"The Dark Night Rises" stars Joseph Gordon Levitt, 30, and Christian Bale, 37, were on the film's NYC set on Friday.

Question is ...

Some of Hollywood's smoothest actors have had to sport beards from time to time. Check out these leading men and tell us if you prefer them with or without face scruff.


Hair today, gone tomorrow.

Christian Bale single-handedly crashed Dicky Eklund's website Sunday night during the Oscars -- after the "Fighter" star gave the famous boxing trainer a shoutout during the awards ceremony.


Dicky's daughter and publicist Kerry Eklund tells TMZ, Bale's promo during his acceptance speech for "Best Supporting Actor" drove a ridiculous amount of traffic to Dicky's website ... and the servers just couldn't handle the load.

Sources on the technical side tell us, the site experienced nearly 20 times its normal daily traffic -- jumping from around 500 hits to nearly 10,000.

The site is up and running again -- and Kerry tells us, Dicky's ready to kick his training schedule into high gear.

Hollywood hunks Ben Affleck, 38, and Christian Bale, 36, showed off their burlier sides at the same event in NY on Tuesday.



Question is ...

"The Fighter" stars Christian Bale, 36, and Mark Wahlberg, 39, got chummy at the film's premiere in L.A. on Monday.



Question is ...

Christian Bale lived in a home where a human body was buried ... and he had no idea, cops tell TMZ.


We've learned in 2008 while Bale was filming "Terminator: Salvation" in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the body of Michael Snyder lay in the front yard of the home he was renting.

Snyder had been missing for 8 years ... buried at the home the entire time. The body was discovered last week after cops received a tip. Snyder's ex-wife has been arrested and charged with murder.

Bale obviously had no idea the body was in the yard.

There are perks to playing John Connor in the "Terminator" franchise besides fame and fortune ... like DUI arrests, trips to rehab and expletive-filled tirades.


The DUI bust of "Sarah Connor Chronicles" star Thomas Dekker is just the latest in a series of bad luck incidents to befall an actor playing John Connor.

After Edward Furlong starred as Connor in "T-2", the young actor was arrested for DUI, went in and out of rehab ... and just last month got a temporary restraining order filed against him by his estranged wife.

And when Christian Bale took the role of JC in "Terminator Salvation," an audio tape surfaced of his on-set F-bomb rant towards a crew member.

"Terminator 3" star Nick Stahl has so far eluded the hex, but he better be careful because the Connor curse ... will be back.

Pauly Shore went absolutely nuclear on the set of his new movie -- unleashing a screaming, f-bomb laced, Christian Bale-esque tantrum that could only be described as ... well, totally unbelievable.


TMZ obtained footage from MovieSet.com of the recent tirade, in which Pauly freaks out on the set of "Brand Dead" when he hears producers talking to each other during a scene he was shooting.

Pauly, who was playing a gay sports commentator at the time, screamed, "Shut the f**k up while we're working ... I'm playing this gay guy all day, wearing this f**king wig on my head ... have you ever been on a set before?"

There's way more yelling, way more cussing, way more freaking out.

But it all seems suspicious -- especially since that "real" footage of Pauly getting punched in the face at a comedy club a few years ago turned out to be an elaborate hoax to publicize a movie.

So, we gotta ask...

Here's emaciated actor Christian Bale on the set of his latest film in Boston on Monday (left) -- and the late Jim Varney as his infamous redneck character Ernest P. Worrell from the "Ernest Goes to ..." films (right).



One of them is known for speaking with an annoying accent in movies.

We're just sayin'.

Christian Bale is now frail.


The 35-year-old -- who famously dropped 63 lbs for his role in "The Machinist" and then quickly bulked up for "Batman Begins" -- was spotted in Boston on Monday, once again working the heroin chic gaunt look to play drug addicted boxer Dicky Eklund in his latest film.

Hopefully an apple a day keeps the cinematographer away ... from walking into his scene.

Promoting the new "Terminator" flick isn't gonna be easy for Christian Bale -- because it's impossible to talk about the movie without reporters bringing up that now infamous "la da da da" tirade.


He was on "Good Morning America" this morning, where he was asked the million dollar question: Do you have an anger problem?