The Unkidding!

Things aren’t looking too hot on the set of 20th Century Fox’s Garfield re-do. The new movie, titled simply Garfield, is an attempt at a more realistic adaptation of Jim Davis’ popular comic strip. Started in 1978, the Garfield strip already spawned two top-earning movies, but failed to win the majority of critics. With the reboot, Fox is looking to appeal to the core fanbase.

The decision is reflected on the project’s leading man Christian Bale. The brooding thesp plays Garfield’s simpleton owner Jon Arbuckle, and many on the production say he’s taking the role a bit too seriously.

In preparation for the film, Bale read every single Garfield strip ever produced and left his family for a month to live alone with a cat and a dog. His neighbors have occasionally heard obscenities yelled during the day and loud weeping at night.

“He brought this amazingly dark intensity with him,” said co-star Melissa Joan Hart. “…I’m not sure why.”

Bale, known for his intense dedication to his roles, was repeatedly told by the studio that they are making a family film, but he maintained that the audience wants to see Garfield done right. The creative difference led to numerous clashes on and off the set.

Bale was the source of a scuffle last week that halted production for an entire afternoon, when he got into a fight with lead puppeteer Dan Shanley, the man behind the Garfield puppet. During a particularly demanding scene—an intense and faintly violent argument about leftovers between Arbuckle and Garfield—Shanley accidentally reared the top of his head from under the table, causing Bale to go on a vulgar tirade. Many on set heard him call Shanley a “puppet pedo” and “Al Qaeda’s Jim Henson.”

“He kept telling Mr. Shanley to make Garfield apologize, then he’d slap the puppet off his hands,” said one P.A. “He did this for twenty minutes straight, never got tired of it. It was kind of disturbing.”

Funnyman Bill Murray voiced the computer-generated Garfield in the first two movies, though the reboot would implement a combination of live cat performers and puppetry, a clause Bale fought to have written on his contract.

“We’re not going to bullshit anybody with special effects and gags and all those things the previous films did pretty well, for what they are,” Bale told Access Hollywood enthusiastically last month. “We’re exploring this insanity of Garfield’s world from a sharp turn. It has to be about the characters. You know, like Batman Begins. If you read the original Garfield strips, the way Jim Davis originally created them—like that one with Jon not knowing what the capital of North Dakota is—or in the Garfield Minus Garfield book by Dan Walsh, there’s just that pathetic misanthropic quality to Jon Arbuckle that’s absolutely raw and emotional at the same time. He’s a great character for an actor to sink into, you know, like Batman, and Jon Arbuckle’s never been done the way I think he deserves to be done.”

“Obviously, we’re very happy to have Christian on board with us,” producer John Davis told us over the phone, audibly sighing. “He’s an artist. He takes all this very seriously. We all know that he’s going to bring something really special to the movie. It’s just… We’d rather if he didn’t.”

Asked why the production didn’t just move on with another actor when it looked like Bale was becoming difficult to work with, Davis’ lips quivered, mumbling under his breath, “You do it.”

“I suppose you can see the strips as a funny comic,” said Bale. “But we’re reinventing the mythology. You know, like Batman. We want to stay faithful to Davis’ vision, but it can’t be too comic strip-y. It has to be believable and compelling. I think we’ve found that perfect balance that I can be really proud of.”

The film is being directed by B.B. Tunney, who helmed the hit Sundance dramedy Jonah Barbiddum’s 99 Singing Pills. Screenplay is by Pink Panther 2 duo Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, with rewrites by Jonathan Nolan.