Christian Bale has made it very clear that he was disappointed in the way that Terminator Salvation turned out, and in the end, a controversial set leak (which was most likely leaked by the studios as a promotional gambit), had the coverage of the movie consumed by an on set outburst by Christian Bale at the director of photography Shane Hurlburt.
It is easy to believe Christian Bale was played by the studios, and a method actor like Bale would be easy to trigger on the set, and well… whad’ya know! It was all handily recorded and ‘leaked’, ready for mass consumption online.
Sharon Stone has now publicly defended Christian Bale in an interview on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert while promoting her latest book The Beauty of Living Twice.
On the subject of working on chaotic sets and needing to hone her skills as an actor, Sharon talked of the on set mayhem and needing a quiet space to be in the zone to act. The actress then went on to compliment directors Martin Scorsese and Paul Verhoeven as being the most helpful, in allowing her to gain a more conducive atmosphere in which to perform.
“A lot of people, honestly, they don’t really get what that takes, or that you have to have a small protected space to do that. Um, Many people are trying to get so much else from you while you’re doing that that you almost feel like you’re gonna snap, you know, and you’re criticized if you do snap.”
Sharon Stone
When Ms. Stone talked about feeling like she could ‘snap’ on set, when so much is going on and the pressure of having to convey emotion and give a performance with conviction come to a boiling point, the subject of Christian Bale’s Terminator Salvation meltdown became a point of discussion. Most importantly she discussed how it was important to be protected in those instances.
“Are there any instances where you talk about, you know, snapping in here?”
Stephen Colbert
“Probably…”
Sharon Stone
Whilst obviously not wanting to reveal too much about the book, Sharon talked about other notable actors snapping, saying:
“I can certainly say that I see with such, you know, brilliant actors like maybe Christian Bale, who completely transforms himself into someone else, whether he’s playing George Bush or whether he’s playing an anorexic or whether he’s playing an O.C.D, you know, stockbroker, he becomes a different person and people, you know, want to get up in his business while he’s trying to completely transform into another person. And then he’s like, “Get away from me!” you know, and then they want to criticize him for not being available to them. I find that a little bit, you know, maybe they should just, you know, grow up.”
Sharon Stone
We totally agree. Isn’t it about time the world moved on and let Christian Bale move on? Sadly the Hollywood news machine keeps on dragging up the Terminator Salvation outburst regularly for monetary gain, and likely will continue to do so long into the future.
On the potential of working with McG again, Bale previously stated that:
“… I won’t be working with him again, but I wish him very well. Okay?”
The Wall Street Journal
It is very apparent that Christian Bale was not only not protected by the studios, but he was also exploited by them for marketing purposes.
On his regrets for Terminator Salvation, Christian Bale stated:
“it’s a great thorn in my side because I wish we could have reinvigorated that and unfortunately during production you could tell that wasn’t happening, but it’s a great shame.”
Christian Bale
Fans have since expressed an interest in seeing a darker cut of Terminator Salvation, ala The Snyder Cut.
Would you like to see the McG cut of Terminator Salvation, or should the Terminator franchise stop looking back and move forwards?
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