Dennis Quaid's meltdown is a classic. Shame it's also clearly fake

The clip, which surfaced on Reddit, is well-acted, but lacks the authenticity of classics like Christian Bale’s epic diva fit

There comes a time in everybody’s life when the actions of another person make you want to scream at the moon, stars, and anyone in your general vicinity. And for Dennis Quaid, that moment came yesterday. (We hope.)

Let’s start at the top. According to a post on Reddit, Quaid lost his cool while shooting a scene after an unnamed person allegedly wandered on to set and messed up his flow.

“I am acting here, and this dickhead wanders on to my set!” he yelled. “I can’t even get a line out until Dopey the Dick starts whispering in your ear, and you’re not even watching any more.

So yes, if this is real, it’s spectacular. Like Christian Bale before him, and even Reese Witherspoon’s brilliant arrest video, Quaid managed to embody the rage we’ve all felt when a human being does anything we disagree with. We have all wanted to refer to our co-workers as zombies before making a dramatic exit (“Don’t fucking ‘Dennis’ me!”). We have all wanted to assert our professionalism (“I’m a pro!”). And we have all wanted to describe a situation exactly as we see it (“This is garbage!”).

Unfortunately – or fortunately, depending on who he was yelling at – it’s also probably staged. A Reddit commenter who claims to work for Jimmy Kimmel let slip that the video is a prank, and lest we forget that Quaid’s done the hidden-camera shtick for Ellen several times, proving he’s not one to shy away from “putting himself out there”.

Also? The alleged movie set has yet to be named. Unlike Bale – where we knew he was just that passionate over his moment in Terminator – we have no idea what Quaid is filming, or how, or why. And if he was in the middle of Truth – a film set to open later this year about Dan Rather – we probably would’ve heard about it by now. Especially since it’s co-starring high-profile actors like Cate Blanchett or Elisabeth Moss, and freak-outs like this tend to leak. (As we can see.)

So no, you guys: I don’t buy it. Dennis Quaid once whispered a request for ketchup into an assistant’s ear without breaking character. This has to be just another venture into one of his many sketch-based personas.

Right?

Unless, of course, he’s just that good of an actor. And in that case, may whatever-higher-power-you-believe-in help us all.