - it looks fantastic and he has done a wonderful professional job and I don’t want anyone to have a misunderstanding about that. So many people, not just me, not just Shane. SO many crew members have worked so hard on this movie.

And a REALLY important point that I want to make is that, hey, I know a number of people are going to be thinking that they don’t want to go see the movie because they think I’m some kind of a prima donna or something. It ain't that.

It’s just maybe sometimes I care too much about the movie, but it wasn’t just me, it was Shane, the DP, the director, the other actors, every single other crew member.

Everybody worked SO HARD on this movie and please - I’m asking people - please, do not allow my one time lapse in judgment - my incredibly embarrassing meltdown, to overshadow this movie and to have all of those people’s hard work go to waste. It’s too a great mythology for that to happen.

And another thing: a lot of people that I was a bully to this guy. It’s an insult to Shane. I couldn’t have bullied that guy if I tried. He is a big guy. He’s much bigger than me-he’s an ex-friggin football player. This is not Little Orphan Annie that I was going off on.

And the other point is, a lot of people have been talking nonsense about that it almost came close to being physical. It NEVER came close to being physical whatsoever.

Please - I just want to make it completely clear. I am embarrassed by it and I regret it. I ask everybody to sit down and ask themselves, have they ever had a bad day and have they ever lost their temper and really regretted it immensely?"