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His alter-ego, Batman, is a man of quiet confidence, uttering nothing more provocative than the occasional "holy smoke" as he bangs adversaries to rights. But Christian Bale has a more direct - and controversial - style of conflict resolution.
The British actor's short temper became the subject of international debate this week, after a tape surfaced of him throwing a profanity-ridden tantrum on the set of the forthcoming film Terminator Salvation.
In a tirade that lasted just under four minutes, Bale, who was arrested last year for allegedly assaulting his mother and sister, furiously criticised Shane Hurlbut, the film's director of photography, for distracting him during a scene.
The subsequent rant contained 37 uses of the "F-word", an average of one every six seconds.
Bale repeatedly dubbed Hurlbut a "prick", threatened to "kick his ass" and told executives he would quit the US$185 million film if his colleague wasn't fired.
The full video of the incident was posted online on Tuesday after apparently being leaked to the showbusiness website TMZ.com.
"I'm going to kick your f****** ass!" it began, as Bale grew increasingly angry at Hurlbut's attempt to apologise for interrupting the scene. "I want you off the f******* set, you prick. No, don't just be sorry. Think, for one f****** second. What the f**** are you doing?"
Bale, who is playing the film's hero John Connor, shrugged off attempts by his co-star, Bryce Dallas Howard, and the film's director, Joseph McGinty Nichol, to calm him down during the rant, which was recorded on set at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico.
"Do you want me to f****** trash your lights? Do you want me to f****** trash 'em?" Bale asks Hurlbut. "Then why are you trashing my scene? You are trashing my scene!"
Bale's publicist has declined invitations to comment, but the star is famously highly strung. Last year, shortly before the London premiere of The Dark Knight, he was arrested following a family dispute at the Dorchester Hotel, although assault charges were never brought because there was insufficient evidence.
According to United States media reports, the taped incident, which took place in July, was considered sufficiently serious for the film's producers to pass a recording of Bale's outburst to their insurer, amid concerns that a walkout by Bale would threaten the production.
It seems to have then found its way into the public domain after being leaked to TMZ by an employee of the insurance company.
Many Hollywood commentators said Bale's outburst was a proportional response to an unforgivable lapse by a technician. "Hurlbut walked across Bale's sight-line during a scene," wrote Geoff Boucher in the Los Angeles Times. "That's a huge no-no. I'm not sure anyone in Hollywood will be surprised by this eruption, except by its duration."
- INDEPENDENT
