Will viralness of tirade harm Christian Bale's career?

Christian Bale is about to learn the power of the Internet.

Bale, who starred as Batman in The Dark Knight and in the western 3:10 to Yuma, apparently suffered a complete meltdown last summer on the set of Terminator Salvat ion, screaming profanities at the picture's director of photography.

A recording of the tirade has gone viral and is rapidly spreading on the Web. According to reports, it is Bale's voice lashing out at the DP for walking into his line of sight during filming. (Warning, the tirade is profanity-filled and the audio is very clear--use headphones).

"I want you inactive the (expletive) represent, you (expletive)," Bale says. "Think for one Cuss second. What the (expletive) are you doing? Are you a professional or not?"

At one point, Bale threatens the man, whose job it is to make Bale look good, with violence.

Bale, who was once accused of assaulting his mother and nun, sound s like he needs a vacation. If this thing plays out like it has with other stars, he may get one. Film and TV fans want to believe that their screen gods are, well, nice people. If that illusion is shattered, then they often don't want to pay to verify that actor's movies or shows. (I remember a time when each it took to wreck an actor's career was consume and drugs).

A clip of David O. Russell, director of Three Kings, shouting the F-word at actress Lily Tomlin on the set of I Heart Huckabees and he hasn't directed since. Michael Richards, a other cast member of the TV periodical Seinfeld hasn't worked much since his 2006 comedy subroutine that saw Richards shower racial epithets at a group of hecklers. The scene was v ideotaped and spread wildly crosswise the Blade.

The same feeling happened to George Comedienne, the former U.S. Senator from Virginia. On videotape, he called an Indian-American a "macaca," and pundits speculate that the incident not only cost Allen his Senate seat but also derailed any presidential hopes.

It should be noted that both those incidents involved racial epithets.

An frequency recording of Alec Baldwin calling his daughter a "pig" and other names transmitted the actor and his handlers scurrying into spin control. Baldwin rebounded in his role as the bumbling entertainment executive on the hit show 30 Rock.

Baldwin could moonlight these days with offering public relations advice to f allen actors.

Cheers~