14 DAY TRIAL // Christian Bale is John Connor in “Terminator: Salvation” and, as such, he is ready to go through all the necessary steps to have the movie properly promoted, especially since it hits US theaters (nationwide) shortly. His latest interview for GQ magazine is, in this sense, the perfect example that, when it comes to promo duties, Bale would meet his end of the bargain without flinching, even when that means talking (again) about the infamous temper tantrum.
The usually rather reclusive actor has agreed to sit down with GQ and talk “Terminator,” as well as some personal stuff. However, as fans might have expected, there’s personal aspects and then there’s personal aspects, like whether he has an anger problem or why he verbally assaulted his mother and sister a while back, on which Bale is not yet ready to open to the media, and will probably never be if we’re to believe him.
Speaking of anger issues, Bale denies in the latest interview he personally has one, saying instead that the rant against director of photography Shane Hurlbut was rather him forgetting to step out of character. “I’d definitely say that that guy who was yelling was at least half John Connor, and the rest was Christian Bale.” the actor tells GQ, working his way around the question of whether the rant showed that he needed anger management classes.
Bale insists that, 10 seconds after the bitter cascade of verbal abuse came to an end (meaning, ten seconds after the recording ended), he and Hurlbut were again on speaking, friendly terms, which could also mean that, no, he does not have a temperament problem. His outburst was in no way different from what happens on all movie sets, the actor claims, except for the fact that it was caught on tape and was then leaked to the media, much to his shame and discredit. “Hey, listen, I don’t make any excuses. None of it is excusable. You know, I feel I already said everything about this that needs to be said when I called up the radio station.” Bale says.
Speaking of movie sets, Bale also admits that he has a hard time shaking off the accent he uses in “Terminator,” and that he speaks it even when the cameras are not rolling. “I do that because I’m just not very good at switching between two voices. If I had the talent to turn it on and off on cue, I would. But I don’t, so I have to maintain. Otherwise I’m aware that I’m ‘doing an accent’ whenever I’m filming, instead of just speaking.” the actor explains.
