Movie Scenes Actors Refused To Film

Red carpets, private jets, second homes in exotic locales — the life of an actor may seem pretty plush. But don't forget that being an actor requires work, and it isn't your typical 9 to 5. Showing up for a day means long hours on set, demanding directors, uncooperative co-stars, and — of course — egos coming at you from every angle. And sometimes the script (a.k.a. an actor's job description) has something in it that A-listers just aren't willing to do for fear of harming their reputation or crossing personal boundaries.

When things go too far and a star declines to do a scene, rumors swirl and often leak, leading fans to speculate as to what kind of drama went down on set. But sometimes actors are candid about how their own beliefs and values conflict with their profession of choice. From nudes to feuds, here's a look at movie scenes that actors refused to film.

Isla Fisher's breakthrough role as "stage-5 clinger" Gloria Cleary in 2005's Wedding Crashers catapulted her to fame — and earned her a reputation as a comedic force. The film was a huge hit at the box office, thanks in part to raunchy R-rated gags, including 54-year-old Jane Seymour casting off her robe for her first-ever nude scene. But as far as Fisher was concerned, nude scenes were an absolute dealbreaker. In an interview with Hello Magazine shortly after the movie premiered, she said, "I totally hate the puritanical approach to the whole nudity thing, but then when it comes to me I have double standards."

In a later interview with Entertainment Weekly, she elaborated on just how many scenes she skipped...and how many stand-ins her shooting contract stipulated. "I had a hand double for the under-the-table scene. I had a breast double for the boob-in-the-face and I had a butt double," she said. "My argument was, if you see a character's breast, she's no longer funny. You see her as someone sexual rather than as someone funny. I lost that argument with the producers."

Fisher further explained how that conflict influenced her performance as sweet and lovable, yet ultimately conniving Gloria. "I amped up the reality of my character even more," she told EW. "I thought, to combat the fact that you're going to see her boobs, I have to make her even more extreme for us to still get a laugh."

Emma Watson has demonstrated serious range in a variety of roles since breaking through as a child actor in Harry Potter...but none of it prepared her for her uncomfortable cameo in This Is the End.

The dark comedy was pretty much exactly what you'd expect from Seth Rogen and his writing partner Evan Goldberg, whose over-the-top sensibilities were established with Superbad. Like the rest of the all-star cast (including Jonah Hill, Danny McBride, and James Franco), Watson played an exaggerated version of herself — but she didn't exactly feel welcome in the boys' club atmosphere during filming.

According to an extra, Watson walked off the set over a scene featuring Channing Tatum in a surprise cameo, doing the full-on Magic Mike. PopFocal picked up the since-deleted blog post, which alleged, "Channing decided to do some of his breakdancing in front of her but alas he was in nothing but a thong... Emma storms off set... So we wrapped the night 5 minutes later."

James Franco seemed to confirm the story in conversation with Interview magazine. "So a funny thing happened on this movie I'm doing," he said. "The movie is a comedy, but it's kind of an outrageous one, and this actress — I won't say who, but she had a smaller role in the film — walked off the movie in the middle of a scene."

He continued, "What was going on around her was, I guess, too extreme for her. So Seth was like, 'Well, what can we do to fix it?' And she said, 'There's nothing you can do to fix it. It's just everything.'... And he said, 'Do you want to leave?' And she said, 'Yeah, I've got to leave.'"

Watson has never commented on the alleged kerfuffle. "This is my first ever comedy," she gushed in a press interview when the film came out. "When I got the script I was like this is not my normal type of thing and not really always my type of humor, but how could I miss out on the chance to work with the best comedians there are, basically in the world right now?"

Anna Kendrick found international superstardom in Pitch Perfect as Beca, The Bellas' rebellious soprano with a steel will and a heart of gold — and it sounds like her real-life personality isn't far from the tough-talking undergrad she played on the big screen.

Kendrick spoke out about putting her foot down on a potential storyline that had Beca getting romantically involved with a record executive who was trying to get the Bellas' master of the mash-up to sign with his label.

"Originally the music executive was supposed to be my romantic interest but I said no to that, because I thought that would be kind of f—ing problematic," she told Harper's Bazaar UK. "I was like, 'Can no one else [see it]?' Once I said it, everybody was like, 'I guess so.' And they still wanted to have a version at the end when we kissed, and I still said no."

In the same interview, Kendrick revealed that she pushed back on producers who asked the Bellas to step into sexier wardrobes. "It's funny," she said. "Whenever we do the wardrobe fittings I feel like we get notes from the top saying they should be tighter and sexier and show more skin. And I'm like, that's not why people are coming to see the movie. They definitely aren't showing up because of our sex appeal.... It's nice that audiences are interested in seeing a movie of misfits and girls of different shapes and sizes."

Samuel L. Jackson has never been one to to shy away from violence or vulgarity onscreen — after all, he's made six movies with Hollywood's king of expletives, Quentin Tarantino. In his prolific career, Jackson's cleaned brains out of the back seat of a Chevy Nova, been eaten by dinosaurs, and tangled with a plane full of snakes. But there's one thing that scares this fearless actor — dropping trou on camera.

In a raunchy interview with — who else? — Howard Stern, Jackson revealed that it isn't modesty but self-confidence that's kept him from stripping for the camera. "I don't know if it's formidable enough," he admitted in reference to his genitalia. "My aura's so big, I don't know if [it's] big enough to fill my aura."

He also expressed his discomfort regarding the "extremely awkward" process of filming sex scenes in general, and explained why he's only agreed to strip down a handful of times in his 40-year career, including with Juliette Binoche for In My Country and Naomi Watts in Mother And Child.

"You ask before you start, 'Where can I touch you? Where shouldn't I touch you?'" he explained to Stern. "Then you apologize for both reasons. 'I'm sorry if I get excited' and 'I'm sorry if I don't.' Because sometimes it just ain't happening!"

We get what you're saying, Sam.

While Rebel Wilson was badgered by her famous co-star for refusing to go nude, Emily Blunt was supported by hers... as well as her breasts, evidently.

In 2015's super-scary suspense film Sicario, Blunt plays an FBI agent batting drug cartels along the Mexican border. A scene called for Blunt to go topless. While the scene was written in the script, Blunt would later tell interviewer Howard Stern that when it came time to film, she — and her breasts, apparently — refused.

"It was in there originally, but it came out because we didn't agree with it," Blunt said. She clarified that "we" meant "my t**s."

Blunt was backed up by her co-star Benicio del Toro, who agreed the scene wasn't necessary. Given that del Toro played the "sicario" of the title (Mexican slang for "hitman"), nobody wanted to mess with him. Besides he's just really intimidating and making him angry wouldn't turn out well (just watch the diner scene in Fear & Loathing In Las Vegas).

The 1994 romantic comedy I Love Trouble is most remembered these days for inspiring one of the most notorious co-star feuds ever. Julia Roberts and Nick Nolte star as dueling Chicago reporters chasing the same scoop. Murder, mayhem and romance ensue — filmmakers were hoping for a Tracy-Hepburn spark, but what they got was a Nolte-Roberts dumpster fire.

Rumor has it Roberts so disliked Nolte's loutish machismo that she would insult him on set. Nolte grew so tired of her tantrums, he'd act up just to spite her. It got so bad the two refused to film their scenes together and acted with stand-ins instead. Roberts and Nolte played nice during promotion, but proving that time does not heal all wounds, they continued to hold a grudge years later. The gloves came off in 2003 when Roberts called Nolte a "disgusting" human being. Nolte responded "It's not nice to call someone 'disgusting.' But she's not a nice person. Everyone knows that." Roberts also referenced a foul-mouthed, temperamental co-star in a 2009 Late Show appearance, and we don't think she was referring to Richard Gere.

Nick Nolte has been nominated for an Academy Award three times, while Julia Roberts won one for 2000's Erin Brockovich. Sounds like both of them deserved an Oscar for even briefly pretending to like each other.

Will Smith was riding high in the early 1990s with a successful hip-hop career as the Fresh Prince and an even more successful TV show, The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. Before discovering his later penchant for making broadly appealing blockbuster movies, Smith sought to establish himself as serious actor right out of the gate with 1993's Six Degrees of Separation. Based on the play of the same name, the movie has a dense, character-driven plot and complicated themes — and while Smith was willing, even eager, to take a risk, the script called for something he refused to do.

In the film, Smith's gay character is required to share a passionate kiss with his male co-star, Anthony Michael Hall. Smith was uncomfortable with this and sought advice from Denzel Washington, who supposedly told him not to kiss a man on camera. So that's precisely what Smith didn't do: The shot was filmed from behind, allowing Smith to fake it.

By keeping several degrees of separation from his male co-star, Smith started a pattern of strategically avoiding controversial roles. It certainly hasn't hurt his box office tally, which amounts to roughly $3.2 billion in combined domestic grosses.

If you've ever seen Borat, Bruno, or basically any of Sacha Baron Cohen's work, you know the dude has zero issues with filming in his birthday suit... or with doing anything in poor taste, for that matter. So it's no surprise that he expects the same nonchalance about nudity from his co-stars, but one of his famous female scene partners flat-out refused to go nude, despite Borat's badgering.

Rebel Wilson is known for her bawdy, anything-goes brand of humor. As ribald as Rebel is, she does draw the line when it comes to dropping her drawers. She refuses to go nude and has it written into her contract that her clothes stay on. In 2016's The Brothers Grimsby, Wilson played the girlfriend of Cohen's screw-up turned spy character, and one scene called for full-frontal nudity. Despite having a body double — a South African burlesque dancer — Cohen wanted Wilson to be the one to bare all.

"Sacha would go, 'See, she looks good.'" Wilson recalled. "I'm like, 'I'm not doing it. I don't care what you say.'"

Wilson won the battle, not that many people would have seen her naked anyway. The Brothers Grimsby earned an atrocious $25 million total at the worldwide box office, or less than what Borat made in one weekend. 

Ian McKellen is a consummate professional. So when the classically trained British thespian of stage and screen is upset, something's wrong. A widely admired actor for decades, he didn't garner movie star status (and the salary it commanded) until playing Gandalf in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy in the early 2000s. It's no surprise he jumped at the chance to reprise his role in 2012's The Hobbit.

As they say, be careful what you wish for (especially if you're a wizard). While the filmmakers had employed an in-camera technique known as "forced perspective" to make Gandalf larger than the hobbits in LotR, for The Hobbit they used a green screen. McKellen, who delights in performing with other actors, was now by himself in a sea of green. "It's not what I do for a living," McKellen said of the experience. "I act with other people, I don't act on my own."

It was pretty soul-crushing, so much so McKellen didn't simply refuse to film a scene — he nearly refused to continue his acting career. Sensing McKellen's misery, Jackson used some magic of his own, convincing him to stay and even staging an impromptu "Gandalf Appreciation Day." It apparently worked.