There was an infamous incident on the set of Terminator Salvation where Christian Bale snapped at the director of photography for changing the lighting levels during the filming of an important scene. Bale proceeded to yell at several members of the crew (including the director) and threatened to leave the production if things didn’t change.
Christian Bale’s tirade on the set of Terminator Salvation may sound like an overreaction to most people, but it can come off as just another day at the office to those who have worked on a movie set.
This is due to how stressful such productions are for all involved, especially as the length of time spent on set is costing the project more money with each passing hour.
The production of a major Hollywood movie can be stressful for all involved, so it’s no surprise that certain scenes can cause actors to want to quit the movie industry altogether. There have even been times when scenes have been so hard to film that the actors have risked their career by walking off the set and going home.
We are here today to look at the movie scenes that caused famous actors to rethink their career options.
From the wizard of Middle-Earth who almost got on the boat to the West a few years early to the member of The Avengers who wanted to bow out during the team’s finest hour, here are the 15 Movies That Made Actors Want To Quit!
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer - Jessica Alba
The Fantastic Four movie franchise seems to be cursed due to the numerous behind-the-scenes drama that has plagued each new entry in the series.
The Roger Corman Fantastic Four movie was a low-budget affair that was created to keep hold of the movie rights, while the recent Fantastic Four movie was critically panned and dogged by rumors of director Josh Trank acting like a lunatic during its production.
The two Fantastic Four movies that were made in 2005 and 2007 had their fair share of behind-the-scenes drama. There was one particular incident that almost made Jessica Alba quit acting altogether.
The incident involved a scene in the second Fantastic Four movie where Sue Storm was supposed to cry. According to Jessica Alba, Tim Story (the director of the movie) told her that her crying acting looked too real and too painful.
He wanted her to cry in a way that still made her look pretty, so he asked her to keep her face flat, as they could add the tears in later using CGI.
It was during the filming of this scene that Jessica Alba began to doubt her acting ability and was worried that Tim Story didn’t trust enough in her instincts to work with her properly.
Interview With The Vampire - Brad Pitt
One of the most difficult aspects of making any vampire-centric movie or TV show is the lack of natural light. Vampires are burned by sunlight, which means that they exclusively hang out at nighttime or in dark venues. This can be tricky for movie productions, as it costs more money for film crews to work at night.
Brad Pitt has talked about how much he suffered on the set of Interview with the Vampire due to how he spent almost six months working in the dark.
Pitt spent the bulk of the production wearing an uncomfortable costume, as well as thick yellow contact lenses, but these were only a minor annoyance compared to his time in Pinewood Studios.
The production of Interview with the Vampire used the legendary Pinewood Studios in London for the scenes involving the Théâtre des Vampires, as well as the resting place of the Parisian vampires.
It was during the filming of these scenes that Brad Pitt seriously considered quitting the production, to the point where he called David Geffen (one of the producers of the movie) and asked how much money it would cost to quit the movie.
Geffen told Pitt that it would personally cost him over forty-million dollars to leave the movie at that late stage, which convinced Pitt to stay.
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - Ian McKellen
The Fellowship of the Ring was made up of members that varied greatly in size, as Frodo and the hobbits were as small as children, while the rest were of a regular height.
This led to Peter Jackson and his crew using several forced perspective tricks in order to make it seem like the hobbit actors were a lot smaller than they actually were.
The Hobbit movies were filmed using specal cameras that recorded at forty-eight frames-per-second, which meant that a lot of the tricks used on The Lord of the Rings would no longer work. This meant that a lot of the trilogy had to be filmed using green screens in order to facilitate the higher quality of the visuals.
The increased usage of green screens came as a shock to Ian McKellen, who was now given a lot less material to work with as an actor.
He almost quit the production within the first few days of filming, as he felt that he couldn’t do his job if he was acting on his own.
The crew of The Hobbit did their best to keep Ian McKellen’s spirits high, which resulted in a “Gandalf Appreciation Day” for him. McKellen remained with The Hobbit movies and is considered to be one of the highlights of the trilogy.
Maze Runner: The Death Cure - Dylan O’Brien
Maze Runner: The Death Cure is the third and final movie in the Maze Runner series. It was almost the final movie ever made with Dylan O’Brien, who played the main character in the trilogy, as he suffered a horrible injury during the production of the movie that could have cost him his life.
In 2016, Dylan O’Brien was filming a scene for Maze Runner: The Death Cure where he had to be pulled off a moving vehicle and there was an accident that caused him to fall.
This accident shut down the production of the movie while O’Brien recovered from his injuries, which is why it was delayed until 2018. O’Brien suffered several serious bone fractures, as well as a concussion and several lacerations.
It should come as no surprise that Dylan O’Brien had some serious reservations about his career after the accident. O’Brien had to do a lot of soul-searching during his recovery, as it wasn’t even a sure thing that he could return to acting, especially for a fast-paced action movie series like Maze Runner.
Dylan O’Brien eventually recovered from his injuries and finished filming Maze Runner: The Death Cure, after deciding to resume his acting career and putting the accident behind him.
The Ridiculous 6 - Various Native American Actors
Adam Sandler movies are generally despised by critics, yet they make a lot of money at the box office. This means that we are likely to see low-quality Adam Sandler movies for years to come, as he has an audience who will pay to see whatever shlock he throws onto the screen.
Adam Sandler’s production company (Happy Madison Productions) cut an exclusive four-picture deal with Netflix in 2014, which led to the release of The Ridiculous 6, The Do-Over, Sandy Wexler, and The Week Of, all of which were critically panned.
The deal between Happy Madison Productions and Netflix has ended and there hasn’t been any word of any new collaborations between the two companies, with Sandler’s next movie being the third entry in the Hotel Transylvania series.
The Ridiculous 6 earned the most negative press out of all of the Adam Sandler/Netflix movies due to an incident involving four Native American actors walking off the set.
The walkout was due to several scenes that the actors had claimed were racist and portrayed Native Americans in a historically inaccurate way.
When The Ridiculous 6 had wrapped up, one of the actors who worked on the movie clarified that the majority of the Native American actors and actresses remained on the production.
Adam Sandler had approached the actors about publicly defending the movie to the press, though all of them refused.
Roar - Melanie Griffith
Who would have thought that making a movie that starred a pack of huge wild cats would lead to injuries?
Roar is notorious for being the movie with the most recorded injuries. This is due to the fact that it starred numerous wild cougars, lions, pumas, and tigers, many of whom were untrained.
The injuries on the set include: the director contracting gangrene from a wound, the director’s son requiring fifty-six stitches after being hurt by a lion, the assistant director having his throat opened by one of the animals, and the cinematographer having his scalp lifted by a lion.
This is to say nothing of the numerous minor injuries that were inflicted during the production of Roar, which lasted eleven years.
Melanie Griffith appeared in Roar as her mother was the producer and her step-father was the director. Griffith quit the production after witnessing two lions fighting each other, as she had become concerned that she would not live to see the end of production.
It seems these fears were well-founded, as Griffith returned to the production and was attacked by one of the animals. She needed numerous stitches and plastic surgery after the injury had been inflicted, though she managed to avoid being permanently disfigured.
The Avengers - Jeremy Renner
Hawkeye made his Marvel Cinematic Universe debut in Thor. Jeremy Renner made an uncredited cameo as Clint Barton during the sequence where Thor was trying to reclaim Mjoliner from the site that had been sealed off by S.H.I.E.L.D. and was ready to fire an arrow into the God of Thunder’s back, if necessary.
Hawkeye finally became a main character in the first Avengers movie, though it took a while before he could join the heroes, as Loki was able to take control over Hawkeye’s mind at the start of the movie, with the aid of his magical scepter.
This meant that Hawkeye was a brainwashed minion throughout the early parts of the story.
Jeremy Renner wasn’t happy with having to play a zombified character in The Avengers, as he felt that he was just getting to grips with the character of Hawkeye… and then had to go through the motions of playing a character who lacked a personality.
Jeremy Renner was so frustrated by playing the brainwashed version of Hawkeye that he asked the producers to off his character.
Renner even offered to act out Hawkeye having a heart attack so that he could leave the story at any point in time.
Panic Room - Nicole Kidman
Panic Room had an incredibly troubled production from the very beginning to the point where the entire project was almost canceled on several occasions.
Nicole Kidman was intended to be the protagonist of Panic Room and managed to complete two weeks worth of filming before injuring herself during production.
Kidman had a hairline fracture beneath one of her knee joints, which was the result of an injury she had suffered during the production of Moulin Rouge. This meant that Kidman had to leave production in order to heal, as Panic Room involved a lot of physical activity and running on the part of the lead actor.
Panic Room’s woes did not end there, though. Jodie Foster was hired to replace Nicole Kidman and she discovered that she was pregnant shortly after production had started again.
This meant that she had to wear concealing clothes throughout production, in order to hide her baby bump. The executives didn’t like the fact that she was so heavily covered, which meant that a large chunk of the movie had to be remade after Foster had given birth and was able to return to work.
Panic Room went on to be a huge success at the box office and made almost two-hundred-million dollars during its theatrical run.
Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen - Alison Pill
Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen is one of those movies that was panned upon its initial release, but went on to earn a place in the hearts of the kids and teens who grew up with it, which has earned it a cult fanbase among those who grew up in the early ’00s.
Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen was a live-action Disney movie that starred a young Lindsay Lohan, who was playing an aspiring teenage actress who moves to New Jersey with her family.
Alison Pill played Lindsay Lohan’s best friend in the movie.
The experience of working on Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen almost made Pill quit the movie industry altogether, due to a lot of the problems that were being caused by the studio.
Alison Pill claims that a lot of last-minute script changes were made to Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen, which Pill believes were detrimental to the movie.
She said that the worst example of this happened during a scene where the lead characters left to go see their favorite band in concert without telling their parents. This was changed to them receiving permission before leaving, which she felt removed all of the tension and ruined the scene.
Little Ashes - Robert Pattinson
You may have thought that the movies that caused Robert Pattinson to rethink his career were the ones from the Twilight series, but you would be wrong, as Pattinson has always had a great sense of humor about himself and the role of Edward Cullen.
The role that troubled Robert Pattinson the most was Salvador Dali, whom he portrayed in Little Ashes, which predates the first Twilight movie.
Little Ashes focuses on Salvador Dali’s friendship with Federico Garcia Lorca, which later developed into a romantic relationship. This is speculatory on behalf of the filmmakers, as there is no solid evidence that Dali and Lorca were lovers in real-life.
Robert Pattinson was still a relatively new actor when starring in Little Ashes, which may be why he had so much trouble with all of the scenes where he had to get undressed.
Pattinson also had to act out a scene where Dali pleasured himself on camera, which he claims that he did for real, as his performance wasn’t convincing enough when he was just pretending to do it.
It was during the production of the lovemaking scenes in Little Ashes that Robert Pattinson decided to quit acting, as he felt uncomfortable during the production of those scenes.
He would later receive the call about portraying Edward Cullen, and the rest is history.
A Golden Boy - Sharon Stone
Sharon Stone is no stranger to disrobing on the big screen. You can see her in her birthday suit in movies like A Different Loyalty, Basic Instinct, Fading Gigolo, If These Walls Could Talk 2, Irreconcilable Differences, Scissors, Sliver, The Mule, The Muse, and Year of the Gun.
It seems like Sharon Stone has no problem with lovemaking scenes, yet she is known to balk at more intimate movie moments, such as a simple kiss.
Sharon Stone appeared in an Italian comedy movie called A Golden Boy, where she starred alongside Riccardo Scamarcio. There was a moment during the production of A Golden Boy where Sharon Stone had to kiss her co-star.
When it came time to film the scene, Sharon Stone was nowhere to be found.
The director was contacted by Sharon Stone’s agent, who said that she wouldn’t return to the set until all unnecessary photographers and camera operators had left.
It seems that Sharon Stone called her agent in Los Angeles (while she was in Italy) in order for the matter to be resolved. The producers were forced to comply with this demand in order for Sharon Stone to return to the set and finish the scene.
Bully - Daniel Franzese
Daniel Franzese is best-known for the role of Damian in Mean Girls. He has since gone on to appear in numerous other movies and TV shows, such as Burn Notice, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Looking, and War of the Worlds.
Franzese came out of the closet in 2014 and has since become a staunch advocate for the LGBTQ community. He has also been known to fight for legal rights of those who are HIV positive.
Daniel Franzese’s career may have ended with his first major motion picture, as he suffered tremendously due to bullying by Bijou Phillips on the set of Bully.
Daniel Franzese has accused Bijou Phillips of being physically and verbally abusive towards him in a series of Twitter posts.
He claims that she often berated him for his orientation and commonly accused him of being gay in front of the cast and crew, even though he was closeted at the time.
This came to head during a scene where Franzese had to take his shirt off, which led to Phillips calling him gross and laughing at his body, which caused Franzese to walk off the set.
Bijou Phillips has since apologized to Daniel Franzese for her behavior on the set of Bully and the two of them have publicly reconciled.
Accidental Love - James Caan
Accidental Love (originally called Nailed) had one of the most troubled productions in all of movie history. The story of the film involved a waitress (played by Jessica Biel) suffering a head injury when a nail is fired into her skull.
Her health insurance wouldn’t pay for the nail to be removed, so she goes on a quest to win support for those suffering from bizarre injuries.
The production of Accidental Love was dogged by financial issues, to the point where the cast and crew had to repeatedly walk out, as they weren’t being paid.
The movie was never finished, though the footage was later purchased by Millennium Entertainment, who cobbled together their own cut of the movie and released it. Accidental Love was considered to be both a commercial and critical failure.
It seems that James Caan could tell that he was working on a dud, as he bailed from the movie during an early stage of production. The reason why Caan left the movie was due to disagreements over the filming of a scene where he was supposed to choke on a cookie.
The director asked Caan to both choke and cough at the same time, which Caan claimed was impossible to do. This argument caused Caan to leave the production, citing “creative differences” as his reason for leaving.
9 To 5 - Lily Tomlin
We often take for granted how cheap it is for movies to include CGI and digital image manipulation in recent movies. The fact that the producers of Justice League were fine with editing out Henry Cavill’s mustache during reshoots shows just how easy it is for problems to be answered in the edit suite.
In the days before CGI, there were movies that would use hand-drawn animation in place of practical special effects, with the most famous example being Who Framed Roger Rabbit? These involved animation cells being added after the live-action footage had been shot.
The movie 9 to 5 included several scenes where the characters would interact with cartoon birds.
Lily Tomlin almost quit working on 9 to 5 after only a week of filming and offered to return all of the money she had earned up to that point, as she was embarrassed by her performance during the scenes where she had to interact with the cartoon birds.
Lily Tomlin was watching the dailies of the filming up to that point and she felt that her performance during these scenes was cringeworthy, as the cartoon birds had yet to be animated.
She was convinced to stay after watching the dailies of the next day of shooting, where she felt that she performed a lot better.
The Misfits - Clark Gable
The Misfits is considered to be one of the most important movies ever made, as it was the last film role for two of the biggest stars in the history of Hollywood.
Clark Gable and Marilyn Monroe finished their legendary careers with The Misfits, as Gable passed away before the movie was released and Monroe was fired from her final film (Something’s Got to Give), which was then canceled and never released, meaning that The Misfits was the final movie she made that saw a theatrical release.
The production of The Misfits was filled with problems, which weren’t helped by the intense heat of filming in the Nevada desert. The cast and crew weren’t happy with how things were going, which led to several walkouts.
Clark Gable walked off the set during the filming of a stunt, where his character was intended to dodge a bucking stallion.
It seems that the health and safety laws weren’t as strict in the ’60s, as Gable’s stunt double was kicked in the face by a stallion on three occasions.
When Clark Gable saw how shoddy the production was, he walked off the set but was later convinced to return by the director, due to the quality of the script.
Can you think of any other movies that almost caused stars to quit acting for good? Sound off in the comments!
