'I was out of order beyond belief,' says Dark Knight actor of his tirade at director of photography on set of Terminator Salvation

Christian Bale has apologised unreservedly for his widely-reported rant on the set of the new Terminator movie, calling it "inexcusable" and admitting "I acted like a punk".

The actor spoke to Los Angeles radio station KROQ on Friday after a tape of his foul-mouthed tirade at Terminator Salvation director of photography Shane Hurlbut was released onto the internet. Hurlbut had made the mistake of walking into Bale's eyeline during a take on last July's shoot.

In a lengthy apology, Bale, who admitted the past week had been "miserable" for him, told presenters Kevin Ryder and Gene "Bean" Baxter: "I was out of order beyond belief. I make no excuses for it."

He added: "There is nobody who has heard that tape who has been hit harder than me. The one thing that disturbs me so much is that I've heard a lot of people saying that I seem to think that I'm better than anybody else.

"Nothing could be farther from the truth. I am a lucky man, I never forget that and that is why I put so much into what I do, and why I care so much about it and why sometimes that enthusiasm just goes awry."

Bale said he had been trying to express the "craziness" of his character John Connor, leader of the human resistance against their machine overlords, but mixed up fact and fiction when he launched his attack on Hurlbut. "I'm half John Connor, I'm half Christian there," he said.

The Dark Knight star insisted that he and Hurlbut had resolved their differences on the very day that the verbal attack took place. "When I say 'I'm not coming back on this set unless he's fired', it's hot air," he said. "I don't want anyone to misunderstand this: I've seen a rough cut of the movie and he has done a really wonderful, professional job on this."

Bale added: "I know some people are thinking, 'I'm not going to see this movie' because they think I'm a prima donna. Everybody worked so hard on this movie. Please, don't allow my incredibly embarassing meltdown to overshadow this movie and to have all of those people's hard work go to waste."

The actor's estranged mother, Jenny, has already waded into the affair, suggesting the incident might help people understand why she reported Bale to the police for an alleged assault last summer at London's Dorchester hotel, before The Dark Knight's UK premiere.

At the weekend, his sister, Sharon, told the Daily Telegraph she felt her sibling "might need help". The driving instructor, who lives in Poole, Dorset, said: "He verbally attacked us. He spoke in the same aggressive way he did to that lighting engineer. I wouldn't have minded so much but it was in front of my family and three children.

"He's normally a placid guy but he has done film after film and he really gets into character. I think he just needs time out."