A contrite but humorous Christian Bale called into an L.A. radio station on Friday to apologize for his expletive-laced tirade on the set of “Terminator Salvation” that has circulated all week on audio tape form, and the actor also gave his version of what happened that July day when the outburst was recorded.   

“I know I have a potty mouth, everybody knows that now,” Bale told radio station KROQ. “But I understand this is live so please don’t worry, I will behave.”

And Bale apologized, pleading with listeners to not write off the new “Terminator” movie because of the outburst.

“I was out of order beyond belief, I was way out of order, I acted like a punk, I regret that and there is nobody that has heard that tape that is hit harder by it than me,” Bale said, as KROQ radio personality Lisa May cooed in sympathy.

Bale’s recording was posted on Monday by celebrity Web site TMZ.com, and it has inspired a cottage industry of audio mixes, including a mashup of the Bale outburst and an on-set tirade from conservative commentator Bill O’Reilly.

But details on exactly what happened that day in July have been more scarce than the remixes. Bale offered his version of it all in his call to KROQ.

Bale said that he was playing a scene where his character, John Connor, confronts his mother’s insanity, and that he was trying to convey a bit of his own character’s insanity. Then, Bale turned on the film’s director of photography Shane Hurlbut, accusing him of interrupting the scene and ruining it.

“I took it way too far and I completely mixed up fact and fiction, I’m half John Connor, I’m half Christian there,” Bale said.

But have no fear, Bale and Hurlbut have completely made up, Bale said. In fact, the two saw each other just two weeks ago.

“I absolutely believe in Shane’s capability, he’s done a wonderful job on that movie,” Bale said.

That could put to rest the most memorable line from Bale’s outburst, his raging Hollywoodspeak pledge that he and Hurlbut were “done, professionally.”  

Bale’s on-set tirade came the same month that he was questioned by police in London after his mother and sister alleged that he assaulted them at a hotel. Authorities declined to file charges.

Last month at a sneak preview for “Terminator Salvation,” which opens on May 22, director McG praised Bale’s dedication to the role of John Connor, who is central to the pop mythology surrounding the “Terminator” franchise. For a film set in the aftermath of nuclear war, maybe an on-set explosion strangely fits the theme.

(Writing and reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis)

Actor Christian Bale’s expletive-laced tirade on the set of the upcoming action movie “Terminator Salvation” has been the talk of Hollywood this week. The widely heard audio tape from that verbal explosion has been remixed into a dance song and has inspired a T-Shirt. 

But on Wednesday, celebrity blogger Perez Hilton linked to perhaps the most creative product of the audio remix cottage industry that has resulted from Bale’s blow-up. It’s a mashup of the Bale tape and footage of television commentator Bill O’Reilly losing his cool on the set of his news program. Be warned, audio from ”Batman” Bale’s tirade is not exactly family friendly.
    
The recording of Bale’s outburst was first posted at celebrity news site TMZ.com. Bale reportedly lost his temper on the set of “Terminator Salvation” when the director of photography interrupted a scene the actor was playing in.
    
Hollywood has a long history of on-set tirades and grudge matches. What’s new is that the Internet provides a place to hear exactly how bad Hollywood’s bad boys and girls can be. Does that mean actors like Bale will keep their behavior in check next time? Don’t bet on it.

For the first three “Terminator” movies, nuclear destruction and an epic war between man and machines loomed in the future. “Terminator Salvation,” the next installment in the saga due out on May 22, takes everything up to the year 2018, and it features plenty of newfangled machinery.

In a preview on Wednesday night in Los Angeles, the movie’s director McG (given name Joseph McGinty Nichol) played for a small audience scenes from the upcoming film.

In one scene, a giant robot called a Harvester tore through a decrepit gas station, picking up humans and depositing them in a mobile jail cell. One of the plotlines in the film is that machines will use humans for ghastly research as they develop their latest Terminator machine.

The movie’s cast of fearsome machines has many more players. They include Hydrobots, machines that swim underwater and look like robotic barracudas. In one scene previewed for the audience, actor Christian Bale flies a helicopter close to a lake and gets ambushed by the Hydrobots, but manages to keep them at bay with a an assault rifle. Bale plays John Connor, leader of the embattled human resistance against the machines.

In his talk, McG talked about the role that Arnold Schwarzenegger could play in the film. Schwarzenegger starred in the first three “Terminator” movies, and he was talked about for a possible cameo in the latest film. McG offered few details, but said that he plans to show Schwarzenegger the movie soon. Schwarzenegger is now governor of California, a state embroiled in a budget meltdown.

McG also said he expects the film will be more than two hours long. And he said it will be released in IMAX format, although it will not be shot in that format.

And he talked about another movie coming out this year with deadly machines. The film “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” is due out on June 26, from director Michael Bay. “It’s a healthy competition, so we’ll see who the last man standing is,” McG said.

(Writing and reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis)

PHOTO: REUTERS/Toby Melville

If “Batman” actor Christian Bale, who’s in Tokyo promoting blockbuster “The Dark Knight”, was hoping for a reprieve from being dogged by assault allegations made by his mother and sister, he came to the wrong place.

Since making a public appearance in the Japanese capital on Monday, the 34-year-old Welsh-born performer has been asked by reporters about the allegations, which he has already denied after spending several hours at a London police station last week before being released without charge. 

“It’s a private matter,” he said at a red carpet event for the Batman movie which has smashed box office records in North America. And even though reporters had been told to focus their questions on the movie by the organisers of a Tokyo press conference, a nervous looking Bale still got queried by a Japanese journalist who wanted to know if Bale was ”okay” following the allegations.  

“It’s a private matter,” he said again. Maybe this time people will believe him.   

It’s so strange it could make the plot of a Batman sequel.

Welsh-born actor Christian Bale has issued a statement denying allegations of assault made against him by his own mother and sister while he was in London for the European premiere of “The Dark Knight”, in which he plays Batman alongside the late Heath Ledger’s Joker.

He was at a London police station for around four hours on Tuesday answering questions about the alleged incident, and apparently escaped the waiting camera crews and paparazzi by whizzing out through the back entrance in a van with darkened windows.

Police have said that a 34-year-old has been released on bail and will be asked to return to a police station in September pending further enquiries. They didn’t name Bale, but the response was to a question about him and it is their way of confirming news about celebrities.

So now Bale is expected to join the cast and crew on red, or perhaps black carpets in Barcelona and Japan to promote the movie. There is little reason to think that the somewhat bizarre events in London will affect its performance in theatres. In fact, the publicity surrounding the arrest and questioning may actually heighten interest in a film already breaking box office records, in no small part due to the fascination surrounding Ledger’s acclaimed performance. He died of an accidental drug overdose shortly after completing the film.

The new Batman movie “The Dark Knight” has already impressed critics in advance of its Friday opening, but at its New York premier, the family of late Australian actor Heath Ledger gave the film their mark of approval. 
 
The performance of Ledger  as Batman’s nemesis The Joker has sparked speculation among critics that he could win an Oscar posthumously.
 
Kim Ledger attended the premier of his son’s movie in New York on Monday with his wife, Ines, who was Heath’s step-mother. The actor’s mother, Sally Bell, and his sister, Kate Ledger, also attended. The only close family not there was Ledger’s  former partner Michelle Williams, and mother of his daughter, Matilda.

After the movie, the Ledgers released a statement quoted in various media outlets saying: “‘The Dark Knight’ is everything we hoped it would be and more. Heath loved the experience of creating this character and working on the film. We are so proud of our boy.”
 
Kim Ledger also reportedly gave a thumbs-up sign at the premier when asked what he thought of “Dark Knight.”
 
Ledger, 28,  died alone in his Manhattan apartment in January from an accidental overdose of prescription medications. If Ledger is nominated for an Oscar for his role as The Joker, it would not be his first. He also won a nomination for his role as a gay cowboy in the 2005 film “Brokeback Mountain.”

Since before the summer movie season began in May, new Batman movie “The Dark Knight,” starring Christian Bale, has been one of the most anticipated films by movie fans. With good early reviews and an apparently strong performance by Heath Ledger as Batman’s nemesis The Joker, fan interest keeps growing.

Online ticket seller Fandango said on Wednesday that its advance ticket sales for the film are on pace to blast past blockbusters like “Iron Man” and “Sex and the City” — two of the summer’s biggest box office hits.

“The Dark Knight” opens officially on July 18, but theaters across the United States are scheduling midnight screenings on Thursday and many of those shows are already sold out, Fandango said. In response, theaters are adding 3 a.m. and 6 a.m. shows, so fans can catch the movie before dawn.

“The ‘Dark Knight’ may be responsible for a lot of bleary eyes at work next Friday morning,” Rick Butler, chief operating officer for Fandango said in a statement.

Ticket demand is high in small U.S. cities such as Boise, Idaho and in big cities like New York and Los Angeles.

In a survey of 3,000 fans at Fandango.com, 92 percent said they expect Ledger to win an Oscar posthumously for his role as the Joker — even though most of those fans presumably have yet to see his performance. Ledger died of an accidental drug overdose earlier this year in New York.