Melissa McCarthy Reveals a ‘Hostile, Volatile’ Set Left Her ‘Physically Ill’ and the Crew ‘Weeping’

And so begins the Disney PR people work!

How come these things never come out while the movie is being made?

What set was she talking about? Gilmore Girls?

I have a new movie coming out, I was a victim almost 20 years ago!

[quote] My eyes were swelling up

Just your eyes then?

Is she talking about the Pumpkin set?

[quote]“I did work for someone once who ran such a volatile, hostile set that it made me physically ill,” McCarthy said. “My eyes were swelling up, I was absorbing all of this nuttiness. There were people weeping, visibly so upset by this one person,” she added. “And I think that’s why the manipulation worked, because to get to me this person would fire people I loved, which kept me quiet. It was very effective. Then one day, I was like, ‘It stops today!’ I just kept saying to them, it stops, it stops. And I know now I’ll never keep quiet again.”

I'm not sure what the point is of making a statement like this without naming names.

The point is, r7, to speak up and not be afraid. Doesn't matter that she didn't name names.

She’s clearly talking about Lauren Graham.

[quote]The point is, [R7], to speak up and not be afraid. Doesn't matter that she didn't name names.

So, almost 2 decades later (When she is promoting a new movie) she is offended?

I thought she was background!

[quote]So, almost 2 decades later (When she is promoting a new movie) she is offended?

Was it not germane to her interview, r10? Did she pull it out as a non sequitur?

Is that behaviour the reason Graham's post-GG career looks the way it does? 👀

Another vote for Lauren Graham.

Were there many fired from Gilmore Girls? And was McCarthy a big enough part of the show that people could concievably fired to upset her...?!

*conceivably

Showrunner or director, is what it sounds like, to me. And they were trying to hurt Melissa? Huh.

When was the last time she was funny?

I was molested but you don't hear me complaining.

"Person", "this one person," "someone": must be a woman.

Does she still work with Paul Feig?

That doesn’t sound like GG. She wasn’t that important. And Lauren wasn’t firing people.

Why do so many DL’ers hate Melisa McCarthy? She seems nice enough, she can be quite funny, and I don’t think she’s really offended anyone. I don’t get the dislike.

As for the set she’s referring to, wouldn’t it be funny if we found out it was that superhero movie she did and that Octavia Spencer was the monster firing everybody? LOL

Was Disney so afraid of DeSantus that they didn’t cast a drag queen as Ursula as the role really requires?

Yeah, I don’t know that she could be described as working for Lauren or that Lauren ran the set (even if first on the call sheet does set the tone for a set).

I would guess maybe the show runner on Mike & Molly. She was important enough on that show that she couldn’t be fired but others could be to get to her.

[quote]The point is, [R7], to speak up and not be afraid. Doesn't matter that she didn't name names.

I guess speaking up without naming names is better than not speaking up at all, but if no names are named, the offending person is not hell accountable at all.

Yeah. It just becomes a tactic to bring publicity to their latest project.

It's funny, in the image @OP, she looks just like a fat Princess Kate. Cute upturned nose, dimples, etc.

My first thought was, "oh, come on. Doug Liman's just insane, he's not a tyrant"

[quote] Speaking up without naming names is better than not speaking up at all, but if no names are named, the offending person is not hell accountable at all.

Call that Feldogging

[quote] So, almost 2 decades later (When she is promoting a new movie) she is offended?

There's never a wrong time to be "concerned."

There is no statute of limitations on being offended.

Her and Feig should play Michelle McNamara and Patton Oswalt in a movie about her obsession with the Golden State Killer.

I think it has to be a sitcom. Firing people she is getting close to to me sounds like it has to be a longer term project that she can get close to people, as well as a show that has more expendable people.

I still think it is GG. By the time Mike and Molly came along she was a big star. Plus, she was notably absent from the GG reboot. While she may have been too busy to commit to a season, if she had left with enough good will, I am sure she could have at least agreed to a cameo.

A friend knew her in school and said she was a mega bitch. I believe it.

I worked with her at a big event in San Diego a few years ago - she was amazing, really - very funny, super sweet.

R34 You said the exact same thing about Mindy Cohn in the Facts of Life thread.

Yeah, I'm betting it was Gilmore Girls. None of her roles prior to that were long enough, except maybe Samantha Who (the Christina Applegate sitcom). After Bridesmaids, she was big enough not to have to put up with bullshit.

I wish she'd do a sequel to Spy - that movie was hysterical. Jude Law and Jason Statham were a riot, especially Statham. That's the type of spy spoof movie they could have made into a franchise and gotten at least 3-4 movies out of it before it got old.

She comes across as very appealing in her movies.

[quote]if she had left with enough good will, I am sure she could have at least agreed to a cameo.

She did a one scene cameo in which Lorelei finds her in the kitchen of their inn having made dozens of wedding cakes.

It’s easy to speak out if you’re Melissa McCarthy, not so much if you’re Newbie McNewb. You take the abuse because you want the job, the paycheck, and the next job after. What the Melissas of the industry need to do is speak up for the Newbs.

It's nice to know someone is complaining about anyone other than Phillip Schofield today.

R32 Patton is such a beanie-baby incel. He definitely did Wifey 1 in.

There were rumours that Mike & Molly was cancelled because of her behaviour behind the scenes.

Was it Craft Services related?

R42 Never heard those rumors at all, heard it was strictly finances. She was a huge (no pun intended) star at that point. Billy Gardell spoke very positively about her even after the show ended.

I loved that Spy movie too.

[quote] The experience led McCarthy to realize she can’t remain quiet amid inappropriate working conditions.

Yeah...I get that.

But HOW is “speaking up without naming names better than not speaking up at all”? It just invites speculation, implicating people who may be completely innocent. I like MCarthy (loved SPY) but this is just asking for sympathy and attention.

Chiming in to say I would love a Spy sequel. That movie was very satisfying. Feig said he wrote it hoping for it to become a franchise but it doesn't look like the studio wants in. I think he was talking about it on WWHL.

Jason Statham was brilliant and hot hot hot.

I like Melissa. She seems to work hard and has made me laugh countless times.

If Melissa keeps her weight down and her acting quality high then one day she'll convert those 2 Oscar, 2 BAFTA, and 2 GG noms into wins. 2 Emmy wins isn't too shabby.

Everyone knows she's talking about Lauren Graham on Gilmore Girls. I'll never understand these B and C-list actors who are major divas behind the scenes. At least earn you diva behavior with a massive pay day and some major gold trophies. Don't become a bitch until you're squarely A-list.

I've heard Melissa is nice enough. She really needs to stop making brainless comedies with her untalented husband. Just because he needs a paycheck doesn't mean it has to be from you.

How do you know she's talking about Lauren and not Amy Sherman-Palladino, who can match anyone cunt for cunt?

Lauren Graham wasn’t running the set. Maybe she was bitchy to people on the set (no maybe there) but she didn’t have the power to fire people.

Same difference. ASP, LG, and AB were all cunts making GG hell.

Melissa was in the reboot of GG, no need to lie. There is someone here who is very invested in making that set, and LG especially, sound horrible. No, it was not.

We don’t know what Melissa was asked that brought this up.

Seems like an honest reflection on her evolution from working actress to powerful lead.

I’ve not heard anything bad about ASP and how she runs Mrs Maisel.

r51 = Peter Krause

R34 is a fat, lying whore.

I like Melissa but don't uniformly love her over the top comedies.

But she was SO. FUCKING. GOOD in Can You Ever Forgive Me? I wish she'd do more things like that every once in a while. She has it in her, for sure.

R58 I was waiting for someone to bring up Can You Ever Forgive Me.....

really satisfying movie.

Jennifer Lopez - The Back-Up Plan

Maybe it was DL fave Sandra Bullock on the set of the Heat that did our MM wrong.

Well, I thought she was very funny in “Bridesmaids”. She was the best part of it. And Jill Clayburgh.

It's not Jason Bateman in Identity Theft, is it?

It could be, R63.

Jason Bateman is a major douchebag asshole.

While Bateman is a known asshole, Identity Thief is after Bridesmaids and the same year as The Heat with Sandra Bullock. By that point, you'd think she would have enough clout not to have to deal with the described level of on set bullshit.

How comes she never throws her nephew Jesse a bone and puts him into her movies? She does it enough with her talentless husband.

I thought it was well known that Lauren Graham was a mega cunt?

[quote]Melissa was in the reboot of GG, no need to lie. There is someone here who is very invested in making that set, and LG especially, sound horrible. No, it was not.

Someone may not like Lauren Graham on here, but no one is making anything up regarding the Gilmore Girls set being a dumpster fire.

Bill Murray.

[quote]but no one is making anything up regarding the Gilmore Girls set being a dumpster fire.

Agreed. There are countless stories of how badly both Graham and Bledel treated people on set. Even the main co-stars are very circumspect in what they say.

I sort of changed my opinion of both Milo and Jared and assume they must be assholes also since both describe in glowing detail how wonderful the set of GG was. Kelly Bishop doesn't say anything negative and seems to stay silent on the matter for the most part, so I'll chalk it up to being an old pro and knowing when to keep her mouth shut.

DL fave Miles Heizer is very fond of Lauren Graham.

R71 He’s also surgical attached to Mae.

Spy was so funny, unlike her other comedies that have fallen flat. She had great chemistry with Jason. Didn’t she have sweaters with cats or something like that? I need to rewatch.

Why the hell are people mad at her for not naming names?

No one is "mad" that she's not naming names. We're simply conjecturing on what those names may be.

Never mind Lauren Graham and Whiny Blah-del, we all know Amy Sherman-Cuntadino is a huge cunt, and so is her manipulative husband, so those are the ones I suspect.

R58 She would have been good in a film like Nomadland.

Won't somebody please shit in her mouth?

Bateman actually seems pretty well liked in Hollywood.

She's clearly talking about the girl who played Lane Kim on GG, Keiko Agena.

[Quote] I sort of changed my opinion of both Milo and Jared and assume they must be assholes also since both describe in glowing detail how wonderful the set of GG was.

There were rumours about Milo being abusive to Alexis during GG. He also dated Hayden Panettierre when she was underage (who has a penchant for violent men). Meanwhile Jared is an alcoholic with anger issues. It's baffling he still has fans on here who have nothing better to do than talk shit about his former co-stars on Supernatural.

When something shows up only on DL, I will raise an eyebrow that it's just DL talk. But when it shows up in multiple places and not just on DL, especially in mainstream places, then you know people are talking. Gilmore Girls was a mean and angry set seems to be the general consensus.

It really hurts how I was treated, specially know that I have new movie coming out!

Now*

[quote] I sort of changed my opinion of both Milo and Jared and assume they must be assholes also since both describe in glowing detail how wonderful the set of GG was.

Jared and Jensen did Supernatural for 15 years, they had a parade of well known guest stars appear on the show, and NOT ONE has said a bad thing about either actor.

In fact, they both got rave reviews for how welcoming they always were to newbies on the set. Even the ones who weren't famous.

So don't drag Jared Padalecki into this shitfest, because professionally, no one has a bad thing to say about him.

Which is also why he has had steady acting jobs for over 20 years, from age 18 to 40.

When did Jared and Melissa work together, was she an alien entity on the show?

She couldn't say listen you! I'm going to tell my cousin Jenny and her husband Jim Carrey on you!

"If Senator Joe was alive!?"

[quote] When did Jared and Melissa work together, was she an alien entity on the show?

Jared played a character named "Dean" on Gilmore Girls.

Funny that his next character (Sam Winchester) had a brother named Dean.

I lovvvvvvvvvve her in The Heat.

Supernatural did a funny little scene with Jared Padalecki, referencing his time on Gilmore Girls.

Jared also appeared in a 2016 Gilmore Girls special.

Was the pacing of the dialog on this show, always this frantic?

Why are they talking so fast?

And who is the annoying woman talking to Jared?

Why did Gilmore Girls end so abruptly?

Was it because of all the drama caused by Lauren Graham?

[quote]Why did Gilmore Girls end so abruptly?

So abruptly? It went seven seasons and ended when Rory graduated from Yale.

However, the final nail was probably because the network couldn't come to an agreement with Amy Sherman Palladino and her husband, so they were no longer running the show in the final season. However, ASP always claimed she knew what the final three words of the series would be and apparently used them in the reboot special - "Mom, I'm pregnant."

Frankly, I thought that making Rory a single mother was not empowering since she basically was wasting her life and was probably living off the HUGE inheritance that Christopher got from his grandfather with which he paid for Yale for her during her last year to spite Richard and Emily who had been paying.

Yes, the pace was always super fast. In fairness to the leads, memorizing all that dialogue was a real challenge. Scripts were a lot longer than normal.

Lauren Graham seems nice...

Is she such a bitch?

She was apparently a bitch on GG.

But she’s done other ensemble stuff since, and there hasn’t been a peep.

And when you’re part of an ensemble, you can’t get away with nonsense or they write you out.

I thought Gilmore girls had been produced from like 2003 - 2009, but it originally aired from 2000 through 2007.

I didn't know it was that old, anyways, why shows like that aren't produced anymore?

A redditor speculates it’s Mike and Molly, whose Shoprunner Mark Roberts left the show after three seasons and hasn’t run a show since.

That makes more sense than GG.

She is talking about how a set is run. Actors don’t run a set.

Another vote for a SPY sequel. I love that movie. And for the love of God, no more movies with the husband.

It wasn’t Gilmore Girls.

I heard Amy Sherman-Palladino interviewed (and know someone who work with/for her on two shows). She has no friction with Melissa… raves about her talent (Alex Borstein was originally slated to play her role but Mad TV wouldn’t let her out).

The writer I know doesn’t tolerate toxic sets (after working on Roseanne) so wouldn’t have worked for Amy unless he enjoyed working with her on Roseanne.

[quote] It wasn’t Gilmore Girls.

[quote] I heard Amy Sherman-Palladino interviewed (and know someone who work with/for her on two shows). She has no friction with Melissa

But Melissa wasn't the problem on Gilmore Girls.

It was Lauren Graham.

ASP was close with Lauren, too.

Sorry, it’s not Gilmore Girls.