The Truth Behind Christian Bale’s Blow Up?

By now, many have heard Christian Bale’s expletive-laden explosion at a director of photography on the set of “Terminator: Salvation” several months ago, thanks to an audio recording that was leaked to the Internet — but according to Ain’t It Cool News, there’s more to the story.

“The DP on ‘Terminator: Salvation,’ Shane Hurlbut, is apparently a light tweaker,” Ain’t It Cool editor-in-chief Harry Knowles reported on Tuesday. “He’s a fairly young DP and likes to fiddle with his lights on set during action, which is a big ‘no no’ on most productions. But apparently Shane is a pretty unrepentant light tweaker.”

Not only that, but the star was in the middle of filming a scene that laid down, “the emotional center of the film and his character,” with Bryce Dallas Howard when Hurlbut’s interruption came.

“The scene in question was a very emotional and tough scene,” Knowles wrote. “A scene that required… a deep level of immersive concentration.”

A source told Knowles, the star had “warned” Hurlbut on multiple occasions about changing the lighting while the cameras were rolling, and that otherwise, he’d been an “utmost gentleman and cool guy” on the set.

“Transformers” director Michael Bay, a man who’s seen his fair share of intense on-set moments, also weighed in on Christian’s actions in an interview with Billy Bush for Access Hollywood and “The Billy Bush Show” on Wednesday.

“Everyone’s allowed to have blow-ups on set, OK?” Michael said. “It’s a very tense place. I could totally understand Christian’s point of view – it takes him out of the scene when he’s trying to give it his all.”

But the director said actors don’t get three-and-a-half minutes to go off on his sets.

“As a director, after a minute, they say their stuff, after two minutes you go, ‘OK, that’s it, everyone clear the set,’” he said. “You don’t need that huge gigantic forum.”

And when it comes to his own blow-ups, Michael doesn’t need a lot of time.

“I’m not gonna go on for 10 minutes,” he said. “I’ll say my piece for about 30 seconds and then I call it a day, move on. We’re a business of professionals – you can’t go on and on.”