1. Gene Hackman
Oscar winner Gene Hackman was a force to deal with on the set of “The Royal Tenenbaums.” During a Q&A after the 10th anniversary screening in New York, cast and crew members recollected how Hackman would call screenwriter Noah Baumbach a “cunt” and would tell director Wes Anderson to “pull up your pants and act like a man.”
There’s more where that came from:
[IMDb]Anderson and [Gwyneth] Paltrow both admitted they were “scared” of working with Hackman, with [Anjelica] Huston saying, “I was a lot scared but I was more concerned with protecting Wes,” and said that no one involved with the film had “heard or seen of Gene since this movie.” … [Anderson]: He was one of the things that pulled everybody into this movie. Anytime we are together and talk about the movie we always talk about him.
2. Lindsay Lohan
Though she’s seemingly got her shit together for now, it’s not a stretch to imagine, I suppose, that LiLo would be a “colossal pain in the ass” on the set. According to one E! News source in regards to her guest spot on FX’s “Anger Management” (above). “From the moment she arrived [on her second day of the shoot], she did nothing but hold up the production. She would sit in her trailer and stall and she delayed until she up and left for her boyfriend’s concert … She held everyone hostage.” [IMDb]
3. William Shatner
William Shatner is apparently an egomaniacal prick. His lack of participation in the 2004 Planet XPo “Beam Me Up Scotty … One Last Time” farewell event for actor James Doohan was just one of many examples. Captain Kirk told the promoter of the event that he didn’t “want to do this and really don’t want to deal with all this Alzheimer’s crap.” (Doohan, Shatner’s longtime co-star on “Star Trek,” was diagnosed with the disease months prior and died in 2005.) “This is the usual thing that happens,” George Takei, another “Star Trek” cast member, told Howard Stern in 2010. “On the set –whether it was the TV series or the movies, or at conventions — this was another convention where he decided he was not going to do what they wanted him to do, and he walked out.” [IMDb]
4. Christian Bale
In what was perhaps one of the most famous on-set blowups of all time, Christian Bale railed on director of photography Shane Hurlbut — also threatened — while filming “Terminator: Salvation” because the latter apparently interrupted an intense acting sequence. You can’t not listen to the leaked recording of the exchange and think this guy’s gotta get on Klonopin. [IMDb]
5. Bruce Willis
In 2011 on Marc Maron’s “WTF” podcast, director Kevin Smith said working with Bruce Willis on the set of “Cop Out” was nothing short of “soul crushing.” The action star, notorious forgiving reporters hell come promotion time, wouldn’t even pose for a photo of him next to a poster at one “Cop Out”-related event. Smith gladly shared his antipathy with cast and crew members at the release party: “I want to thank everyone who worked on the film,” he said, “except for Bruce Willis, who is a fucking dick.” [IMDb]
6. Julia Roberts
Apparently, when she was 23, Julia Roberts was a hot mess on the set of “Hook” in 1991. She fought with director Steven Spielberg, according to the New York Times, which many suspected was her emotional outlet for a “Fellini summer” of drugs followed by a nervous breakdown after splitting with Kiefer Sutherland. People Magazine at the time suggested that all the celebrity visits to the set, which included Tom Cruise, Mel Gibson, Michelle Pfeiffer and Prince, may have been to see if “Tinkerhell,” as crew members nicknamed Roberts, “was as emaciated and emotionally fragile a Tinkerbell as rumor insisted.” [IMDb]
7. Jennifer Lopez
On the set of “What to Expect When You’re Expecting,” 42-year-old Jennifer Lopez refused to speak to anyone while filming, which kinda puts a kink in the entire moviemaking process. The anti-social behavior, according to one source, was an apparent response to the onslaught of paparazzi attention she received from her recent split-up with Marc Anthony. So, if you wanted to speak to J-Lo on the set of that movie, talk to her “personal handler” only. Not her. [IMDb]
8. Steven Seagal
Steven Seagal has an awful reputation for treating co-stars and stuntmen like garbage — kicking stuntmen in the nuts just to see if they’re wearing cups or not, shit like that. But even actors who aren’t professionally trained to fight have to put up with his bullying. John Leguizamo recalled in 2010 how the karate fatso let out his insecurities in a very schoolyard way when filming “Executive Decision”:
[IMDb]I’m playing his Master Sargeant, and we come in for rehearsals and he says, ‘I’m in command. Everything I say is law. Anybody doesn’t agree?’ I was like, ‘Bwahahaha.’ I started cracking up because he sounded like a retard … He came up and he Taekwondo’ed my ass against the brick and he [hit me with his elbow] … He’s six-foot-five and he caught me off guard and knocked all of the air out of me and I was like, ‘Why?! Why?!’ I really wanted to say how big and fat he was and that he runs like a girl, but I didn’t because all I could say was, ‘Why?!’ Why’d he slam me against the wall? We were rehearsing.
9. Marlon Brando
In Frank Oz’s 2001 flick “The Score,” Marlon Brando took offense Frank Oz’s direction that his performance as a homosexual crook was too nelly. Brando’s childlike counter on the setincluded addressing the director as “Miss Piggy,” refusing to wear pants (obligating the crew to shoot him from the waist up in all scenes) and bringing a note from his doctor, claiming the actor was allergic to Oz. (Oz, supposedly, sat in a different room and gave direction through “The Score” co-star Robert DeNiro in an ear piece.) In 1996′s “The Island of Dr. Moreau,” Brando refused to remove a makeshift ice bucket hat from his head. He also wore an earpiecefor crew members to feed him lines while shooting. He cared that little at that point in his career. [IMDb]
10. Wesley Snipes
Actor/comic Patton Oswalt recalled how, on the set of “Blade: Trinity,” Wesley Snipes would sit in his trailer and smoke weed all day. This ill behavior (get it?) was in part a protest against director David Goyer and New Line Cinema who, Snipes believed, owed him more money for his performance and were squeezing him out of creative control. Snipes ended up communicating exclusively with Goyer via Post-it notes that he would sign with the name ‘Blade.’” [IMDb]
11. Mandy Patinkin
“Homeland” actor Mandy Patinkin admitted to New York Times Magazine that, on the medical TV drama “Chicago Hope,” he was too big for his scrubby pants. “I struggled with letting in other people’s opinions,” he said. “I never let directors talk to me, because I was so spoiled. I started off with people like Milos Forman, Sidney Lumet, James Lapine, unbelievably gifted people. So there I was saying, ‘Don’t talk to me, I don’t want your opinion.’ I behaved abominably. I don’t care if my work was good or if I got an award for it. I’m not proud of how I was then, and it pained me.” [IMDb]
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