Difficult actors - Page 3

Quote:

Originally Posted by Virtanen 

Did some digging and found this. Steven Seagal is either a nutjob or an asshole.

 

http://www.cagepotato.com/awesome-story-of-the-day-steven-seagal-attacked-john-leguizamo-to-prove-he-was-the-alpha-male-on-a-movie-set/

 

 

 

I love the Gene LeBell story.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ambler 

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Gene Hackman who is a notorious prick.  I can't remember the film, but a director went to give Hackman some direction.  Hackman flat out said "I'm not doing that" and walked away, no dicussion. 

I think that was on the set of "The Quick and the Dead." Bruce Campbell talks about it in "If Chins Could Kill." Raimi gave Hackman his direction for a scene, Hackman refused to do any of it, but I think once Raimi explained the character's motivation, Hackman ended up going along with it.

My favorite part of that story is, after Raimi gets Hackman to do it, he points at himself and goes, "Who's the boss? Huh?"

Hackman's a living legend and all that but what kind of prick do you have to be to call Wes Anderson a cunt? That's just uncalled for, man.

EDIT: LOL - this was siting a tab. Everyone beat me to it. Here's the transcript anyway...

"Gene Hackman who is a notorious prick. I can't remember the film, but a director went to give Hackman some direction. Hackman flat out said "I'm not doing that" and walked away, no discussion. "

Was that Raimi/Quick in the Dead? Let me find something....

From Bruce Campbell's "If Chins Could Kill": Raimi had landed his first A picture. With a cast like Gene Hackman, DiCaprio, Stone and Crowe The Quick and the Dead couldn't have been much bigger. In this world however, Sam found himself dealing with elements that were out of his control - elements like Movie Stars.

Gene Hackman was an actor who insisted on respect. The first day of shooting, Sam explained what he had in mind.

SAM: Okay Gene, when you come out that door, I'd like you to tip your hat to the guy across the street, then come over here and sit in this chair. Now, I know this isn't scripted, but I'd like you to lean over to this guy and whisper "What are the odds on the kid?"

Gene looked at Sam in silence for a beat.

GENE: I'm not going to do any of that. Cut to Sam, turning white - fortunately he is extremely prepared.

SAM: Well, you don't have to tip your hat, but I already got a shot of Pat Hingle across the street reacting to you. You signal the gunfight, so it can be whatever you want, a wave or a nod...

GENE: All right, I'll tip my hat, but I won't sit in that chair.

SAM: Hmmm - Well, the reason I thought you might want to sit, is because you're the King of this town - the King sits. I've got the extras all standing like peasants.

GENE: All right, I'll tip my hat and sit in the chair, but I'm not gonna say that line.

SAM: That's fine - you don't have to, but later on, when the audience realizes that you are the kid's father, they'll think back and say "Cool, he really did care about his son."

Gene looked at Sam in silence again.

/Sam smiled at me as he popped a VHS tape of dailies into his machine. I watched Gene Hackman walk outside, tip his hat, sit down and whisper the new line.

"Huh? Who's the boss?" Sam asked, jerking a thumb at himself.

That's a fun story, but it's interesting to note that Raimi then went through an extended period of making movies that relied more on the performances than his visual trickery (there was tension on set because Raimi spent so much time obsessing over the camera rigs more than the performances). Something like the above is useful for dealing with a dick swinging competition but it would be hell to have to do that every day. Better to develop a good shorthand for dealing with actors in such a way that they're well served but don't suck up too much time with constant hand-holding.

Quote:

Originally Posted by tommy five-tone 

Hackman's a living legend and all that but what kind of prick do you have to be to call Wes Anderson a cunt? That's just uncalled for, man.

"Give me more Twee Gene! MORE TWEEEEEE!"

I wonder if Hackman just lost patience with what he perceived as "kid directors" as he got on in age. "You're gonna tell me how to sit? I have liver spots older than you."

Russell Crowe gets called out in that book about Dreamworks, "The Men Who Would Be King," for being all Russell Crowe-y on the set of "Gladiator." I guess he went up to one of the (many) writers of the film and told the guy that the "I will have my vengeance; in this life or the next" speech was garbage. But, he was the best actor in the world and could make even garbage sound good. Then that speech wound up in every trailer to the movie.

Quote:

Originally Posted by User_32 

I think Ridley Scott said that the only person angrier than he is on set is Russel Crowe. That they don't suffer fools.
As for Gene Hackman, it's interesting who he gets along with. He loved Richard Donner on Superman. He originally didn't want to shave his mustache for Lex Luthor so Donner made a deal with him that if he shaved it off, Donner would shave his as well. Hackman agreed, shaved off his mustache and told Donner it was his turn and Donner slowly peeled away the fake mustache he was wearing. Hackman was so impressed he said he wouldve followed Donner anywhere after that. Donner was also able to get a performance out of the notoriously difficult Marlon Brando. Yet Bill Murray severly clashed with him on the set of Scrooged.

I like to think that the disagreement wasn't something Donner had heard about beforehand, but that he just liked to walk around in a fake mustache.

He was just waiting for the day to do it.

I've loved that Hackman story since reading Campbell's book.  It makes me love Raimi even more.

The recurring theme with Hackman seems to be that he has (or rather, had) to be tricked into doing what his director tells him. Just the idea that someone had to use a fake moustache with an actor of his caliber is pretty hilarious. (Now I'm imagining all sorts of other crazy hijinx to get him to follow direction. It's like a pitch for a bad sitcom, or a Looney Tunes cartoon. Watch Francis Ford Coppola smear Gene's favorite flavor of jam on the mouthpiece of the saxophone to get him to play it in The Conversation!)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nardo 

Isn't there a an actual story behind Seagal being the subject of a bet that one Studio Honcho had with another that he could in fact make a star out of a deeply unlikeable asshole?

http://movies.amctv.com/movie/637/Above-the-Law/review

That Raimi story is great. 'Course, on his sets he is both the Unstoppable Force AND the Immovable Object. The clip on the Spider-Man 2 special features of him giving Toby the runaround is the perfect example of that.("You don't get this shot right, I'm gonna send you home." "You can't send me home, I'm the star!" "You think I won't shut down for the day? Do you? I haven't seen my kids in a while. I don't care." *Toby laughs, unsure if Raimi is being serious*) Of course he could get Hackman to play ball. Of course.

LOL. After all the terrible things he did to Campbell over the years, they got off lightly.

Quote:

Originally Posted by tommy five-tone 

Hackman's a living legend and all that but what kind of prick do you have to be to call Wes Anderson a cunt? That's just uncalled for, man.

Don't ask the brit animators on Fantastic Mr.Fox their opinions unless you want more of that and much much worse.

Speaking of those difficult actors I see that HATFIELD & McCOY'S is on tonight. Kevin Costner was a difficult motherfucker during his prime and made a few enemies. 

He still is, according to Bill Paxton, his Hatfields & McCoys costar, who generally did get along with him:

"He had a funny thing. I got there probably 10 or 12 days ahead of him—I had to shoot a couple of small things—and then we all went up to Transylvania, where we were for four weeks, and that’s where he joined us. That’s where I first really hung out with him: up in the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains. But he was already off book, and he loved to put actors on the spot, where he’d just start running a line from a scene and expect them to come in with their responses. I remember more than a few actors would hide when they saw him coming. [Laughs.]"

Not really "difficult," I guess, but sort of pulling rank as the big dog.

EDITED TO INCLUDE RANDOM ROLES LINK, WHICH BEING BILL PAXTON IS EMINENTLY READABLE AND ENTERTAINING

Quote:

Originally Posted by JacknifeJohnny 

Mostly just snippets and snickerings from his arthouse / UK days like on Metroland and such, where he was known to be prone to hissy-fits and whatnot. Also, though nothing specific has come to light that I know of, the crew of Public Enemies didn't much care for him, nor did Johnny Depp.

 

Off-topic, but Public Enemies was filmed in Wisconsin, and apparently Depp took time to go out of his way to be an absolute fucking saint - he would give away props they were done with to bystanders, engage extras and crew in small talk, etc etc. 

Kinda the flip side, a guy who "gets it" - "hey, if I don't be an asshole, and take a few minutes here and there to be nice to people, THEY WILL LOVE ME" 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Martin Blank 

He still is, according to Bill Paxton, his Hatfields & McCoys costar, who generally did get along with him:

 

"He had a funny thing. I got there probably 10 or 12 days ahead of him—I had to shoot a couple of small things—and then we all went up to Transylvania, where we were for four weeks, and that’s where he joined us. That’s where I first really hung out with him: up in the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains. But he was already off book, and he loved to put actors on the spot, where he’d just start running a line from a scene and expect them to come in with their responses. I remember more than a few actors would hide when they saw him coming. [Laughs.]"

 

Not really "difficult," I guess, but sort of pulling rank as the big dog.

You should link to that Random Roles. 

Paxton seems like the easiest interview ever - ask a question, get a 5 minute, in-depth, thoughtful and amusing response. 

Honestly - and I may be being utterly naive here - Depps nice guy persona has always struck me as pretty genuine rather than some pre-planned ply to get more love.

The guy just seems like an actual nice, lovely man.

Depp's one of those guys you never hear anything shitty about. Seems to genuinely appreciate his fans, and he does stuff like this. I wish he wouldn't whore himself out to crappy big movies so often, but all respect to him as a human being.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chavez 

 

 

You should link to that Random Roles. 

 

Y'know, you're right. So I went back and did. Here it is again. Their Random Roles lately have been killer.

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Rain Dog 

Honestly - and I may be being utterly naive here - Depps nice guy persona has always struck me as pretty genuine rather than some pre-planned ply to get more love.

 

The guy just seems like an actual nice, lovely man.

I didn't intend it to come across as some sort of nefarious plot on the part of Depp ("first their love, then their souls! Muhahahaha!!"), just more of an observation along the lines of IF someone were going to attempt to do a 180 on their public image, it's pretty much the most logical way to go about it. 

As opposed to, say, getting pics snapped of you snorting coke with a 16 yr old hooker on a 200' yacht in the Riviera. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Martin Blank 

 

Y'know, you're right. So I went back and did. Here it is again. Their Random Roles lately have been killer.

ALSO MICHAEL BIEHN IS UPCOMING. 

The best part of that is in the comments the usual "why didn't you ask about (movie x)?" started - and Paxton had a shit-ton of them (Tombstone, Near Dark, One False Move, A Simple Plan, etc) and Will Harris said it was supposed to be a 20 minute interview, it went 45, and he had 20 more questions to ask him. 

Also, I suppose I could have linked the article, but shaming you into doing so as opposed to clicking the mouse myself seemed way easier. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Rain Dog 

Honestly - and I may be being utterly naive here - Depps nice guy persona has always struck me as pretty genuine rather than some pre-planned ply to get more love.

 

The guy just seems like an actual nice, lovely man.

He seems like a smart guy, is fabulously rich, is the nicest looking human male ever, and, just to top it all off, he appears to be immortal.  I don't see what he would have to be a douche about.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bailey 

 

He seems like a smart guy, is fabulously rich, is the nicest looking human male ever, and, just to top it all off, he appears to be immortal.  I don't see what he would have to be a douche about.

Since when has any of that stopped someone?

Most of the people in this thread share something in common: they behave as badly as they can get away with.

Depp could get away with A LOT. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ambler 

Pacino was shooting Author! Author! chilling in his trailer while the crew was setting up the shot outside in freezing temperatures (windchill way below) for an hour.  When it was time to shoot, he came out and refused to film because he didn't like the lighting, which reminded him of Cruising.  He wanted the lighting changed.  Arthur Hiller, usually a sweetheart, exploded and tore Pacino a new asshole for ignoring the fact that the crew had been busting their ass for an hour in the freezing cold while he was snug as toast in his trailer.  Pacino exploded back and left the set with his entourage.  I know Pacino was a raging alcoholic back then, so maybe it was the sauce...

That sounds familiar. Was that in Goldman's Adventures in the Screen Trade?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Farsight 

 

Since when has any of that stopped someone?

 

Most of the people in this thread share something in common: they behave as badly as they can get away with.

 

Depp could get away with A LOT. 

Never.  I was just being silly.

Reportedly, it's a Hollywood tradition for certain megastars to bring on their own writers, often under the table and without WGA approval, to adjust the scripts to better suit the actor. I know Dustin Hoffman did it back in the day, I'm sure he was one of many. Tom Cruise does it, but only because he's got a cadre of A-Listers on his Rolodex, and he makes sure it's WGA-sanctioned. Will Smith does it all the time without clearance, however, which explains why he hasn't worked with that many great directors since Michael Mann - one of them, Michael Soccio, was called in for Men In Black 3, despite his only "official" writing credits being episodes of Fresh Prince, and he was the man re-writing work from Etan Cohen (Tropic Thunder), David Koepp (Jurassic Park) and Jeff Nathanson (Catch Me If You Can). If I were a writer-director on one of these types of projects, I'd be pissed.

I heard he tried to pull that stunt on his wife's show "HawthoRNe" (actual capitalization), bringing in scores of random writers to "punch up" scripts, and leading the producers to realize the show wasn't worth the effort.

Russell Crowe does it too.

Has Wesley Snipes been mentioned yet?

Quote:

Originally Posted by John Matrix 

Has Wesley Snipes been mentioned yet?

Apparently if he's given enough cones and doesn't have to pay his taxes he's just fine.

The comments about Chevy Chase have been all over the map. I heard Phil Alden Robinson speak at SUNY Albany six or seven years ago, and Robinson -- who was a script doctor on FLETCH -- said he really enjoyed working with Chase.

Has anyone seen the DVD documentary included with Mike Figgis' mostly improvised, and stunningly awful, HOTEL? There's some priceless footage of Burt Reynolds telling Figgis and the cast that he's viewed the dailies and doesn't understand any of the characters and their relationships to each other. Reynolds even suggests that he leave the project. Figgis, incredibly, seems taken by surprise, and sounds like a moron when he tries to address Reynolds' concerns. The other actors look embarrassed, probably realizing that they've been screwing around for weeks and the footage is unwatchable.

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Rain Dog 

Honestly - and I may be being utterly naive here - Depps nice guy persona has always struck me as pretty genuine rather than some pre-planned ply to get more love.

 

The guy just seems like an actual nice, lovely man.

Tom Hanks is another actor that I've never heard anything negative about. I think Leonard DiCaprio said that he's one of the few great actors who's not fucked up in some way.

Tony Scott has directed a lot of the actors mentioned on this thread: Kilmer, Rourke, Hackman, Cruise, Snipes, Willis. Wonder what's his secret, the pink shorts?

Edited to add Kevin Costner and James Brown to Scott's resume.

Hugh Jackman is supposedly one of the nicest people to work with. It's played a huge role in him becoming an A-litser. Directors want to work with him based on his on-set reputation alone.

Steve Carell is said to be a great guy. Ryan Reynolds too.

Being nice gets you more work? You speak madness!

Chins Could Kill is a book that doesn't flat out say the full names, but some of the anecdotes in it hints that the late Brion James had a violent temper on the set of Sam Raimi's Crimewave and Ray Liotta was a jerk to John Mahoney while making Article 99.

Carell did survive Evan Almighty after all!

Quote:

Originally Posted by JPL 

Ray Liotta was a jerk to John Mahoney while making Article 99.

I would be shocked to learn that Ray Liotta ISN'T a jerk.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JPL 
Brion James had a violent temper on the set of Sam Raimi's Crimewave

He later said he was heavy into booze and drugs for years. Not to excuse, just to explain. He apparently got clean not long after that flick.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris Spider 

All this time and we haven't mentioned late-period Brando? Superman. Apocalypse Now. Dr. Moreau.

Donner has said he anticipated difficulty from Brando-- the Salkinds signed him and his then-record-breaking fee solely for marquee value-- but he talked to Coppola first, who said the trick was to let Brando talk himself out of his own ideas. And apparently there was one day Brando wasn't feeling well and gave them a free day.

Now, flash-forward to The Score, and the stories of Brando doing his scenes without pants. So that they'd have to keep him in close-up, see.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sebastian OB 

 

I would be shocked to learn that Ray Liotta ISN'T a jerk.

To quote someone I know who's worked  closely with him, "he's a pussy cat".

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hammerhead 
Now, flash-forward to The Score, and the stories of Brando doing his scenes without pants. So that they'd have to keep him in close-up, see.

The worst story I heard about that was Brando refused to be directed by Frank Oz, mockingly referring to him "Miss Piggy", so De Niro had to direct his scenes. Supreme douchebaggery.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Naisu Baddi 

The worst story I heard about that was Brando refused to be directed by Frank Oz, mockingly referring to him "Miss Piggy", so De Niro had to direct his scenes. Supreme douchebaggery.

Obviously hadn't seen the 20+ movies where he plays "Angry Pissed Off Guy".

Quote:

Originally Posted by brandhay 

To quote someone I know who's worked  closely with him, "he's a pussy cat".

That's awesome if true. Imagine talking to the "pussy cat" then getting to see him "turn on" his screen persona once the camera rolls. Must be an electrifying experience.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JPL 
Brion James had a violent temper on the set of Sam Raimi's Crimewave

He later said he was heavy into booze and drugs for years. Not to excuse, just to explain. He apparently got clean not long after that flick.

 

I love him in that. I'd rather it be a legit struggle going on within the man himself than being some kind of power douche. It's a sad fact that some of these people are fucking amazing on-screen BECAUSE they're fucked up.

 

 

Tony Scott vs Difficult Actors:

From the commentaries etc my feeling is that he's a total Alpha. Likely that sort of 100% command helps your Kilmer's etc feel "safe". No doubt any childish power-plays are put down fast and hard.

 

 

 

Yeah, from what I've heard about Tony and Ridley, they grew up in a pretty hard-ass part of London where they were regularly either in streetfights, or just getting their asses kicked by local punks.

Walking onto a set with bratty actors threatening temper tantrums and slapfights probably do nothing but make them grin.