Vishnu WarrierWorking on a film isn’t as easy as we think it is, sitting on our cozy sofas and gobbling popcorn. We are often quick to dismiss films and the blood, sweat and tears that went into its making. Working on a film is a team effort as the director, the producers, actors and all the others involved have a significant contribution to its creation. So what if an actor just does not gel well with the filmmaker or the producers or anyone else for that matter? Now, this is what complicates the whole process.
There are actors who are really hard to get along with and collaborating with them on a project can be a nightmare. These are actors nobody wants to work with because they may have attitude problems or, as it is so often seen in most cases, are absolute control freaks. Let’s take a look at such actors nobody wants to work with. Actors whose presence on the set could disrupt the harmony of the rest of the crew. Here’s the list of actors nobody wants to work with.
10. Lindsay Lohan
Irresistibly gorgeous and exceptionally talented, Lindsay Lohan is an actress who could never really live up to her potential and she has no one else but herself to blame for that. The actress is notorious for her brash attitude and has, on a number of occasions, ran into trouble with the law. She has had her issues with drinking and has been put on rehabilitation which cost her several film projects. She is also known for turning up late and unprepared on sets which makes her a really difficult actress to work with. It’s a shame that an actress of such high talent is just getting wasted away and there’s nothing really anyone could do about it.
9. Bruce Willis
A hero onscreen and a villain off-screen. That should sum up Bruce Willis’ character. We all know that Willis is one of the biggest action movie stars in Hollywood but the man can be a real pain to have on sets. Director Kevin Smith famously described him as “soul crushing” to work with. Willis isn’t really a team man and never gets along with most people which makes him a dreadful presence on the sets. Smith complained of Willis’ arrogant nature and his refusal to sit for promotional photos and admitted that he was a big fan of the superstar until he got to know him as a person. Now the next time you watch a ‘Die-Hard’ or ‘Armageddon’ or any other Willis movie, just imagine the pain filmmakers, co-stars and producers would have had to endure with him on sets.
8. Julia Roberts
Apparently, Julia Roberts isn’t as pleasing and charming as she looks. She is known to have caused a lot of troubles on set during the filming of Steven Spielberg’s ‘Hook’ in 1991. There were reports that she once turned up to the set late and had a huge argument with the director who has since then clearly expressed that he wouldn’t like to work with her again. It’s amazing to think that an actor as young as Roberts would behave so recklessly on the sets of a filmmaker who was probably the best working at the time. Well, success and ego can really get into your head!
7. Gene Hackman
Gene Hackman is well known for his mood swings on sets. Many co-stars and directors have complained about his bizarre behavior on sets and this has made him a hugely unpopular actor among the Hollywood fraternity. Perhaps the most famous incident involving his bizarre antics was during the shooting of ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ when he told director Wes Anderson, “Pull up your pants and act like a man.” The other crew members were concerned about Anderson’s health and were protective of him. Although Hackman was a huge pain during the entire production work, Anderson still thinks of him very nicely and said he enjoyed the experience of working with him.
6. Katherine Heigl
Katherine Heigl is quite a bit of an enigma. She has been severely critical and outspoken with regards to some of the projects she’s been involved with. This has made her an actress Hollywood would never in its worst dreams would think of working with and she has been, on many occasions, isolated by the industry. Expressing your opinions in a forthright manner is all good but one has to master the art of diplomacy if you’re to survive in an industry as competitive as Hollywood and sadly, this is where Heigl has miserably failed.
5. Sharon Stone
Well, we all know what Sharon Stone is capable of. She could be vulnerable, terrifying, seductive and if those aren’t the traits of a great actor then I don’t know what else is. Her most famous role came in Paul Verhoeven’s ‘Basic Instinct’ where she played a deadly female psychopath who manipulates and seduces men for her own needs and brutally kills them. Now while her talent remains undisputed, her eccentric off-screen persona has created numerous problems on set. Many of her co-actors and other artists have vehemently disliked her presence on the set and a lot can be attributed to her bossy nature.
4. Russell Crowe
Russell Crowe is known as somewhat of an ego maniac and has been involved in numerous issues, most famously during the production of ‘The Gladiator’ when he nearly threatened to kill the producer as he felt that his assistants were not getting a fair pay for their work. His badass off-screen persona has turned him into a filmmaker’s nightmare and has been been caught in several bizarre incidents, drinking, fighting and hurling abuses.
3. Gwyneth Paltrow
Gwyneth Paltrow’s deceptive charm and lovely looks could deceive you into thinking that she can be a nice person to be with. Well apparently that’s not the case. Paltrow apparently can be a real nightmare on sets. She has misbehaved with her co-stars and apparently seems to have OCD about cleanliness. She asks her assistants to clean off the showers at the gyms or anywhere she works because she’s afraid of getting infected with germs. Simply put, Paltrow is an obnoxious person to work with. Not that it matters but it’s fascinating to know the two sides of the same person; the image that one presents to the world and their real personalities.
2. Dustin Hoffman
The great Dustin Hoffman is famous for having turned down many iconic films including ‘Schindler’s List’, ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’ and also directors like Federico Fellini, Woody Allen and Ingmar Bergman. But he is also known as an extremely difficult actor to work with. He had numerous scuffles with ‘Tootsie’ director Sydney Pollack on set and also demanded complete creative control over the film before Charles Evans took off from the screenwriting process and became producer of the film. Hoffman also famously slapped Meryl Streep on the sets of ‘Kramer vs Kramer’ in order to bring a genuine emotion out of her.
1. Edward Norton
There’s no denying Edward Norton’s talent. I mean who could ever forget his stunning final act in ‘Primal Fear or that cold, vengeful smile he gave after murdering a black man who smashed his cars in ‘American History X? Only an actor of unusual brilliance and range could have pulled these scenes off with such remarkable ease and panache. And Norton has time and again proved his mettle as an actor. But I can’t help but think that the man remains vastly underrated. His choice of movies have been distinctive enough to put him in a league of his own but the man is an absolute control freak. He tends to direct almost every movie he stars in and this has made him a really difficult actor to work with. He is known to have seized creative control of many of his films including ‘American History X’ and ‘The Incredible Hulk’. His more recent performance in Alejandor Inarritu’s ‘Birdman’ kind of brought him back into his elements and we can only hope that he would keep aside his ego and come back strongly with more films and greater performances.
