10 Pettiest On Set Movie Feuds

Stars behaving badly.

Terminator Salvation Ending
Warner Bros.

The entertainment industry is a collaborative one, and for the most part, the talent on and off screen like to act as though they’re all one big happy collective. No TV show can end without the cast gushing about how their co-stars became a surrogate family for them, and every movie premiere photoshoot is replete with actors, directors, and producers making nice for the cameras.

We’ve all worked with people we don’t get on with, though, and that’s just as true in film and TV. Sometimes you have no option but to knuckle down, think about the greater good, and act like a professional, even if you wouldn’t spend time with your colleagues by choice.

Alternatively, you can chuck all of that mature stuff and engage in a nice, petty, on set beef. We all love to read about these because, frankly, we like to drag the fancy people down to our level. Whether it’s a tiff between two actors, a performer and a director, or a one sided affair (i.e bullying), when these situations are leaked to the press, we lap it up, because at our core, we relish nothing more than a bit of drama.

10. Ben Affleck: Fashionista

Terminator Salvation Ending
20th Century Fox

While Ben Affleck’s comeback had long since been ratified, it was his starring turn in Gone Girl that reminded viewers just how great an actor he can be. As Nick Dunne, husband of the titular missing woman, he was perfectly cast, a man whose innocence you knew to be fact, but with an innate untrustworthiness that kept this thriller fascinating.

And yet, he somehow nearly blew it because he refused to wear a New York Yankees hat. In one scene, Nick attempts to go incognito in an airport, obscuring his face with the peak of a cap. Director David Fincher felt strongly that the headgear in question should sport the Yankees logo.

Affleck, a proud Boston native and Red Sox fan, felt equally strongly that under no circumstances would he rep that particular team, and so production was completely shut down for four days.

The matter was resolved, with Affleck instead wearing a Mets hat, and in the commentary Fincher half-jokingly describes his star as “not...very professional”. Kudos to both for their loyalty to the team/the movie respectively, but if you were funding the movie, you wouldn’t be too amused.

Contributor
Contributor

Yorkshire-based writer of screenplays, essays, and fiction. Big fan of having a laugh. Read more of my stuff @ www.twotownsover.com (if you want!)