Christian Bale loses it on Terminator set

If his behaviour on the set of his forthcoming film, Terminator: Salvation, is anything to go by, Christian Bale (pictured), the British actor who plays the caped crusader in the The Dark Night, is struggling with some pretty potent anger management issues.

A sound-only clip, posted on TMZ on Monday, reveals him letting rip at one of the film's crew members after he walked into his sight-line during filming with actress Bryce Dallas Howard. He tells the culprit he is going to "kick his fucking ass" and threatens to quit the set unless he's fired.

"I want you off the set! You prick!" the 35-year-old Welsh-born actor yells at Shane Hurlbut, the director of photography. Hurlbut can be heard apologising, but this does not placate Bale, who replies: "No, don't just be sorry! Think for one fucking second! What the fuck are you doing? Are you professional or not?"

The rant, captured on tape last July, and now set to music (see video below), continues in this vein for several minutes, with the F-word taking center stage. TMZ claims the tape was originally sent by executives on the film to their insurance company, in case the actor pulled out of the movie, which also features the English actress Helena Bonham Carter and the former LA Lakers cheerleader and model Moon Bloodgood.

As reported here, Bale has previous form with his temper. Last year, on the eve of The Dark Night's British premiere, he was arrested by London police over an alleged assault on his mother and sister that was said to have taken place at his suite at the Dorchester Hotel.

However, Bruce Franklin, an assistant director and associate producer on the Terminator film, told the entertainment website E! that such outbursts were not uncommon among actors. "If you are working in a very intense scene and someone takes you out of your groove... It was the most emotional scene in the movie," said Franklin. "He is very intensely involved in his character. It was just a moment and it passed."
 ·