"Difficult" actors

Golly, I sure don't know.

Mandy Patinkin

Neely O'Hara

HELLen Lawson

Tom Hardy

After the Revenant, he seems to have faded into obscurity, last seen in some straight-to-streaming movie doing an imitation of (late life) Marlon Brando

La Buckley

I just read an article yesterday, Matthew McConaughey tested for the role of Jack in Titanic. They made it sound like he was the frontrunner, but when Cameron asked him to do another take opposite Kate Winslet (without his southern accent) he said, 'No. That was pretty good. Thanks.'

The old stand-bys:

Chevy Chase (mean to everyone, sometimes gets violent)

Dustin Hoffman (egomaniacal and needs to waste tons of time for his Method shit)

Edward Norton (fights with directors over their vision of the movie)

Mike Myers (moody and a control freak, once fired someone on set for looking at him directly in the eye)

Steven Seagal (ridiculous liar and throws violent temper tantrums)

Russell Crowe (violent temper tantrums)

Christian Bale (bad temper)

Lindsay Lohan (always late, throws tantrums, always high drama)

Shia LeBeouf (erratic behavior onset).

Julia Roberts (has difficulty working with women)

Roseanne (screams at people, moody, will humiliate and even fire people at whim)

R9, are you speaking from personal experience? Those descriptions are pretty detailed!

Julianna Margulies

Stupid cow Marcia Cross

Donald J. Trump

Sean Young

Kiefer Sutherland

Sarah Jessica Parker

There was a thread here on DL about Gilmore Girls being a set of hell because of both lead actresses.

Lauren Graham: One person who worked as an extra claims she had a "horrible personality" and would call extras "background roaches." Another poster said that she once said, "Get the background out of here, someone stinks!"

Alexis Bledel: An old Facebook post from an extra is mentioned, which claimed Bledel was "quite nasty." A PA who worked on the show also said they didn't like her or Lauren Graham due to their "awful personalities."

I love these “looked in the eye”or instructions “don’t look so and so in the eye” stories. They seem ridiculous to me.

R17 I am surprised at that.

Lawrence Tierney was the king of "difficult"

Stallone is a dick to extras

Cuntess Cameron Burre

When stories from the Friends set started to come out, this was basically the consensus:

Easiest to get along with: Courtney Cox

Most Difficult: Schwimmer

Debra Winger (didn't get along with Shirley, John Malkovitch, Richard Gere...)

Thandie Newton

R24 wins. DL icon Deb Winger is queen of DRAMA!

La Chalamet.

Kate Jackson is the GOAT, no?

“They say I am ‘difficult.’ I am not difficult. I am right.”

Charlotte Rae has spoken and she’s never wrong!

Lon Chaney Jr. and Broderick Crawford were horrible, drunken, bigoted cunts.

A certain sitcom star currently living in earned obscurity.

Stockard Channing? Question mark because I've always gotten that impression but haven't heard any actual stories. Maybe someone will see this and drop a couple.

r33 I've actually heard great stories about Stockard Channing.

Joaquin Phoenix

Barbra Streisand doesn’t yell at people like a tyrant but she will do everything in her power to enact her vision to the point it drives people nuts.

There's a podcast called "I was there too" where they interview actors who had bit parts in big movies.

Apparently Eddie Murphy and Daniel Day Louis are friendly and normal but John Malkovich is a huge asshole.

[quote] and Broderick Crawford were horrible, drunken, bigoted cunts.

Shitpants Crawford.

Walked like he had a big turd in his pants on that awful Highway Patrol.

Don't know who it is but I nominate the actress that made Anna Faris leave the sitcom "Mom".

Where did you hear that? R39

William Shatner

Suzanne Somers!

42 replies and no mention of Kevin Spacey?

Linda Lavin.

I can see Kevin Spacey being a bad coworker. He seems like a blowhard and an asshole.

Pascal Pedrow

R14 Sean Young??? Since when is SHE working?

Lea Michele

Ask all those cute House of Cards actors about La Spacey

Lauren Bacall

I've shared this video before - I find it interesting. Judy Crown is an emmy-winner for hair/makeup. She has many interesting stories of the actors she worked with over the years. This short interview includes her talking about Lauren Bacall - and how she was mean.

[quote] I can see Kevin Spacey being a bad coworker. He seems like a blowhard and an asshole.

It's more because he molested so many young men on his sets.

I guess Lauren Bacall liked a dose of attitude with her High Point

and re: Spacey - that hot hunk Joel Kinnaman also said of his time on House of Cards something like (paraphrasing) "Yehhhh, um, Spacey was a bit... well, let's just say I can see why so many people came forward."

Alec Baldwin

Christopher Walken

Ben Foster

Frank Langella

Was Charlotte Rae senile at that moment in time at r30?

r55 I'm not r30 but I do believe she was

[quote]Stockard Channing? Question mark because I've always gotten that impression but haven't heard any actual stories. Maybe someone will see this and drop a couple.

[quote][R33] I've actually heard great stories about Stockard Channing.

What a weird thing to hope for. Sorry to disappoint, but r34 has heard correctly. Stockard is a joy to work with

Shelley Long

Amy "Cunt" Schumer

[quote]R50 Lauren Bacall

No one seems to have read this book, but the author of PIECE OF WORK (2006) was a publicist who accompanied Bacall on a book tour. Insanity ensued.

In short, Bacall was a CUNT.

———————

[italic] Julia Einstein knew that being a stay-at-home mom had a lot in common with her former job as a celebrity publicist - endless, irrational demands, little to no appreciation, and constant hustle. But it isn't until her husband is laid off from his job and she's forced to go back to work and resurrect screen legend Mary Ford's career that Julia realizes how very much she prefers an actual child to a formerly famous client. "For example, her child doesn't steal ten-thousand-dollar leather coats from photo shoots. Nor does he require a constant, fresh supply of a soda that is no longer in production. He doesn't curse at Julia, pronounce her name "Einstein" with a thick layer of disdainful irony, or incessantly poke at her with his index finger while reciting odd variations on childlike rhymes like a psych patient on day pass. With a mortgage looming and three years out of the business, however, Julia knows she has no choice but to make Mary's comeback a success. Even if it kills her." Which, at this pace, is a possibility. But if there is one thing Julia has learned from her time off from the office, it's that sheer determination can solve almost everything. After all, if she can get through suburban living with its uncontrolled clutter and playground politics, how hard can it be to resuscitate the career of an aging, desperate has-been? And get over the fact that her husband is a better stay-at-home mom than Julia ever was?

I started a thread not long ago about Jon Rudnitsky’s (SNL) experiences with Kevin Spacey. It got no responses so I’ll post it here.

Wait, did I miss her or has no one actually mentioned Faye Dunaway?

R62, she’s referenced at r1. I had to look up her real name

[quote] Shelley Long

From what I read, Shelley Long deserved the attribute Difficult without the quotation marks. She wasn't difficult because she was mean or rude or an overall awful person. So Difficult wasn't code for Bitch. She was just overanalyzing everything to death and wanted to try different takes in her scenes etc. As a result she killed the mood and taping just took longer (too long?) than it needed to from the perspective of her co-actors and directors. And keep in mind that everybody else on set was bunch of party boys, so a super-sincere actor in their midst was naturally not highly regarded. See that also in contrast to the other lead of the show, Ted Danson, who did his job with such ease.

Barbara Hershey with hair and makeup. Some make persondid a number on her psyche that she doesn't want anyone doing her lips- she has to do her own (even if it's not period appropriate), and you cannot watch her doing it. With hair, poor thing has 10 hairs, so my friend introduced her to skinwefts. We filmed the whole process with her, and the next time we worked with her, she instructed my friend how to do it (incorrectly), not remembering that it was my friend who showed her how to do it.

And indeed Faye is the boogey man with makeup/hair. As is Lauren Graham.

Reading R64’s post, wasn’t Bebe Neuwirth also rumored to be difficult to work with?

Linda Lavin being a PITA was immortalized in this skit

Sherwood Schwartz said Robert Reed was a pain in the ass on the set of The Brady Bunch

Linda Lavin and Robert Reed always struck me as two actors who felt they were "slumming" in their TV roles. I can see how they were probably frustrated and weren't fun to work with. Robert wanted to do Shakespeare and Linda wants a one woman show on Broadway.

Bonnie Franklin was the one who felt she was slumming doing TV. And told pretty much everyone on ODAAT that. She had no problem berating the writers and accusing them of writing shit for her to do. She wanted realism and fought against comedy.

r70 She was, by far, the worst.

[quote]R69 Linda Lavin and Robert Reed always struck me as two actors who felt they were "slumming" in their TV roles. I can see how they were probably frustrated and weren't fun to work with. Robert wanted to do Shakespeare and Linda wants a one woman show on Broadway.

Not to mention Nancy Dussault.

[quote]R65 Barbara Hershey with hair and makeup.

Actresses get a bum rap for taking time with this, but the truth is, most often, leading ladies are hired predominantly for how they look - so they’d better make damn sure they look pulled together onscreen if they ever want to work again.

One makeup artist/hair stylist said he was prepping Lesley Ann Warren once and this P.A. kept asking when they’d be finished. He finally snapped, “It takes two hours, and [italic]it’s always going to take two hours!”

Thomas Gibson kicked a writer on the shins for "Criminal Minds," and had to go to an anger management class after shoving an assistant director.

R50 My friend worked at Armani on Madison Ave in the early to mid 2000’s and said she was a total nightmare. She yelled at a couple of sales associates over something out of their control. She also expected specific treatment because she was friends with Giorgio himself.

R46- I did not know that Donna Pescow had a brother.

Not Pedro Pascal!

[quote]I just read an article yesterday, Matthew McConaughey tested for the role of Jack in Titanic. They made it sound like he was the frontrunner, but when Cameron asked him to do another take opposite Kate Winslet (without his southern accent) he said, 'No. That was pretty good. Thanks.'

Please post the article.

[quote]42 replies and no mention of Kevin Spacey?

Was he difficult to work with as opposed to his private life?

R54 Just list a bunch of actors you don't like.

r79 See the numerous posts in this thread suggesting her was trouble/difficult on set.

r78 / r79 / r80 You've contributed nothing.

Were there ever stories about Rob Morrow being a diva on the set of “Northern Exposure”? I remember they used to say how much he wanted to ditch the show for a film career but not sure if he was rumored to be unpleasant to work with as a result.

I've met Eddie Murphy more than once R37. He's a gentleman.

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

[quote]R83 Were there ever stories about Rob Morrow being a diva on the set of “Northern Exposure”?

Didn’t a helicopter cut off his head??

My sister said that staging Pearl Bailey at her college back in the 1980s was a chore and a half.

Charlie Sheen

We think in the case of r87, the title of the thread should be, Difficult "actors."

90 replies and you never mentioned me?!

I never heard that Raquel Welch was difficult.

Welch was absolutely in the right in that situation, and won millions of dollars in damages.

Talk to Kramer, R92. He’s got stories.

I worked with someone from the cast of CANNERY ROW who said they thought Welch was perfect when playing the role of Suzy.

R23 Wasn’t Schwimmer the only “Friend” who had an extensive theatre background? That might’ve contributed to his behaviour.

There are stories that Felicity “I’m Friends with David Mamet” Huffman had a superiority complex on the Desperate Housewives set.

Val Kilmer (rest in peace)

R64 That’s pretty much exactly how Ken Levine put it. That Shelley was a lovely person but very time-consuming in how she approached the part.

In fairness, she probably had the most challenging role on that show. But I can see how it would drive her co-stars nuts. I suspect it really helped Diane’s onscreen dynamic with Carla, as Rhea Perlman had a lot of actual frustration to channel.

Marilyn Monroe could be erratic on the set, always late, etc.

The little people love me, as well they should. I am always the soul of graciousness and forbearance with them.

Gina Carano

[quote]I never heard that Raquel Welch was difficult.

Have you been living under a rock?

Tom Hardy was so late to the set of "Mad Max: Fury Road" that he kept people waiting for horus for him--finally Charlize Theron had a verbal confrontation with him as a result because he did it so persistently.

Robert Redford was notorious for always being late to the shooting of "The Sting."

In his book "I Loved Her in the Movies," Robert Wagner waxes nostalgic about all the legendary ladies he had worked with, romanced, and/or befriended (Barbara Stanwyck, Joan Crawford, Bette Davis, Marilyn Monroe, Gloria Swanson, Norma Shearer, Loretta Young, etc., and of course, Natalie and Jill). He is largely positive and complimentary to all except two: Raquel Welch and Shelley Winters.

On Raquel: "While I worked with a lot of actresses during this era, most of whom were special ladies, I wasn't crazy about my experience with Raquel Welch."

Apparently, she was constantly late on the set ("The Biggest Bundle of Them All"), keeping the cast and crew waiting for hours while she had her hair and make-up done. When co-star Edward G. Robinson went off on her in a 10-minute tirade, she burst into tears and apologized. But she showed up late the very next day.

On Shelley: "Honesty compels me to say Shelley Winters was a difficult woman on the best of days and a massive pain in the ass on her worst."

I wouldn't want to be told off by Charlize Theron. She's a little scary. I bet she got right up in his face and asked what the fuck he was doing that was so important.

Has Cybill Shepherd not been mentioned or did I just miss it?

[quote]R104 "Honesty compels me to say Shelley Winters was a difficult woman on the best of days and a massive pain in the ass on her worst."

Although, as Winters is 10 times the actor Wagner is… does his complaint really matter? As a performer he’s a pipsqueak.

As for Raquel, when the whole film is set up and sold around you looking like this, that might take some extra time.

I mean, first, unrealistic demands are made of actresses re: their physical appearances. Then, the industry bitches that the process (which even requires body makeup) takes so long? Fuck off!

[quote]Wasn’t Schwimmer the only “Friend” who had an extensive theatre background? That might’ve contributed to his behaviour.

Nope. On a quick check of Wikipedia and Britannica, the only play I could find named that he had anything to do with was Alice Through the Looking Glass, and it's not clear whether he was even in it. He studied theatre at Northwestern, graduated in 1988 and did a bit of improv He and fellow graduates founded a theatre company in 1988 (which is apparently still running) but as for Schwimmer, by 1989 he was in LA doing random TV episodes.

Not exactly a young James Tyrone.

I had to look pretty, too, unlike everyone else on that Cheers set! Hair, wardrobe and makeup take time.

I remember reading somewhere that Bonnie Franklin would bring a stopwatch to rehearsal to time the lines to make sure Valerie Bertinelli didn’t get more screen time than her.

[quote]From what I read, Shelley Long deserved the attribute Difficult without the quotation marks. She wasn't difficult because she was mean or rude or an overall awful person. So Difficult wasn't code for Bitch. She was just overanalyzing everything to death and wanted to try different takes in her scenes etc. As a result she killed the mood and taping just took longer (too long?) than it needed to from the perspective of her co-actors and directors. And keep in mind that everybody else on set was bunch of party boys, so a super-sincere actor in their midst was naturally not highly regarded. See that also in contrast to the other lead of the show, Ted Danson, who did his job with such ease.

That said, I now firmly believe she was the “inspiration” for Valerie Cherish…

I got a general vibe from Schwimmer in the early years of “Friends” that he felt he was slumming it- despite being nobody I had heard of and LeBlanc, Cox, and Perry being the three actors I recognized the most as they had done so many projects for years beforehand.

But it seemed like Schwimmer loosened up a bit after a few years as Ross became so nutty.

Robert Wagner also said Steve McQueen was a jerk on the set of The War Lover

James Garner didn't like working with McQueen, either

Faye Dunaway!

Some people who worked with Joan Crawford found her to be professional but others thought she was a bitch

I worked on an Eddie Murphy movie directed by ex-Paramount CEO Brian Robbins, and Eddie was a gigantic asshole the entire day. Screaming at people who lived on the block, ruining take after take with his bullshit, and treating his co-star like shit. He got boo-d by the entire block at end of day.

Can you say the movie, R117?

Sharon Stone

Ezra Miller

Shia LaBeouf

118 replies and no one has mentioned Isaiah Washington? Have you all forgotten??

R118-I can. "Meet Dave". It's a piece of shit.

The cast and crew of "The Last of Sheila" were so fed up with Raquel Welch's diva antics, which included refusing to wear the costumes and bringing in her own designer to dress her, demanding the gallery photographer be thrown off the set, and filing assault and battery charges against director Herbert Ross then taking off for the South of France "to escape physical harm," that when she was filming a scene swimming alongside the anchored yacht, the crew allegedly opened up the sewage port so that Raquel ended up swimming through human waste.

Co-star James Mason, when asked what it was like working with Raquel, responded that she was "the most selfish, ill-mannered, inconsiderate actress that I’ve ever had the displeasure of working with."

R115: Speaking of Faye Dunaway....I couldn't help but laugh (and immediately thought of DL) when Faye popped up in the middle of this crazy story told by Steve Guttenberg. Sounds like she was pretty cool with him, considering. (~06:00)

A crew on a Sharon Stone film peed into a tank of water she filmed in. They hated her.

[quote]R123 Faye popped up in the middle of this crazy story told by Steve Guttenberg. Sounds like she was pretty cool with him, considering.

There’s a Method Acting side of Dunaway that’s seemed to always be interested in human behavior. She was probably puzzled by Guttenberg’s presence and curious about what was going on with this oddball.

It IS funny that he says she appeared to be mad about something, and wanted to vent at a studio employee. Oh, Faye. Never change.

Raquel was a difficult bitch on the set of The Wild Party (1975) too. Word leaked out DURING the filming, I remember, which is always a bad sign.

Some of it evem on Wikipdia:

"Raquel Welch was a very, very difficult actress to work with", said (the director). She fired the cameraman, she fired Ismail, she would have fired [co-star] Perry King...and it was our film! I did not enjoy making The Wild Party.

Welch demanded that the cinematographer Walter Lassally be fired after he made an "impertinent" remark to her. She also wanted Ivory fired and replaced as director by her then boyfriend Ron Talsky. The Directors Guild became involved and threatening letters were sent to Welch. Filming continued.

R9 - 'Julia Roberts has difficulty working with women.'

I find that hard to believe:

Everyone knows Ms. Roberts demands ALL the attention of ALL men. Gay and straight.

Robert Downey Jr

[quote]R128 Everyone knows Ms. Roberts demands ALL the attention of ALL men. Gay and straight.

A high school acquaintance of mine lives near and socializes with Roberts occasionally, and at our last reunion I asked about the rumors that they were close friends.

She said, “Well, I’m close with SOME people she’s close to…. but she doesn’t really like other women so no, we’re not exactly friends.”

Kate Nelligan was reportedly both unhappy and demanding… though she may have been dealing with an alcohol addiction, as well.

It would explain why she always got great reviews but didn’t seem to advance professionally as one might expect, either on stage or screen.

[quote]Faye Dunaway! —Bette Davis

That's so funny. When she was alive, Bette Davis stated her boundaries with "Miss Dunaway" and told Johnny Carson that pretty much everyone else in Hollywood felt the same way. They can't all be lying about Miss Faye.

[quote] It would explain why she always got great reviews but didn’t seem to advance professionally as one might expect, either on stage or screen.

It also didn't help that she had a face like a baboon's ass.

[bold]Bacall vs Welch - Who's the bigger PITA?[/bold]

During her successful and sold out run on Broadway in "Woman of Year," Lauren Bacall was due for a two-week vacation in December, sending producers on a search for a temporary replacement. Bacall lobbied for her friend, Dina Merrill, and when Raquel Welch got the job, Bacall hit the roof!

Bacall refused to do press promoting her replacement, rejected joint photo ops, requested that the producers not invite the critics to Raquel's performances, and demanded that no Raquel ads be placed in papers larger than hers. Yet despite Bacall's silence and attempt to quash publicity, Raquel's upcoming engagement was generating a lot of media buzz, further incensing Bacall.

On Bacall's final night before vacation, ads appeared in the papers listing Raquel's dates. Bacall was livid and threatened not to go on. Only when she was informed that Raquel wasn't selling tickets was she placated. "Well, of course she can't sell any tickets!" she sneered and went on with the show.

Raquel's two-week stint was a success. Reviews were largely positive, with critics commenting that Raquel brought new excitement, glamour, sexiness to the show. However, Raquel's diva tendencies reared its ugly head and towards the end of her second week, cast and crew allegedly wore t-shirts with "Bring back Betty!" printed on them.

Trump was an asshole in guest spots and look what happened.

It should be noted that Miss Streisand, whom most people think defines the word difficult, is not a tenth as bad as some of the divas described above. She was a micromanager, yes, and I seriously doubt she’d let any actor micromanage HER if she was directing them. Okay.

Any stories of Barbra acting like a psycho diva would be appreciated. Are there any? The A Star is Born experience shouldn’t really count because Babs was hampered by that illiterate asshole Jon Peters.

Faye is bipolar, and clearly self-medicated for decades.

Reading the Mommie Dearest book, and Diana Scarwid and Faye hated each other. Faye was constantly having scenes changed at the last minute, with changes that benefitted her. Diana was so appalled by Faye's behavior that she contemplated quitting the business for good after making the movie.

Faye also got so into filming the scene where she chokes Christina that she wound up hitting Rutayna Alda in the chest. Jocelyn Brando was scared shitless that Faye was going to hit her as well.

Both Dustin Hoffman, Paul Newman and countless directors had major issues with Robert Redford’s refusal to rehearse. Sanctimonious Bob believed his performance got weaker with each take, so screw everyone else and the movie. Table read, blocking, one take and BYE!

Did Dustin Hoffman have the right to complain? Dude has his own issues

R138, Sinatra was the same way, in both singing and acting. Minimal rehearsals and retakes, earning him the nickname "One-take Charlie." This stemmed from his belief that spontaneity and naturalness were crucial to his performance and that additional takes could diminish the quality.

^ “dude” wanted to rehearse his scenes in All the President’s Men, as Alan J Pakula the director wanted him to, sweetheart

At least I didn't expose myself to teen girls!

[quote]R131 It would explain why she always got great reviews but didn’t seem to advance professionally as one might expect, either on stage or screen.

[quote]R133 It also didn't help that she had a face like a baboon's ass.

How very dare you!

Kate Nelligan wasn’t scouted by the TOWNSEND AGENCY, perhaps, but she’s an attractive woman! Better looking than Jane Alexander, Sharon Gless…. Angela Lansbury… many actresses who had strong careers.

Kate Nelligan’s also much prettier than Stockard Channing.

R140, the only reason Sinatra got away with that shit on movie sets was because of his stature. Walking through a movie performance like he did was not tolerated by most. But Sinatra was Sinatra and directors knew what they were getting. When he started, movie acting had little to no rehearsal. Gene Kelly talked about how Frankie was overwhelmed by the dance rehearsals he couldn’t get out of at MGM, that kind of stuff was difficult and mandatory.

As for the music, he had a point trying to be as spontaneous as possible. The thing is, good actors and musicians usually get better with rehearsal as they discover their performance in the material, not worse.

Judy Garland wasn't mean but she could certainly be difficult at times

AT TIMES, R147???

Okay, a lot of the time!

Judy was only difficult after World War II

The young costume designer Raquel rejected on THE LAST OF SHEILA was none other than director-to-be Joel Schumacher.

There don't seem to be any stories of Raquel's interactions with Faye on the 3 MUSKETEERS movies. How is that possible?

[quote]there don’t seem to be any stories

Oh, dear

Raquel and Faye apparently got along fine. I think Faye even complimented Raquel in her book.

Harpies of a feather flock together?

I'm surprised to see Christopher Walken named above. Sure, he looks like he might be one of the aliens from Men in Black wearing a human suit, but my impression is that he's well-liked by casts and crews he's worked with.

[quote]R153 Raquel and Faye apparently got along fine.

I think it’s more that they were carefully cagey with each other, so as not to invite scandal and gossip.

There was a mistake in this scene that caused Faye to make Rocky fall and injure her wrist - but no one thought it was malicious.

Diahann Caroll

R5, Tom Hardy is on the Paramount+ series "MobLand," alongside Pierce Brosnan and Dame Helen Mirren. Perhaps not A+ Hollywood fare, but it's steady work.