Entertainment

Is The Dennis Quaid Video Real?

by Daniela Cabrera

I warn any fans of Dennis Quaid or Parent Trap to approach this news with warning because your heart could be broken right now. On Monday night the Internet was set ablaze when a video of Dennis Quaid freaking out on set popped up on Reddit and quickly popped up everywhere else. After watching the bizarre and over-the-top video, many fans and viewers quickly began questioning the legitimacy of the outburst because this isn't something Dennis Quaid would really do, is it?!

The video, which seems to be filmed on a smartphone, begins with Quaid standing over a wood desk, in a setting that looks like an old study or dean's office. He immediately says really embarrassing things like "I'M ACTING HERE!!!" and calling someone "dopey the dick." Some of the crew sounds like they're trying to calm him down, but he continues yelling profanities then storms out a door and leaves everyone with a quiet, "Blow me." (OK, I giggled a little at that one.)

Now, after watching the ridiculous video, I decided to look at some factors to try to figure out if this is real or if Quaid is just punking us all. Hey, all publicity is good publicity, right?

Almost as soon as the video was posted on Reddit, one commenter claimed to work for Jimmy Kimmel Live! and said that this was just a part of one of Jimmy Kimmel's elaborate viral videos. Now, I know we should take what we read on the Internet with a grain of salt, but if you really think about it, Kimmel would absolutely be involved with something like this. The only part that I would doubt is that there are a LOT of expletives and degrading things in the video, whereas the talk show host tends to do more light-hearted skits.

Another reason this could be something staged is the video very closely resembles Christian Bale's epic freakout while he was on set for Terminator: Salvation. Bale's video, which was not a prank, is now something of a legend, and show the actor yelling at the director of photography for walking around on set and "disturbing" his work. In Quaid's video, he's essentially yelling about the same exact thing with people off-camera trying to calm him down and Quaid claiming it's "the most unprofessional set" he has ever been on. It could be a way to poke fun at Bale's video, because it is delivered in almost the same way.

And, lest we forget, Quaid does have a bit of a history with video pranking, and he seems to not really mind putting himself really out there for the sake of entertainment. The Ellen DeGeneres Show is known for some hilarious pranks, and DeGeneres has armed Dennis Quaid twice with an earpiece to repeat every word she says while he was in a casual setting. What ensued was an awkward interaction at Starbucks and a really hilarious manicure, but Quaid was always a good sport about it all and very gracious to the people involved afterward, because it was all in good fun.

Looking to what Quaid could possibly be filming during the time this video was shot, the only work I noticed on his IMDb was a film, Truth, which is already in post-production. The film is described as a "behind the scenes look at news anchor Dan Rather during his final days at CBS" and the set design in the video could definitely line up with that aesthetic. The only issue again is that they aren't filming anymore, so this video would have to been filmed a while ago and kept secret, which is not easy to do, as was the case with Christian Bale.

Well, in the end, Dennis Quaid really could've just had a bad day, but based on this evidence, I venture to say that could very well be some sort of prank, and I officially don't trust Jimmy Kimmel or anything on the Internet anymore. It's also nice to know there are so many people out there that still want to believe in the best in people. Dennis Quaid the people love you.

Images: Getty Images