10 Times Actors Refused To Do Reshoots

10. Gene Hackman Was Team Donner On Superman II

The production of Superman II was famously troubled, with original director Richard Donner being fired after roughly 75% of the sequel had already been shot.

His replacement, Richard Lester, ended up reshooting the vast majority of the film in order to attain a directorial credit, though many key crew members opted not to return for reshoots out of loyalty to Donner.

This included Gene Hackman, who played villain Lex Luthor and declined to reshoot his part for Lester. This required the new director to use body and vocal doubles to account for Hackman's absence in many scenes.

All of the footage featuring Hackman included in the movie was shot by Donner, while Lester filmed inserts with the aforementioned doubles where the actor's face wasn't visible.

Considering the obvious creative constraints caused by Hackman's unwillingness to return, Lester did a solid job of concealing it.

However, Donner's own "Donner Cut," finally released over 25 years later in 2006, is the far superior version of the movie, and crucially includes more of Hackman's performance.