9 More Insane Demands That Famous Actors Made For Movies
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00:00 Though you don't tend to hear about the phenomenon quite as much these days, there
00:04 was once a time when being a rockstar or a diva pretty much required making ridiculous
00:09 rider requests.
00:10 But it's not just limited to musical acts, despite the stereotype.
00:14 Actors also have it in them to make demands that normal people simply wouldn't dream
00:19 of.
00:20 So with that in mind, I'm Ellie with WhatCulture, here with 9 more insane demands that famous
00:25 actors made for movies.
00:28 Before we start our official countdown though, an honourable mention has to go to Robin Williams
00:32 helping the homeless.
00:34 As you might expect from someone as well-loved as Robin Williams, reports emerged after his
00:38 death that he'd had a clause in his contracts intended to give something back.
00:43 According to Brian Lord, when he attempted to hire Williams for an event, he learned
00:47 of it.
00:48 He stated, "I never actually booked Robin Williams for an event, but I came close enough
00:52 that his office sent over his rider.
00:54 I was very surprised by what I found.
00:56 He actually had a requirement that for every single event or film he did, the company hiring
01:01 him also had to hire a certain number of homeless people and put them to work."
01:05 It's not at all insane, but it's incredible that the actor would be that selfless.
01:09 9.
01:10 Gary Busey Demands an Accurate Heaven
01:13 It almost feels like everyone who's ever worked with Gary Busey has a Gary Busey story.
01:18 But the best comes courtesy of actor Curtis Armstrong, who worked with him on Quigley,
01:24 in which he dies and comes back as a dog, obviously.
01:28 According to his co-star, Busey ground shooting to a halt over a scene set in heaven because
01:32 it wasn't "accurate" to his own experiences of actual heaven.
01:36 It wasn't a contract demand per se, but it was a requirement for him to continue.
01:41 Armstrong stated, "Busey supposedly had done this.
01:44 He'd been in an accident and died and came back.
01:47 He showed up on set made to look like heaven and he looked around and said, 'I can't
01:50 play this scene.'
01:51 They were three days behind at this point, but Busey said, 'It's nothing like this.
01:55 I've been to heaven and it doesn't look like this.
01:58 That sofa's all wrong, that mirror is ridiculous, they don't even have mirrors.'
02:02 It was ridiculous.
02:03 He was completely nuts about the design of heaven."
02:06 And then, to top it off, he has a fist fight with another actor who was playing an angel
02:09 and had also been to heaven.
02:11 Armstrong continued, "But then on top of it, one of the guys playing an angel had also
02:16 died and come back.
02:17 And this guy got into an argument with Busey about the way heaven looked.
02:21 The two of them wound up coming to blows and they had to send everyone home.
02:24 So there you go.
02:25 That's what we were working with."
02:27 8.
02:28 Lundgren Demanded a Three-Strike Rule
02:30 There's nothing wrong with insisting on contract clauses that are designed to protect
02:34 the star.
02:35 So, some actors will refuse to do nude scenes or particularly dangerous stunts, and you
02:39 can absolutely understand that.
02:41 You can even understand Dolph Lundgren's insistence on a clause in his movie contracts
02:45 back in the 80s when he was just starting to get famous that helped him preserve his
02:50 brand.
02:51 While making Masters of the Universe in 1987, after only a couple of other roles, he was
02:56 struggling with English to such an extent that director Gary Goddard wanted him dubbed.
03:00 Cleverly, though, he had it written into his contract that he had exactly three chances
03:05 to get his lines nailed, allowing him the wiggle room to really get those takes perfect.
03:10 Because somehow someone clearly signed off on them, which might explain why the film
03:14 bombed so comically.
03:16 7.
03:17 Jackson Demands Golf
03:18 When you're a hard-working actor who grosses phenomenal amounts at the global box office,
03:23 you deserve your downtime.
03:24 Hell, if you're making everyone else that much money just by turning up, they should
03:27 probably pay you for the privilege of you relaxing on set, to be perfectly honest.
03:32 And that's exactly what Samuel L. Jackson insists on, apparently, as well as making
03:36 it very clear that he's in charge when he's on a film set, like anyone is going to argue.
03:41 He spoke to the New York Times to confirm that he's contractually obligated to play
03:45 golf twice a week while filming, and that he just won't do extra takes.
03:50 He stated, "I can be a hard taskmaster for some directors.
03:53 I'm at that point where I can say, 'Uh, you know, that's not going to be in the
03:55 movie, right?
03:56 We already got it.
03:57 We got it when we did this, that, and that.
03:59 I'm not going to do that.'"
04:00 Nice work, if you can get it.
04:02 6.
04:03 Steve McQueen Demands Equality
04:06 It doesn't matter if you're the king of cool if you have a complex about working with
04:09 another legendary actor, which seems to have been the case for Steve McQueen when he worked
04:13 with Paul Newman in The Towering Inferno in 1974.
04:18 The story goes that the pair had issues, to say the least, and they manifested in a fight
04:22 over top billing on the disaster epic, with McQueen insisting on top billing and the exact
04:28 same pay and number of lines as Newman, which must have been a nightmare for the writers
04:32 and editors.
04:33 A compromise on their conflict was reached with the poster, on which McQueen's name
04:37 is first, but Newman's is positioned slightly higher, the thing studios have to do for egos.
04:43 5.
04:44 Roger Moore Demanded Unlimited Cigars
04:46 If you're going to play a character like James Bond, you really ought to really live
04:51 the part.
04:52 That doesn't mean you should go around killing people with impunity and being a great big
04:55 chauvinistic pig, but dipping your toes into the 007 mentality has got to help get into
05:00 the right mindset.
05:02 That is presumably why Roger Moore's first Bond contract notoriously stipulated that
05:07 he had an endless supply of cigars.
05:09 And because he was playing Bond, it had to be the finest hand-rolled Monte Cristo cigars,
05:14 obviously, leading to one bill on a single Bond movie coming to £3,176.50.
05:21 4.
05:23 Queen Latifah Demands to Live Forever
05:25 Some contract clauses are ostentatious and greedy, but others are just plain smart.
05:31 That's definitely the case with the one inserted by Queen Latifah after she starred
05:36 in 1996's heist flick Set It Off.
05:39 In that film, according to Latifah herself, she "died really good, I died my arse off",
05:45 and elsewhere she'd also "got attacked by a squid underwater and died under there".
05:49 With those already on her CV, she simply stopped wanting to die in movies.
05:53 After '96, she insisted on a clause in her contracts that says she cannot be killed off,
05:58 and that it's partly just simple business sense.
06:00 She's protecting her own interests, stating "I put a death clause in my contract right
06:05 after that movie.
06:06 I was like, 'Wait a minute, I'm starting to die too good in these movies, and if I
06:09 die, I can't be in the sequel.
06:11 No more dying, that's it."
06:12 At least she's got a good one in before she stopped.
06:16 3.
06:17 Clint Eastwood Demanded a Romantic Rival Was Fired
06:20 You know you've done something worthy of note when Hollywood literally invents a rule
06:24 to stop your behaviour from happening again, and then names it after you.
06:28 That's how the Eastwood rule was born, off the back of the outlaw Josie Wales, which
06:33 saw the Western star wresting control from initial director Philip Kaufman.
06:38 In a now notorious case, Eastwood hired Sondra Locke against the director's wishes as the
06:43 pair clashed over shooting style and Kaufman's attention to detail.
06:47 It also didn't help that both were romantically interested in Locke, who ended up in a long-term
06:51 relationship with Eastwood, which Kaufman was allegedly jealous of.
06:55 It all ended with Eastwood getting Kaufman fired and stepping into the director's chair
06:59 himself, causing outrage amongst the Directors Guild of America and earning Warner Bros a
07:04 $60,000 fine.
07:07 The Directors Guild then also passed new legislation called the Eastwood Rule, stopping an actor
07:12 or producer from firing the director and becoming the director himself.
07:16 2.
07:17 Tom Cruise Demanded a Scientology Tent Say what you want about Tom Cruise, but he's
07:22 definitely not a shy Scientologist.
07:24 He's pretty much the religion's most public spokesman, and he took that to a different
07:28 level entirely on the set of War of the Worlds.
07:32 As revealed by journalists who visited the set near Los Angeles, there was a fully staffed
07:36 tent of the Scientology organisation right next to the food tents for the journalists
07:41 and extras.
07:42 Lee Ann DeVette, Cruise's sister and spokeswoman, called it a gift to the crew.
07:47 To Cruise's credit, he was quite open about why he wanted the tent there, stating "I
07:52 believe in freedom of speech.
07:53 I felt honoured to have volunteer Scientology ministers on the set.
07:56 They were helping the crew.
07:57 When I'm working on a movie, I do anything I can to help the people I'm spending time
08:01 with.
08:02 I believe in communication.
08:03 The volunteer Scientology ministers were there to help the sick and injured.
08:07 People on the set appreciated that.
08:08 I have absolutely nothing against talking about my beliefs, but I do so much more.
08:13 We live in a world where people are on drugs forever, where even children get drugged,
08:17 where crimes against humanity are so extreme that most people turn away in horror and dismay.
08:22 Those are the things that I care about.
08:24 I don't care what someone believes, I don't care what nationality they are, but if someone
08:27 wants to get off drugs, I can help them.
08:29 If someone wants to learn how to read, I can help them.
08:32 If someone doesn't want to be a criminal anymore, I can give them tools that can better
08:35 their life."
08:36 You have no idea how many people want to know what Scientology is.
08:40 1.
08:42 Will Ferrell wants a rainbow on wheels
08:44 And then of course there are some contract demands that are cut from an entirely different
08:48 cloth, which Will Ferrell was obviously keen on proving on the press tour for SemiPro.
08:53 Clearly channeling his lead character Jackie Moon, Ferrell made some outrageous demands
08:58 according to a rider revealed by the smoking gun.
09:01 As part of his artist requirements, Ferrell demanded an electric three-wheel mobility
09:05 scooter, one headset microphone, Janet Jackson style, one flight of stairs on wheels, a fake
09:10 tree also on wheels, and a rainbow can be painted on canvas on wheels.
09:15 Because why wouldn't you ask for them?
09:16 And that concludes our list.
09:18 If you can think of any other outrageous demands made by actors, then do let us know in the
09:23 comments below.
09:24 And while you're there, don't forget to like and subscribe and tap that notification bell.
09:28 See you next time!
09:31 (upbeat music)