Want to land Christian Bale in a role? All you have to do is tell him he can’t do it.

Beyond the on-set tirade that leaked from set, Bale has openly admitted that he regrets starring in McG‘s Terminator Salvation. What we didn’t know is that he took the role out of spite.

“I said no three times. I thought that the franchise…I went ‘Nah, there’s no story there,’” Bale told MTV. “There’s a perverse side to me, where people were telling me that, there’s no way on God’s Earth that I should take that role, and I was thinking the same thing. But when people started verbalizing that to me, I started to go, ‘Oh really? All right, well watch this then.’ So there was a little bit of that involved in the choice.”

Let’s not forget that this is the same guy who dropped from about 173 pounds down to 110 pounds to make The Mechanic. His entire being is self-control/determination.

Digressing, he goes on to explain that he could tell during filming that it wasn’t going all too well.

“It’s a great thorn in my side, because I wish we could have reinvigorated [the franchise],” Bale said. “And unfortunately, during production, you could tell that wasn’t happening. It’s a great shame.”

Salvation nearly killed the franchise, but after another sequel James Cameron has regained the rights to his creation and is now behind the reincarnation.

[H/T] Indiewire