Yahoo Lifestyle 11 Times Costars' Working Relationships Were So Fraught, They Reportedly Didn't Want To Appear On Camera Together
There are plenty of costars who don't get along. Sometimes, however, the animosity grows so strong or their working relationships feel so uncomfortable that they refuse to film some — or all — of their scenes together. Other times, rumors of a feud swirl around the reality that they didn't film together, leading to speculation.
Here are 11 costar pairs who allegedly refused to film certain scenes or work together at all and why:
1.While filming The Notebook, the tension between Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams reportedly grew so thick that he demanded another actor read her lines off camera.
In 2014, director Nick Cassavetes told VH1, "Maybe I’m not supposed to tell this story, but they were really not getting along one day on set. Really not. And Ryan came to me, and there’s 150 people standing in this big scene, and he says, ‘Nick come here.’ He’s doing a scene with Rachel, and he says, ‘Would you take her out of here and bring in another actress to read off-camera with me?’
I said, ‘What?’ He says, ‘I can’t. I can’t do it with her. I’m just not getting anything from this.’…[later] we went into a room with a producer; they started screaming and yelling at each other. I walked out … And it got better after that, you know? They had it out…I think Ryan respected her for standing up for her character and Rachel was happy to get that out in the open. The rest of the film wasn’t smooth sailing, but it was smoother sailing."
Of course, Ryan and Rachel famously had an enemies-to-lovers arc IRL. After filming ended, they went on to date for two years.
In 2024, Nick apologized for "spill[ing] the beans."
Watch one of their scenes below:
2.In a since-deleted Instagram post from 2016, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson called some of his male The Fate of the Furious co-stars "chicken shit" and "candy-asses." It led to speculation of a feud between him and Vin Diesel. Then, in 2018, he confirmed that the two didn't film any scenes together.
He told Rolling Stone, "That is correct. We were not in any scenes together.”
Detailing how things unraveled, he said, "Vin and I had a few discussions, including an important face-to-face in my trailer. And what I came to realize is that we have a fundamental difference in philosophies on how we approach moviemaking and collaborating. It took me some time, but I’m grateful for that clarity. Whether we work together again or not.”
In 2021, Vin shared his side, telling Men's Health, "It was a tough character to embody, the Hobbs character. My approach at the time was a lot of tough love to assist in getting that performance where it needed to be. As a producer to say, Okay, we’re going to take Dwayne Johnson, who’s associated with wrestling, and we’re going to force this cinematic world, audience members, to regard his character as someone that they don’t know — Hobbs hits you like a ton of bricks. That’s something that I’m proud of, that aesthetic. That took a lot of work. We had to get there and sometimes, at that time, I could give a lot of tough love. Not Felliniesque, but I would do anything I’d have to do in order to get performances in anything I’m producing.”
Then, in 2023, the actors finally laid their feud to rest, and Dwayne returned to the franchise for Fast X.
He tweeted, "Last summer Vin and I put all the past behind us. We’ll lead with brotherhood and resolve - and always take care of the franchise, characters & FANS that we love."
Watch the trailer below:
3.According to the Los Angeles Times, I Love Trouble costars Julia Roberts and Nick Nolte reportedly had so much trouble getting along that they filmed with stand-ins more often than with each other.
In 1993, Julia told the New York Times, "From the moment I met him, we sort of gave each other a hard time, and naturally, we get on each other's nerves. [He can be] completely charming and very nice, [but] he's also completely disgusting. He's going to hate me for saying this, but he seems go out of his way to repel people. He's a kick."
However, their tension faded as the years went by. In 2022, Nick told Business Insider that he'd never reached out to her, but the hatchet was buried. He said, "I mean, it was absurd what we went through. It was partly my fault and a little bit of hers. Julia got married at the beginning of that film and it was one of those things where I just approached it all wrong."
Here's the trailer:
4.In 2012, Patton Oswalt told The AV Club that, while filming Blade: Trinity, his costar Wesley Snipes "was just fucking crazy in a hilarious way." He said, "[One day] Wesley came down to the set, which he only did for close-ups. Everything else was done by his stand-in. I only did one scene with him."
He also said, "A lot of the lines that Ryan Reynolds has were just a result of Wesley not being there. We would all just think of things for him to say and then cut to Wesley's face, not doing anything because that's all we could get from him. It was kind of funny.
We were like, 'What are the worst jokes and puns that we can say to this guy?' And then it would just be his face going, 'Mmm.' 'Smiles are contagious.' It's so, so dumb. That was an example of a very troubled shoot that we made fun. You have to find a way to make it fun."
In 2020, Wesley denied Patton's version of events. He told the Guardian, "Once again, Mr Oswalt is the authority. Hohoho! Why do people believe this guy's version of this story? Answer me that.
This is part of the challenges that we, as African Americans, face here in America — these microaggressions. The presumption that one white guy can make a statement, and that statement stands as true! Why would people believe his version is true? Because they are predisposed to believing the Black guy is always the problem. And all it takes is one person, Mr. Oswalt, who I really don't know. I can barely remember him on the set, but it's fascinating that his statement alone was enough to make people go, 'Yeah, you know Snipes has got a problem.'"
You can watch a scene where Wesley doesn't appear next to any of his castmates on camera here.
5.In 1987, Mickey Rourke and Robert De Niro costarred in Angel Heart. Then, in 2019, Mickey reportedly told the Italian show Non è la D’Urso that they didn't get along on set. He said that he used to look up to Robert, but then the other actor told him, "I think it's better if we don't talk.”
Mickey said, "Now I don’t look up to him no more; I look through him. I came up from the shit. He doesn’t know that life. I lived that fucking life, so every time I look him in the face I look right through his asshole.”
Mickey also alleged that Robert prevented him from being cast in The Irishman. He said, "Marty Scorsese wanted to meet me for a movie with Al Pacino, Joe Pesci, and Robert De Niro. The casting person told my manager that Robert De Niro said he refused to work with me in a movie." However, Robert's rep denied this.
In a statement, Stan Rosenfield, Robert's representative, said, "According to The Irishman producers, Jane Rosenthal and Emma Tillinger Koskoff, and casting director Ellen Lewis, Mickey Rourke was never asked to be in The Irishman nor was he ever even thought of, discussed or considered to be in the movie."
Then, in a since-deleted Instagram post from 2020, Mickey reportedly said, "Hey Robert De Niro, that’s right i am talking to you, you big fucking crybaby. A friend of mine just recently told me that a few months back you're quoted as saying to newspapers 'Mickey Rourke’s a liar he talks all kind of shit.' Listen Mr.Tough Guy in the movies, you're the 1st person that ever called me a liar and it was in a newspaper. Let me tell you something, you punk ass, when i see you i swear to God on my Grandmother, on my brother and all my dogs, i gonna embarrass you severally 100%. Mickey Rourke, as God is my witness."
Here's one of their Angel Heart scenes:
6.According to Vox, The Good Wife costars Julianna Margulies and Archie Panjabi have been plagued by enduring feud rumors for years. During Archie's last two seasons on the show, the actors never shared a scene. In Season 6, their characters reunited for a final scene, but Archie and Julianna filmed separately. However, Julianna denied the rumors.
At the 2015 New Yorker Festival, Julianna reportedly said, "Right, I’ve heard about [the feud]. Who says that? It’s totally gossip. I heard that question had been asked to [series co-creator] Robert King. There’s no story there, sorry…I actually had heard [that rumor], and I feel that it has been talked about and answered.
I feel people just like to have gossip or make something into something that isn’t there. There’s no animosity on my part. It’s a shame, because I wonder if it was two men, when one finds out that he fucked his best friend’s wife, if it would get that same attention, you know what I mean?"
She also claimed that their final scene was filmed separately because of scheduling conflicts. She said, "It was shot the way Robert wanted to shoot it, and the story line, too. You also have to remember, there’s difficulty…[Archie] was also doing another show, called The Fall. I went along with whatever Robert asked me to do and I did it happily."
However, Archie seemingly disputed Julianna's version of events. Linking out to the Vulture article containing her former costar's quotes, Archie tweeted, "@TheFallTV was not even in production at that time and I was in New York ready to film the scene!"
You can watch their final scene together below:
7.In The Lords of Flatbush, Richard Gere originally starred alongside Sylvester Stallone. However, they "never hit it off." After a disagreement, it was clear they could no longer work together. So, Richard was fired and replaced by Perry King.
Courtesy Everett Collection, Keystone-france / Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images
In a 2006 fan Q&A, Sylvester said, "[Richard] would strut around in his oversized motorcycle jacket like he was the baddest knight at the round table. One day, during an improv, he grabbed me (we were simulating a fight scene) and got a little carried away. I told him in a gentle fashion to lighten up, but he was completely in character and impossible to deal with.
Then we were rehearsing at Coney Island and it was lunchtime, so we decided to take a break, and the only place that was warm was in the backseat of a Toyota. I was eating a hotdog and he climbs in with a half a chicken covered in mustard with grease nearly dripping out of the aluminum wrapper. I said, 'That thing is going to drip all over the place.' He said, 'Don't worry about it.' I said, 'If it gets on my pants, you're gonna know about it.' He proceeds to bite into the chicken and a small, greasy river of mustard lands on my thigh. I elbowed him in the side of the head and basically pushed him out of the car.
The director had to make a choice: one of us had to go, one of us had to stay. Richard was given his walking papers and, to this day, seriously dislikes me. He even thinks I'm the individual responsible for the gerbil rumor. Not true… but that's the rumor."
8.After a horseback riding injury forced Sean Young to drop out of Batman, producer Jon Peters wanted Michelle Pfeiffer to replace her. However, Michael Keaton reportedly blocked her casting as his love interest because they were exes in real life.
In 2019, costar Robert Wuhl told The Hollywood Reporter, "At the time, Michael told me he was trying to get back with his ex-wife. Keaton was firmly, and underline firmly, against that casting of Pfeiffer and he and Peters got into it."
However, Michael changed his tune when Michelle was cast as Catwoman in Batman Returns.
She told Entertainment Tonight, "It was great actually working with him having had a history, because I was really out of my element. Also, the fact that he had done this kind of picture before and I didn't know what to expect.
I felt really comfortable with him. I felt really safe with him. I could go to him and say, 'Why am I feeling so awful? I don't know what's going on.' And he would explain it to me. 'I know. I went through it on the first one.'"
Here's one of their Batman Returns scenes:
9.According to Digital Spy, while filming Four Christmases, Reese Witherspoon reportedly got frustrated with her costar Vince Vaughn because his nonchalant attitude conflicted with her perfectionism. Further reports alleged she refused to film a sex scene that was written in the script. However, Reese denied rumors of a feud, and, in the press, the costars had nothing but kind things to say about each other.
At the movie's premiere, Reese told The Hollywood Reporter, "He's the greatest. And he's so funny, and every day was, like, something new and funny would come out of his mouth. You don't even know where it comes from. It was just so exciting to be with somebody who's just constantly thinking of funny things and really bringing everybody into it, too. So, everybody was being funny."
Vince told ScreenSlam, "Reese takes her work very seriously. She works very hard at her part, and definitely her work matters to her. She's very focused on what she does performance-wise, and she was really easy to play off of."
Watch the trailer below:
10.During a 2024 appearance on the Reign with Josh Smith podcast, Rebecca Ferguson said that she stood up for herself and refused to work with an unnamed "absolute idiot of a costar" who bullied her. She said, "I remember there was a moment and this human being was being so insecure and angry because this person couldn’t get the scenes out. I think I was so vulnerable and uncomfortable that I got screamed at. But because this person was number one on a call sheet, there was no safety net for me. So no one had my back. And I would cry walking off set."
She said that, "in front of the whole crew," this costar would yell things like "You call yourself an actor?” and “This is what I have to work with?"
Rebecca continued, "I looked at this person, and I said, ‘You can F off. I’m gonna work towards a tennis ball. I never want to see you again.'"
Higher ups told her, "You can’t do this to number one. We have to let this person be on set," so, for the rest of the shoot, Rebecca only acted to the back of the other actor's head.
11.And finally, while filming Into the Blue, Jessica Alba refused to work with a particularly scary costar — a wild tiger shark!
Appearing on Hot Ones in 2020, she said, "For some reason, they caught a wild tiger shark and, I don't know, had it in a cage or something in the back of a boat. And they were like, 'It's in this cage, so it's docile. It's not..' And I'm like, 'It's a fucking tiger shark!' And it was, like, a seven-foot tiger shark.
And they're like, 'In this scene, we just want it to, like, go by you guys.' And they're like, 'Alright, get in. 'Cause, you know, in this scene, the shark has to come really close to you.' And I was like, 'I mean, you guys can do this with, A, a double, or B, second unit. And I was on Flipper! We had fucking rubber dolphins! You could do this with a goddamn rubber dolphin. You don't need a real-ass shark in the middle of the fucking ocean with chum in it.' And maybe I lost my mind, and maybe I yelled all of that.
And the director was like, 'You know what, c'mon. Just get in the water. It'll be three seconds. It's fine. Come on, we don't have time. We're losing the light...' And I said, 'Fuck you. Fuck your face. You get in the water.' And then I got on a boat and went back to shore."
Here's one of the shark scenes from the film:
What's the wildest behind-the-scenes costar feud you've ever heard of? Let us know in the comments!
