Christian Bale’s on-set rant against a technician working on Terminator: Salvation has only been out a week and is already the stuff of legend. It’s been parodied unmercifully in the media, and an amusing remix (link leads to video) has received over 1.6 million views on YouTube.

People are divided over whether it should have been leaked or not, and if Bale was clearly in the wrong or if he had an understandable fit of anger during the most intense scene in the film in which a lighting technician with whom he’d had the same issue with in the past was interfering. His own mother publicly commented on the rant, saying that she understood why he was upset but implying that he shouldn’t have carried on so long with it.

Christian Bale himself has decided to talk about the controversy. He called in to an LA radio station this morning and said that he’s had “a miserable week,” that the issue over the tape has affected him deeply, and that he knows he was in the wrong and has no excuse for it.

One thing that E! didn’t include in their coverage of this below is that Bale said “I’m not comfortable with this notion of being a movie star. I’m an actor… I don’t quite know how to handle the movie star thing. The thing that disturbs me is that I’ve a lot of people saying that I seem to think I’m better than anybody else. Nothing could be farther from the truth. I am a lucky SOB. I never forget that, and that is why I put so much into what I do, and why I care so much about it and sometimes that enthusiasm just goes awry. If anyone ever sees me thinking that I’m better than anybody else… stick a fork in me, turn me over, I’m done.”

The radio station that Bale called into has been mocking him on the air this week, and he said it was fine and that he deserved it:

After a week of unrelenting press coverage in the wake of his leaked onset rant, Bale unexpectedly chose to break his silence over the incident on KROQ radio’s popular morning show, taking full responsibility for his Terminator: Salvation explosion.

“It’s been a miserable week for me,” Bale told hosts Kevin Ryder and Gene “Bean” Baxter. “Listen, I know I have a potty mouth; everybody knows this now.

“The thing that I really want to stress is I have no confusion whatsoever. I was out of order beyond belief. I was way out of order. I acted like a punk. I regret that.

“There is nobody that has heard that tape that’s been hit harder by it than me. I make no excuses for it. It is unexcusable. I hope that that is absolutely clear.”

As for what brought on the much-played rant, Bale said the day’s shooting was particularly intense: “I put so much into what I do and care so much about it and sometimes the enthusiasm just goes awry.
“I’m embarrassed by it. I ask everybody to sit down and ask themselves, have they ever had a bad day and have they ever lost their temper and really regretted it immensely.”

Not that he doesn’t understand the public’s insatiable desire to hear—and mock and remix—the audio.
“Feel free to make fun of me at my expense; I deserve it completely.”

Bale, who could easily have chosen any worldwide media to deliver his mea culpa, said he selected KROQ because had been listening to the morning show’s mockery and incessant playing of his rant all week.

“I spoke with you guys a few years back; you seem like good guys and I wanted to talk with you about it,” he said, before adding that the DJs’ take on his rant made him laugh. “Believe me, this is no punk…”

(For those doubting the validity of the scoop, Bale’s rep Jennifer Allen has confirmed that it was the actor, and not the station’s dead-on Bale impersonator, Ralph Garman.)

As for any residual hard feelings between Bale and D.P. Shane Hurlbut, the object of his on-set rant, the actor said it ceased being an issue shortly after the outburst.

“We have resolved this completely…I have no intention of getting anyone fired. There is no problem whatsoever.”

[From E! Online]

He also explained the rant very well, and said that he was filming a rough scene “mixed up fact and fiction” and was “half John Connor,” when he flipped out. Bale was incredibly genuine and upfront in the interview and I got the impression that he would have felt bad about the rant even if the footage hadn’t been released. He said he worked out the issue with that guy he was yelling at that very day, worked with him for hours more that day, and for a month afterwards. He pleaded to the audience not to let his rant interfere with their impression of the movie, and said it’s a great film that everyone should go see.

Bale also had a message he wanted to give to Michael Phelps before he got off the phone, he said “Please, Michael Phelps, swim in the next Olympics… sure he smoked a bit of weed, plenty of our Presidents have, do not waste that God-like talent, swim in the next Olympic games.”

It’s also to Bale’s credit that he called into a radio station to give his first post rant interview and didn’t go the talkshow route. I would encourage everyone to listen to the tape of Christian Bale’s apology, it’s not on YouTube yet, but you can hear it on KROQ’s website (left side) and on E! Online.