Christian Bale's temper is making headlines again, this time thanks to a foul-mouthed rant on the set of his upcoming flick Terminator Salvation.

In an audio clip that has surfaced online, the actor can be heard screaming abuse at the movie's director of photography, Shane Hurlbut, for walking into his field of vision as he filmed a scene.

In the four-minute tirade, Christian shouts: "I'm trying to do a f**king scene here and I'm going, 'Why the f**k is Shane walking in there? What's he doing there?' Do you understand my mind is not in the scene if you're doing that?"

He later promises to "kick his f**king ass" before threatening to quit the film unless the offending DP is fired.

TMZ – which obtained the recording - claims the film's executives sent the tape to their insurance company in case Christian pulled out of the movie.

Despite the apparent evidence to the contrary, the movie's associate producer, Bruce Franklin, maintains that the actor was a "consummate professional" during filming.

He tells E! Online, "If you are working in a very intense scene and someone takes you out of your groove...It was the most emotional scene in the movie. And for him to get stopped in the middle of it - he is very intensely involved in his character.

"He didn't walk around like that all day long. It was just a moment and it passed."

Franklin is adamant the rant has only been released to slander Christian, whom he worked with on the 2000 movie Shaft.

Christian was arrested in July last year over accusations he attacked his mother and sister at London's Dorchester Hotel before the British premiere of The Dark Knight.

Listen to Christian's on-set rant below (contains strong language!)