Yesterday’s post produced some interesting comments. Capn Cookie said that, while Bale’s outburst was uncalled for, the DP was still kind of a dick. Which called to mind an incident that happened on set only a few weeks ago.
As you probably know, it’s standard procedure to turn your cell phone to vibrate when on stage. If you’re actually standing on the set, it’s a good idea to turn the ringer off altogether.
Needless to say, we were all surprised when a phone rang in the middle of a take. Everyone looked around, ready to glare accusingly at whoever was so careless.
Then the DP looked down at his own pocket, surprised. “Oh, it’s me! Sorry,” he said, turning off the phone. “Man, I’ve yelled at so many people for doing that.”
He chuckled and then went back to work.
I wonder if he will remember this little episode the next time someone’s phone goes off. I wonder why I doubt it.
4 Responses
That’s an AWESOME rule. I hereby institute on all of my short films.
I worked once on a show where they had this “rule”: If your cell phone rang on the set, at the end of the day or week, you should pay a six pack of beer for the crew. We all wanted to hear at least twice a day those phones, haha.
I was on one show where the actor (a noted dick) particularly hated the 2nd A.D. Since we didn’t like either of them, there was a running gag on the show where people would borrow the set phone and then hand it back to the A.D. with the ringer turned on…then someone would call him during a take. The actor screamed a lot and the poor A.D. never figured out why this kept happening to him.
I wonder what’s happened to that DP who was yelled at by Bale. I haven’t read anything on the news about how HE felt for being the unfortunate target of Bale’s rage.