We're always up for some Hollywood gossip! Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the most outrageous incidents of an actor exiting a film production, for whatever reason.
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00:00 "Do not take me for some conjurer of cheap tricks. I am not trying to rob you."
00:06 Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the most
00:10 outrageous incidents of an actor exiting a film production for whatever reason.
00:14 "I drink your milkshake. I drink it up!"
00:22 Number 20. Terrence Howard - Iron Man 2
00:26 The film that launched the epic Marvel Cinematic Universe, 2008's Iron Man,
00:30 was a smash hit with fans. With Robert Downey Jr. in the lead role of Tony Stark,
00:34 his BFF James Rhodes was played by Terrence Howard, who was reportedly the movie's highest-paid actor.
00:39 But before Howard could fulfill his on-screen promise of wearing the War Machine armor,
00:43 he was dropped in favor of Don Cheadle for the 2010 sequel.
00:46 "Hey, buddy. Didn't expect to see you here."
00:49 "Look, it's me. I'm here. Deal with it. Let's move on."
00:52 According to reports, the filmmakers were disappointed by Howard's performance and his
00:56 difficult behavior on set. He was offered a reduced role with up to an 80% wage decrease
01:01 for the sequel. Howard turned it down, believing his money ended up covering some of Downey's
01:05 increased payday. "Next time, baby."
01:12 Number 19. Armie Hammer - Shotgun Wedding
01:15 At one point, Armie Hammer looked like the next breakout A-lister in Hollywood,
01:18 with several critically acclaimed films in his credits.
01:21 "Does this make you happy? You're not gonna get a nosebleed on me, are you?"
01:26 In 2020, he was cast in 2022's Shotgun Wedding alongside Jennifer Lopez. Then, in 2021,
01:32 Hammer's career came crashing down, with allegations of abusive behavior and assaults
01:36 to partners, as well as his desire to partake in consuming humans. Yikes.
01:41 Immediately, many film productions distanced themselves from him.
01:44 Hammer dropped out of Shotgun Wedding, stating he couldn't leave his family during this scandal to
01:48 spend four months in the Dominican Republic. The role of Tom Fowler was then given to Josh
01:52 Duhamel, who emailed Hammer to offer his support. "How do you feel?"
01:56 "I feel horrible, but exciting."
02:00 Number 18. Charlie Hunnam - Fifty Shades of Grey
02:03 "Are you planning on going full frontal or using a double, uh, body double?"
02:07 "Never body doubles." "No?"
02:09 "Never."
02:09 Not long after the Fifty Shades of Grey novel was released, loads of celebs were seen with the
02:13 book. Unsurprisingly, with that publicity, a film was a foregone conclusion. In 2013,
02:19 it was announced the two main roles would be played by Dakota Johnson and Charlie Hunnam.
02:23 However, a month later, he dropped out, and the part was given to Jamie Dornan. The reason for
02:28 the change was originally believed to be a scheduling issue. In a sense, that was true,
02:32 but in 2014, Hunnam explained it further. He said his work schedule was so packed due to balancing
02:37 Sons of Anarchy alongside shooting Crimson Peak that he experienced a nervous breakdown when
02:41 considering adding Fifty Shades and had to withdraw. "Do you ever regret giving that up?"
02:45 "You know, I find the decision-making process in life in general, but particularly with my work,
02:53 extremely difficult."
02:55 Number 17. Billy Idol - The Doors and Terminator 2 Judgment Day
02:59 After establishing himself in the music world, Idol was going to branch out with two massive
03:03 film roles. However, in 1990, he crashed his motorbike, sustaining a severely broken leg
03:08 and arm. Singer Billy Idol was seriously injured in a motorcycle accident in Los Angeles early
03:13 yesterday morning when the Harley he was driving collided with another vehicle. Idol was in surgery
03:17 for seven hours to repair the damage. Though he recovered, the musician could no longer play the
03:21 film roles he signed up for. Idol stated he was meant to play Tom Baker in The Doors. However,
03:26 Michael Madsen was handed the role, while Idol was given the vastly reduced part of Cat.
03:30 "Pour me my breakfast, Dolores. Yeah, what's the matter with Jimbo? Can't handle it, eh?"
03:37 For Terminator 2 Judgment Day, he was going to be the T-1000. Since Idol could barely walk,
03:42 let alone chase after Arnold Schwarzenegger, Robert Patrick was magnificently cast instead.
03:46 Number 16. Will Smith - The Matrix
03:49 In an alternate reality, this is an Earth where Keanu Reeves didn't wear a Neo's
03:53 black trench coat for 1999's The Matrix, but the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air star did.
03:58 "Free your mind."
04:07 As explained by the actor on his YouTube channel, Smith met with the Wachowskis,
04:13 who pitched the part to him. The Wachowskis focused their pitch on the action sequences,
04:17 where Neo freezes in mid-air, instead of the story or character development. Because of this approach,
04:22 the actor didn't really understand what The Matrix was. In addition, the siblings were still
04:26 relatively new as directors of feature films. After consideration, he rejected The Matrix and
04:31 took on Wild Wild West instead, a decision he may have regretted. "I probably would have messed
04:35 The Matrix up. I would have ruined it. So I did y'all a favor." Number 15. Megan Fox - Transformers
04:42 Dark of the Moon Filmmaker Michael Bay and Fox have a long, turbulent relationship, which includes
04:47 her leading roles in the Transformers franchise. Initially, all seemed well, even if Bay couldn't
04:52 stop his male gaze whenever Fox was on screen. However, in 2009, Fox gave an interview discussing
04:58 the difficulty of working on set for the director and compared him to Adolf Hitler. "His solution to
05:03 that problem was to then have me dancing underneath a waterfall getting soaking wet." As such, she was
05:10 effectively replaced with Rosie Huntington-Whiteley for the third installment, Transformers Dark of
05:14 the Moon. As for what happened, it depends on who you ask. Fox claims she left, while Bay stated
05:19 producer Steven Spielberg told him to replace her, which Spielberg denied. Mysterious. "What is that?"
05:24 "This is your new lucky bunny."
05:27 Number 14. Will Ferrell - Reagan "These are my woods, and this is my gun."
05:38 A movie about a nation's leader struggling to cope with a degenerative disease sounds like a piece
05:44 that could be discussed and celebrated in film classes. However, what if instead of being a
05:49 gritty drama, it was played as a comedy? Well, that was the plan for the film Reagan when news
05:54 broke about it in 2016. It would focus on Ronald Reagan, played by Will Ferrell, suffering from
05:58 dementia during his second term as U.S. president. Upon announcement of the project, the Reagan
06:03 family expressed its outrage, as did some associates of Reagan and some members of the media. Two days
06:08 after Ferrell's casting announcement, he pulled out of the project, and it vanished into obscurity.
06:12 "Boy, that escalated quickly. I mean, that really got out of hand fast." Number 13. Harvey Keitel - Apocalypse Now
06:22 "I'm Winston Wolf. I solve problems." "Good, we got one." "So I heard. May I come in?" Considering the amount of
06:28 setbacks and damage to the crew and cast's physical and mental health, it's amazing that Apocalypse Now
06:33 was finished, let alone became such an acclaimed film. Before Martin Sheen donned the war paint of
06:38 Captain Willard, Harvey Keitel was handed the role and given a seven-year contract. Yet, days into
06:43 filming, director Francis Ford Coppola was unhappy with Keitel's portrayal, as he reportedly found
06:47 him too intense. Coppola offered Sheen the role, and when he accepted, Keitel was out. However, the
06:53 actor wasn't removed from the final cut completely, according to editor Walter Murch. During one of the
06:57 scenes showing a boat turning in the water, Keitel can be seen on the vessel. "Apocalypse Now was not a bump.
07:02 It was an experience, and a valuable experience." Number 12. Shia LaBeouf - Don't Worry Darling
07:10 Few recent films have had reports of a director clashing with their main cast as 2022's Don't
07:15 Worry Darling. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry." Olivia Wilde directed,
07:24 as well as starred and produced the film, and as director, she allegedly had a few conflicts with
07:29 Florence Pugh. She also had to contend with Shia LaBeouf, who eventually left the production.
07:33 The cause was originally claimed to be a scheduling conflict, but then things got confusing.
07:38 Wilde later stated that LaBeouf's combative energy with fellow actors and crew, along with the fact
07:42 that he made Pugh uncomfortable, caused her to fire him. However, he responded that he quit due
07:47 to the lack of rehearsal. LaBeouf later showed apparent messages from Wilde that begged him to
07:51 return, which the director denied. "So just to be clear here, did you fire Shia LaBeouf?" "We had to
07:56 replace Shia." Number 11. Eric Stoltz - Back to the Future Today, it's impossible to imagine anyone
08:03 other than Michael J. Fox wearing the iconic red body warmer of Marty McFly in 1985's Back to the
08:08 Future. Yet, that nearly happened. Eric Stoltz was cast as McFly, but several weeks into filming,
08:13 director Robert Zemeckis saw a problem. Reportedly, the actor was too intense and wasn't capturing the
08:18 comedic tone that was needed. Stoltz also implemented a method acting technique, allegedly
08:22 bruising Biff's actor Thomas F. Wilson in a scene. The filmmakers approached Fox, who agreed to take
08:27 the role. "I guess you guys aren't ready for that yet." When Fox became available, Zemeckis informed
08:32 Stoltz of his firing. This casting change caused 34 days of filming to be torn up, yet Fox captured
08:37 the comedy essence and saved the franchise. "He's a magnificent actor, but his comedy sensibilities
08:42 were very different than what I had written with Bob, and he and I just never were able to make
08:48 that work." Number 10. James Reimer, Aliens. "Come on, quit playing around. You don't want to play
08:55 around with me. Let me out of this thing!" James Reimer, best known for his portrayal of Ajax in
09:04 the cult classic The Warriors and for playing Dexter's father Harry Morgan on Dexter, was
09:08 director James Cameron's first choice to play Corporal Dwayne Hicks in the sequel to 1979's
09:13 Alien. However, a couple of weeks into production, he was replaced by Michael Biehn. For years,
09:18 the reason for the change was chalked up to creative differences, but the truth turned
09:21 out to be much more shocking. Reimer was dealing with a fairly serious drug problem when he was
09:25 cast as Hicks and was ultimately fired from the production after being arrested for drug
09:29 possession, although some shots of him remain in the film. "Son, there are people out there who do
09:33 really bad things. Terrible people. And the police can't catch them all." Number 9. Ed Skrein,
09:43 Hellboy. In the wake of whitewashing complaints, actor Ed Skrein, who you'll recognize as the
09:48 baddie from 2016's Deadpool, dropped out of the planned 2019 Hellboy reboot. "Now I'm gonna shut
09:53 you in again, Wade. Not because I need to. Because I want to." Whitewashing is the infamous Hollywood
10:06 practice that involves the casting of white actors in the roles of historically non-white
10:10 characters. Skrein had been cast as Ben Daimio, who the graphic novel the film is based on describes
10:15 as being of Japanese-American descent. "Major Ben Daimio, head of special ops for M-11."
10:24 "M-11?" "My son." "I thought you guys disbanded after the war." "And I thought we were supposed
10:31 to be fighting monsters, not working with them." Skrein's decision to leave the film was widely
10:35 praised, and his replacement, Korean-American actor Daniel Dae Kim, lauded him for the move.
10:40 Number 8. Ryan Gosling, The Lovely Bones. In yet another instance of an actor being
10:45 fired only to claim he left over creative differences with the director, the truth
10:48 behind Ryan Gosling's departure from The Lovely Bones is far more intriguing than what was
10:52 originally reported. Gosling, who'd been cast in the role of Jack Salmon, which later went to Mark
10:57 Wahlberg, showed up on set bearded and 60 pounds overweight, two physical transformations he had
11:02 not discussed with director Peter Jackson. "You're expecting an angel when you get Nixon." "Exactly."
11:07 Jackson was understandably perturbed by the sudden change in his lead actor's appearance,
11:10 and fired him. Gosling would claim that he was too young for the part, but the truth,
11:14 as it's been known to do, eventually came out. "Okay, you can hire us, but we're not cheap. This
11:20 is very intensive work, and for something like this, I'd say you can do it for less than $5,000."
11:26 Number 7. Kel O'Neill, There Will Be Blood. There Will Be Blood is the story of a ruthless oil
11:33 tycoon who clashes with a local pastor during Southern California's turn-of-the-century oil
11:37 boom. Kel O'Neill had originally been cast in the role of the pastor, but left amid reports
11:41 that lead actor Daniel Day-Lewis's style was too much for him to handle. Day-Lewis, of course,
11:45 is notorious for staying in character regardless of whether or not the cameras are rolling.
11:49 While both Day-Lewis and director Paul Thomas Anderson have denied these claims,
11:59 it's not hard to imagine O'Neill being thrown off his game when he realized his co-star
12:03 had decided to live as the man who relished berating the character he was portraying.
12:10 Number 6. Jean-Claude Van Damme, Predator. Before he was an internationally recognized
12:15 action star, Jean-Claude Van Damme was just a young Belgian actor trying to make it in Hollywood.
12:20 His career appeared to be heading in the right direction when he was cast as the titular bad
12:29 guy in 1987's Predator. Unfortunately, JCVD didn't see eye to eye with director John McTiernan when
12:35 it came to his character's costume, among other things. Van Damme felt that the cloaking costume
12:40 made him look silly, unaware that it would be edited out by the visual effects team in
12:44 post-production. Two days into shooting, Van Damme dropped out and was replaced by Kevin Peter Hall,
12:49 who donned a significantly redesigned costume. Number 5. Sean Connery, The Lord of the Rings,
12:58 The Fellowship of the Ring. A staple on pretty much every list of actors who turned down iconic
13:02 movie roles, Sean Connery's decision to turn down the role of Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings
13:06 trilogy is a serious head-scratcher. The Academy Award winner reportedly declined Peter Jackson's
13:11 offer to play the bearded wizard because when it came to the script, he never understood it.
13:15 You know who did understand it? Ian McKellen. The worst part is that had Connery taken the role,
13:25 he would have been owed 15% of the trilogy's worldwide box office receipts, a number that
13:29 would have amounted to over $400 million. That's a lot of money, Mr. Bond.
13:34 Number 4. James Purefoy, V for Vendetta. British actor James Purefoy was director James McTeague's
13:49 first choice to play the mask-wearing vigilante known only as V in the 2005 dystopian thriller,
13:54 V for Vendetta. However, the role required him to wear a Guy Fawkes mask for the entirety of
14:07 the shoot, which he claimed made it extremely difficult to act in. Six weeks into filming,
14:11 Purefoy decided that he had had enough. He quit the production and was replaced by Hugo Weaving,
14:24 seeing as how the character's mask is a major part of his identity, anyone who couldn't act
14:28 beneath it clearly wasn't a good fit for the role. Weaving sure pulled it off, though.
14:32 Number 3. Christian Bale, Steve Jobs.
14:34 While you'd be hard-pressed to argue against Michael Fassbender's portrayal of Apple co-founder
14:45 Steve Jobs in Danny Boyle's 2015 biopic - he was nominated for an Oscar, after all - at one point
14:50 in the film's development, the role belonged to someone else. Christian Bale was cast as Jobs in
14:55 2014 but relinquished the role shortly after. The story goes that Steve's widow, Laurene Jobs,
15:01 called Bale and begged him not to do the film. While his official position is that he left due
15:04 to conflicted feelings over the part, we think the pleas of Laurene Jobs had something to do with it.
15:18 Number 2. Buddy Ebsen, The Wizard of Oz.
15:21 He probably didn't know it at the time, but when he was cast as the Scarecrow in 1939's
15:25 The Wizard of Oz, Buddy Ebsen was on the verge of becoming part of film history.
15:29 Well, first he was asked to switch roles with Ray Bolger to play the Tin Man instead.
15:33 Then, unfortunately, just ten days into shooting, Ebsen was gone.
15:45 It turned out that Ebsen was allergic to the aluminum powder makeup necessary to
15:49 complete his transformation from man to Tin Man. The incident was actually pretty serious,
16:02 as Ebsen was brought to the hospital in critical condition. Suffice it to say, he had to drop out.
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16:21 Number 1. Kevin Spacey, All the Money in the World.
16:33 2017 was the year of the Hollywood sex scandal, and Kevin Spacey was one of the celebrities who
16:38 lost the most after he was accused of assaulting a 14-year-old Anthony Rapp in 1986. Within two
16:44 weeks of Rapp coming forward, Spacey had not only been accused by others, Netflix also dropped him
16:48 from both House of Cards and a Gore Vidal biopic he was set to star in. Perhaps even more shocking
16:54 was the fact that Spacey was completely removed from All the Money in the World and replaced by
16:58 Christopher Plummer about a month before its release.
17:00 "Dirty and old I have no problem with. In fact, I have an affection for them,
17:06 as they are the words most frequently used to describe me."
17:09 Recasting actors during production is one thing. Swapping them out so close to the release date
17:14 is pretty much unprecedented. Which acting castings that nearly happened do you wish did?
17:19 Cillian Murphy as Batman? Brad Pitt as Jason Bourne? Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester
17:23 Stallone in Face/Off? Or something else? Let us know below.
17:26 "The enunciation of truth. And the truth is,
17:29 there is something terribly wrong with this country, isn't there?"
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17:41 "The enunciation of truth. And the truth is, there is something terribly wrong with this country,
17:49 isn't there?" - Brad Pitt
17:50 (upbeat music)