IAN MCKELLEN
While we all know that Ian McKellen is an amazingly talented actor. He played loveable Gandalf in Peter Jackson’s J.R.R. Tolkien fantasy films. Did you know that with the green screen technology and the crazy amount of CGI that got put into Tolkien's movies, Ian ended up having to do all of his scenes in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey acting alone in front of the green screen? He did! That meant he had no one to play off of and had to imagine how the other actors were acting. That just goes to show you how amazingly talented Ian is.
JESSICA ALBA
Jessica Alba will most likely never return to the Fantastic 4 franchise, especially if directed by Tim Story. She had a very hard time acting because of the contradictory (and downright stupid) direction she was getting from Tim. Example: during one scene where her character, Sue, breaks down crying, Tim directed Jessica to remain stone-faced (WHILE CRYING!!!) because it was important for her to remain pretty. Good grief - she's crying!!!
MIKE MYERS
Mike Myers almost quit the movie, Wayne’s World. He and the head honchos were in a battle as to what song Wayne, Garth and friends were to sing in the car. Mike wanted Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody,” but the studio execs wanted Guns N’ Roses, since they were new and hip, while Queen was too old-school. Mike said he would quit if “Bohemian Rhapsody” was not included, and the director eventually relented. Go Mike!
MICHELLE RODRIGUEZ
During filming of the first movie in the Fast and Furious franchise, Michelle Rodriguez had a major problem with the way her character, Letty, was written. At the end of the movie, her character was suppose to betray her longtime lover, Dom, for newcomer Brian. She threatened to walk out of the movie if they didn’t change the script… she said that Letty would never pick a pretty boy over an alpha male. The producers agreed and the script was changed… which gave us a better plot leading to a more profitable franchise.
LAUREN COHAN
Playing Maggie in The Walking Dead has it's ups and downs. We have seen Lauren's character, Maggie, become tougher with each season. There was supposedly a moment in the third season when she states she almost quit. It was the scene where Maggie had to do an emergency c-section. She was very distraught with having to do this scene but in the end used her unease to the scene’s advantage. The results are very tense and well acted.
BRAD PITT
Interview With The Vampire was filmed in 1994 starring Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt. Brad was so disillusioned with the project that he eventually asked the producer how much it would cost him to buy himself out of his contract… the answer to which was $40 million. Brad stated it was the 6 months of filming in the dark that broke him. However, the price of his salvation was too high so he decided to finish the movie - which was not only a sound financial choice but he made an amazing movie.
CARL WEATHERS
If you don't know Carl Weathers as Apollo Creed then you are a lost cause. The Rocky franchise was awesome and emotional! In Rocky IV, Apollo goes up against Ivan Drago (played by Dolph Lundgren) and during filming the scene, Dolph actually threw Carl into the corner of the ring. This infuriated Carl so much that he threw a real punch at Dolph's face. Dolph in then punched Carl so hard that Carl was knocked out for a few minutes. When Carl came to he was even more furious and left filming. It took 4 days for Sylvester Stallone to convince Carl to come back to the set and finish filming. Stallone also had a talk with Lundgren about being less aggressive on set.
NAYA RIVERA
(Yes she deserves 2 photos being sexy in Auburn attire - War Eagle Baby!)
Naya Rivera is one of the stars of Glee. She has stated that she almost quit acting before landing her popular role on the musical series. Naya is half-Hispanic (like myself), one-quarter German and one-quarter black so casting people were always confused as to where she would fit (same with me). Because of this, her roles were few and far between to the point that she almost quit acting. But then she landed her role on Glee and had a change of heart. So glad she did!
TIPPI HEDREN
Tippi Hedren was told that she would be attacked with mechanical birds when filming the final scene of the movie, The Birds, which turned out to be a huge lie by Hitchcock. Hitchcock had crew members throw real birds at her. Other birds were attached to strings. Tippi lost it after a full 5 days of filming! A doctor then ordered Alfred to give her a week’s rest. In case you don’t know this or haven’t figured it out yet, Alfred was known for treating his actors badly.
SHELLEY DUVALL
Shelley Duvall was pushed to her absolute boundaries while filming The Shining. Stanley Kubrick, like Alfred Hitchcock, did not care about treating his actors well. His scene takes were to be filmed EXACTLY as he imagined them - they would be shot and reshot until he felt it was what he saw in his head. One scene in The Shining (where Wendy uses a baseball bat to defend herself and her son) was shot 127 times!! Yes, 1-2-7 times… it’s still the world record for most scene takes in ANY movie. Shelley was so stressed and sickened by the filming process, she began to lose her hair.
JEFFREY DEAN MORGAN
(Yes, I am posting 2 photos of one of my favorite actors - plus you wouldn't recognize him as dressed as Damron, the Xindi from Star Trek!! LOL)
We all know Jeffrey Dean Morgan! He's played some memorable characters from the Comedian in The Watchman to now our favorite villain we hate to love but love anyways - NEGAN from The Walking Dead!! What you may not know is that Jeffrey played Damron, the Xindi-Reptilian in the Star Trek Enterprise episode "Carpenter Street". What you may not know is that the character make-up process required to be Damron nearly convinced Jeffrey to quit acting altogether. So glad he didn't as we will see him in October playing Negan in Season 7 of The Walking Dead! I hope he gains some of his weight back because he's sexier with some meat on his gorgeous self!!
