Last week, Christian Bale finally broke his silence and spoke out about the temper tantrum heard 'round the world. Conspiracy theorists who might wonder about the upcoming release of Terminator: Salvation - the fourth installment in the mega-series made popular by Governator Arnold Schwarzenegger - need not wonder any longer. Of course Bale made nice: the May 21st release of the Warner Brothers film is supposed to make the studio bags of whatever currency they use in post-apocalyptic Los Angeles. But when Hollywood bad boys open their big mouths, people tend to listen. And that can translate into box office oblivion, because people today aren’t as nearly as forgiving as they used to be.
Considering the current recession, who can blame them? While people struggle to make their mortgage payments, the mega-rich, like Christian Bale, are losing it over getting too much foam on their latte, or so it seems. His rant was coarse, vulgar and disappointing. And he ruined it for me.
I liken it to walking into your parents’ bedroom and finding them doing it. Ick, right? That’s an unpleasant image you’ll never lose. Well, in the same way, Christian Bale ruined the upcoming Terminator: Salvation, and that angers me, because I’m a huge fan of the series and now wonder if I’ll even watch the film. Worse than that, he ruined Batman for me, another series of which I’m a huge fan. You see, once you see your parents doing it, you never forget. Ever.
What makes it worse is that Bale wasn’t even that remorseful. Instead of falling on the sword and admitting that he has way too many Ferraris to relate to the common people, he made his interview about trust between actors like Bale and the supporting set workers (you know, the ones who actually make the movie?). In one breath Bale states that he “takes the consequences” but then says that director of photography Shane Hurlbut violated an “essential trust.” Really? It’s tantamount to saying ‘I can say whatever I want, whenever I want, because I’m Christian Bale. Even if it means the uncomfortable demeaning of someone in front of others. So there.’ Here’s an essential trust for Christian Bale: people pay money to see his movies. What’s going to happen when that essential trust is broken? Ask Tom Cruise.
People like Bale, Cruise and Sean Penn are what’s wrong with entertainment. Now I’m willing to admit that Penn’s cleaned it up a bit, but perhaps that’s because he has a good publicist. And I won’t dump on Cruise too much, because he does a fine job of it all by himself. But the other night I finally watched Valkyrie. Yes, I bit the bullet, swallowed my pride and watched the film, because I’m a bit of a history buff and I'm interested in the topic. But when Cruise appeared on the screen, I couldn’t see his character, Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg. All I could see was the monkey-man jumping up and down on Oprah’s couch. The guy who just couldn't keep his religious beliefs to himself.
Listen, I respect anyone who has religious beliefs. In these times, so many seem not to. But I don’t go around spouting my religious beliefs, nor do I appreciate it when people with bibles ring my doorbell.
Enough on that. My point is that it was so glaringly obvious that Cruise’s ‘people’ needed to apply the paddles to his dwindling career, they came up with a brilliant little scheme (not unlike the scheme in the movie): ‘let’s have Tom Cruise assassinate Hitler!’ It didn’t work out well for Stauffenberg, nor did it work well for Tom Cruise. Why? Because when he came out with his diatribe on Brooke Shields and his utter disdain for antidepressants, he pretty much made us do something horrific - watch him doing it.
Walk in on our parents doing it.
There was a time when being the bad boy was the ‘in thing.’ We romanticize when we think of Errol Flynn, James Dean or Jack Nicholson. But these guys were classy and icons unto themselves. Today, our tolerance for people who don’t understand basic concepts like ‘respect,’ ‘honesty’ and ‘decency’ has grown incredibly thin.
For good reason. We live in a world where YouTube and Google are only a click away. That Christian Bale is like that isn’t surprising. That we discovered he’s like that isn’t either.
We all know our parents did it – how else would we be here? But knowing they did it and seeing them do it are two massively different enchiladas.
I think I will have to see Terminator: Salvation; but when I do, I probably won't enjoy it. Christian Bale has ruined it for me. By letting us see (hear) what he’s really like, he let the genie out of the bottle.
No feigned words of ‘remorse’ can put that genie back.
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