10 Disgraceful Actor Egos That Ruined Movies

The lost art of humility.

Val Kilmer Batman Forever
Warner Bros.

It pretty much goes without saying that actors are a tad more ego-prone than the average Joe. When the world exalts you at every opportunity it’s easy to let the adoration go to your head, not to mention a rather inflated ego is probably quite useful in protecting actors from all the intrusion and negative attention that also comes with being a big name star.

But some actors out there take it too far, quite frankly, rocking up to film sets and issuing diva-like demands and throwing tantrums and just generally being rather unlikable. In polite Hollywood speak, these actors would be referred to as ‘difficult’ but let’s not beat around the bush here and call them what they really are – absolute pains in very specific anatomical regions.

And sometimes going on like a prima donna bitch can seriously affect the quality of a movie, as is the case with the forthcoming films. Now, that's not necessarily to say that these out of control actor egos are the sole reason these films turned out so poor – indeed, even if their stars had been on their best behaviour they still may have flopped – but they certainly didn’t help.

10. Julia Roberts - Hook

Val Kilmer Batman Forever
Sony Pictures

Sorry to disappoint any Julia Roberts fans out there but it turns out that the image of America’s Sweetheart is in fact wrong. While playing Tinkerbell in Steven Spielberg’s live-action Peter Pan adaptation Hook the actress was reportedly so difficult to work with that the crew nicknamed her ‘Tinkerhell’.

Even after filming wrapped, her diva-like behaviour continued when it came time for legendary movie poster artist Drew Struzan to design Hook’s poster. Despite playing a tiny fairy, Roberts insisted on being the same size as Hook’s leading co-stars Robin Williams and Dustin Hoffman which meant Struzan had to resketch the poster several times just to get her approval. Though she still appeared pretty small in the final product. Take that.

After the ordeal was over, Spielberg stated in a 60 Minutes interview that “It was an unfortunate time for us to work together” and vowed he’d never work with Roberts again – a promise he’s stuck to.

Contributor

Helen Jones hasn't written a bio just yet, but if they had... it would appear here.