Actors Who Nearly Walked Off The Set Because Of Bad Writing
Quality of writing can make or break a film or television show. It's what an actor or actress has to work with when he or she takes on a role. So it's understandable that performers would threaten quitting if they felt scripts could be better in some way. And that's why the fine following people threatened just that.
Jon Stewart - The Daily Show
Believe it or not, Jon Stewart's historic run on The Daily Show almost didn't happen due to poor writing, and some not-too-pleasant writers to boot. In a sit-down interview with Stephen Colbert at a fundraiser for the Montclair Film Festival in 2012, Stewart said that he had spoken with people in charge at Comedy Central about the direction he wanted to take the show in once he took it over from original host Craig Kilborn. But what he did not realize was that, in Stewart's own words, "a lot of the people who worked there were a*******." When he got there, he met some strong resistance from the writers and producers, who told him not to change any of the jokes or improvise. Stewart wanted out, but his agent talked him back into it. And after about two-and-a-half years, he was able to take The Daily Show in its proper direction. We're glad he hung in there.
Chevy Chase - Community
Chevy Chase's displeasure with the show Community and its creator Dan Harmon is fairly well-known to fans of the show. Chase repeatedly voiced complaints over the show's writing and the direction of his character, Pierce Hawthorne. But the circumstances of him finally walking off the set are kind of bizarre. In an interview with A.V.Club, Harmon said that Chase was unhappy with a heart-warming moment in the original script for the season three episode "Digital Estate Planning," in which Chase's character reconciles with his father Cornelius. According to Harmon, Chase thought that the script wasn't funny and said that he had "a weird relationship with the name Cornelius," which is a story we'd like to hear in and of itself. After all that, Harmon and company stopped looking at Chase's threats to quit as actual threats and saw them more like offers, which they took him up on. Now Chase is back out there chasing after work.
Wendell Pierce - The Wire
HBO's go-to actor Wendell Pierce almost quit the highly acclaimed series The Wire. According to Indiewire, during the show's fourth season, which is considered one of The Wire's best, Pierce learned that actress Charmaine McPhee, who played Laetitia, had earned a scholarship to Brown University. After hearing this, Pierce felt the show would do better by featuring more stories in which characters achieve something impressive, rather than focus solely on the problems of the inner city. Essentially, he felt that the show could be more of a solution, rather than part of the problem. But after he spoke with some of his co-stars who had felt the same way at one point or another themselves, he re-watched the show and realized that the show said "something essential, something that doesn't get discussed." The cast and crew of most other shows could have taken a cue from them.
Brad Pitt - Interview With The Vampire
It may come as a surprise to some, but Brad Pitt hated making Interview with the Vampire for pretty much every reason an actor could have to hate working on a movie, according to an interview with Entertainment Weekly. He hated working at night for six months, he hated the contact lenses and wig he had to wear, and he hated the pasty makeup. And he wasn't a fan of the writing either. As author Anne Rice adapted her novel into the screenplay, Pitt says that she left out everything interesting about his character, Louis de Pointe du Lac. He felt like all he did in the film was "sit and watch" Tom Cruise. Halfway through filming, Pitt attempted to buy his way out of his contract, but when he learned it'd cost him $40 million, he manned up and finished the movie. It could have been worse though: Cruise could've convinced him to join Scientology.
Michelle Rodriguez - The Fast And The Furious
One of the most popular film franchises ever, The Fast and the Furious almost lost one of its lead actresses very early on. Michelle Rodriguez, one of the franchise's stars, had issues with how her character Letty originally developed in the story. Explaining her feelings to The Daily Beast, Rodriguez said that she found that her character was not only unrealistic, but kind of a "slut" too. In tears, she threatened to quit saying, "I can't do this in front of millions of people." In the end, Rodriguez won her fight, and the series went on to spawn sequel after sequel, and gearheads around the world couldn't have been happier.
Ben Affleck - Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice
Script problems almost caused Ben Affleck to quit a role he'd always hoped he'd play, Batman in the highly anticipated sequel to Man of Steel. According to various sources, in January 2014, rumors spread about Affleck's dissatisfaction with developments in the script. It's understandable that Affleck would be concerned over any comic book movie he got involved with. He did, after all, star in the much maligned 2003 adaptation of Marvel Comics' Daredevil. Of course, this rumor was begun by an unknown blogger, and Affleck himself dismissed the rumor as well. And really, if he was going to walk off the set of a movie, it should have been Gigli. Or Saving Christmas. Or Jersey Girl. Or Reindeer Games...
Alec Baldwin - 30 Rock
Hollywood hothead Alec Baldwin almost quit what is arguably the most likable character he has ever portrayed, NBC executive Jack Donaghy on 30 Rock. Even at its worst, 30 Rock was still better than most other television shows, but that wasn't good enough for Baldwin. Baldwin told Rolling Stone that he felt the fifth season was "weak," and rather than think about what he could do to help the show, he thought "I'm going to get the f*** out of here." Of course, he didn't, and it might have been just another one of his temper tantrums, which he's more known for now than his acting abilities—along with slugging paparazzi, but we can forgive him for that.
Russell Crowe - Robin Hood
Another Hollywood hothead, Russell Crowe nearly quit Robin Hood before filming even began. According to Vulture, the film was originally to be titled Nottingham and had an original twist. In this script, Robin Hood was the villain, and the Sheriff of Nottingham was a hero who had gotten a bad rap over the years, which is a movie we'd have liked to have seen. Despite the script's innovative and fresh take, which got Crowe interested in making the film to begin with, Crowe changed his mind about it, and Universal then hired three different writers and spent millions of dollars to get a script that was to the actor's liking. After a year of rewrites, Crowe was finally entertained, and filming began. It's just too bad he never spotted any problems with The Man with the Iron Fists.