10 Movie Scenes Actors Refused To Shoot
1. Mahershala Ali Refused To Film A Sex Scene With Taraji P. Henson - The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button
It's fair to say that David Fincher is one of the most demanding, perfectionist filmmakers working today, and generally if it's written on the page, he wants his actors to honour those words and actions to the letter.
Nevertheless, while circling the role of Queenie's (Taraji P. Henson) love interest Tizzy Weathers in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Mahershala Ali had major objections over a scripted sex scene between the characters due to his religious beliefs (being an Ahmadi Muslim).
But Fincher ultimately decided he wanted Ali enough to scrap the sex scene, which in the final film is reduced to the pair simply kissing and falling out of frame, the coitus only implied.
Given that the film was always shooting for a PG-13 rating, though, Fincher clearly never intended to show anything too graphic anyway, perhaps explaining why he was willing to bend on this point.