Thursday, February 12, 2009

meltdown is an original work

Christian Bale took method acting a bit too far when he unleashed a profanity filled tirade against a director of photography after the latter accidentally walked in the set while the crew was in the middle of filming a scene. It is to be expected that an audio capture of the whole thing was circulated in the Internet within days. The tape was apparently leaked after the studio (Warner Bros.) sent a copy to the insurance company in case Bale decided not to honor his contract and drop out. What is surprising is that in a follow-up story published by the La Times, the movie's director (McG - Charlie's Angels and a bunch of music videos) said that what happened was illegal and that "the anti-piracy people at the studio are going to pursue it to the full extent of the law." It is of course unclear what wrong or injury was suffered by Bale, even more so when any cause of action in this case is brought within the context of intellectual property rights. Perhaps they are suggesting that any emotional breakdown in a tangible form by a famous Hollywood actor should be protected by copyright? And that reporting about it on TMZ will not qualify as news under the fair use exemption? I would think that everyone who made remixes of the audio file would probabley be safe under the parody exemption. Taking such arguments to a logical extreme shows just how lawsuit happy those studio executives can be. The director goes on to say that actors should be able to feel safe in their working environment. Too bad mere crew members can't expect the director to keep them safe from cranky actors.

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