History Main / WagTheDirector

* HalleBerry became notorious for this, starting with ''Film/{{X-Men}}''. During filming, she refused to wear white contacts that covered her eyes (like in the comics) and wanted more lines/scenes. By shooting time for ''X2'', she [[AcademyAward had more clout]], and used it give herself a bigger part (and more money) in the movie, and lo, here comes her conversations with Nightcrawler and strange use of powers against the missiles. And, ''again'', she demanded even more for the third movie, with rumors flying that she wouldn't even cameo in the film without a huge paycheck.

** In the 1996 adaptation of ''TheIslandOfDoctorMoreau'' Brando did a scene while wearing a champagne bucket as a hat. Everyone was too afraid to tell him to take it off.

* Steve McQueen only accepted to be in ''TheGreatEscape'' on the condition that motorcycle stunts were added in just for him.

* Neal [=McDonaugh=] is a Catholic and as such, refuses to do any sex scenes on any show he appears in, citing his religious beliefs as reason.
A more positive example of this, would be his demand that his character on "Desperate Housewives" be given a redemptive ending (sparing the life of Susan and Mike's kid at the last minute) and ending up in a catatonic state in a mental institute, surrounded by imaginary versions of his dead family. Though this ending did piss off some people behind the scenes (series creator Mark Cherry), as previous attempts by cast members to control their character's storylines were shot down by Cherry.

* Danny Devito is up for pretty much any depraved storyline the writers of "It' Always Sunny in Philadelphia" come up with, but apparently prison rape is the one topic that Devito has declared off-limits.

* ''GrowingPains'' suffered badly from this after Kirk Cameron became a born-again Christian. He started requesting script changes to [[{{Bowdlerise}} make the show more family-friendly]], and he insisted that fellow cast member Julie [=McCullough=] be fired due to her frequent appearances in ''{{Playboy}}''. In 1991, the executive producers had finally had enough of Cameron, and quit the show. It only lasted for one more season.
** In one episode he refused to take part in a scene in which his character wakes up in bed with a strange woman and asks her what her name is -- even though it's immediately revealed that this scene is literally his mother's nightmare.
* Neal [=McDonaugh=] seems to have had a quite ridiculous amount of control over the final fate of his character Dave Williams on ''DesperateHousewives''. After severe fan backlash to the underwhelming season five finale, producer Marc Cherry was quick to point out that [=McDonaugh=] had expressed his discomfort with Dave's actions in the original script, and so it was rewritten to have him redeem himself somewhat and sink into a catatonic state. This didn't make people much happier, as none of the principal actors in the show's previous major story arcs were allowed so much control over their storylines.

** The lightsaber thing is a lot less interesting than "it was in his contract." The actors have always had input in the design of their lightsabers (except when Ewan [=McGregor=] and Hayden Christensen needed theirs to match up with the original trilogy, but only for the final film.) and during the process, Jackson asked if his could be purple.

** The lightsaber thing is a lot less interesting than "it was in his contract." The actors have always had input in the design of their lightsabers (except when Ewan [=McGregor=] and Hayden Christensen needed theirs to match up with the original trilogy) and during the process, Jackson asked if his could be purple.

** Ditto JohnnyDepp, who infamously decided to act like he was drunk the entire movie instead of trying to act like a {{badass}} like the directors wanted. Proving that TropesAreNotBad, the result was the iconic [[PiratesOfTheCaribbean Jack Sparrow]] character.

[[folder:Films -- Live Action]]

* SamuelLJackson reportedly had it in his contract for the ''StarWars'' prequels that his lightsaber be special and different. He became the first Jedi, [[ExpandedUniverse at least in film,]] to have a purple lightsaber. He also stated in numerous interviews prior to ''{{Revenge of the Sith}}'' that he wanted to have a cool on screen death. So Mace gets his hand chopped off, fried by Force lightning, then catapulted out a window to his death.
** The lightsaber thing is a lot less interesting than "it was in his contract." The actors have always had input in the design of their lightsabers (except when Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen needed theirs to match up with the original trilogy) and during the process, Jackson asked if his could be purple.

* This is the entire plot of the Japanese film ''Welcome Back, Mr. [=McDonald=]''. The lead actress of the radio drama requests that her character be made American. This leads to the other actors wanting their rolls changed, then they want plot changes, and pretty soon, the radio drama is nothing like what was originally written. It doesn't help that both the director and the drama's writer are complete pushovers.
* HalleBerry became notorious for this starting with ''Film/{{X-Men}}'', During filming, she refused to wear white contacts that covered her eyes (like in the comics) and wanted more lines/scenes. By shooting time for ''X2'', she [[AcademyAward had more clout]], and used it give herself a bigger part (and more money) in the movie, and lo, here comes her conversations with Nightcrawler and strange use of powers against the missiles. And, ''again'', she demanded even more for the third movie, with rumors flying that she wouldn't even cameo in the film without a huge paycheck.

** He showed up for the filming of ApocalypseNow drunk and fat, though Coppola had been specified a wiry, muscular character. He hadn't read the book upon which it was based, instead insisting that Coppola ''read it to him'' on the set. He demanded changes to the script, and only allowed himself to be filmed in shadows. All this '''after''' receiving his $1 million advance.

** It wasn't just after ''The Godfather'', he was a hassle. He spent the studio's money on parties during the making of Mutiny on the Bounty.

** Here is a reference on the site "books suck and Edward's a freak": http://impishidea.com/criticism/13/robert-pattinson-too-smart-for-twilight
* Sean Bean in ''Fellowship of the Ring,'' where he insisted on his death-scene being true to the Boromir's actual death in the book.
** Which, considering that Peter Jackson USUALLY tried to stick to the books as much as possible while still making decent movies probably wasn't too great a stretch.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

* The ''HomestarRunner'' short [[http://www.homestarrunner.com/ccdo6.html "The Next Epi-Snowed!"]] parodies this phenomenon. Crack Stuntman, the voice actor for Gunhaver from the ''Cheat Commandos'' ShowWithinAShow, disrupts recording by making a series of increasingly ridiculous demands.

* Kirk Cameron's director-wagging, which began during the taping of ''GrowingPains'' (see below), did not end with the show. In ''LeftBehind: Tribulation Force'', there's a scene which has Buck Williams (Kirk's character) and Rayford Steele confronting a friend of the latter who didn't want to hear what the Antichrist planned to do. Cameron (who by that point had just teamed up with Ray Comfort's "The Way of the Master" ministry) manages to combine this with a BigLippedAlligatorMoment when he suddenly throws in this random string of questions related to the 10 Commandments.

* SamuelLJackson reportedly had it in his contract for the ''StarWars'' prequels that his lightsaber be special and different. He became the first Jedi, [[ExpandedUniverse at least in film,]] to have a purple lightsaber. He also stated in numerous interviews prior to ''{{Revenge of the Sith}}'' that he wanted to have a cool on screen death. So Mace gets his hand chopped off, fried by Force lightning, then catapulted out a window to his death.

* Sam Worthington caused a massive number of script changes to ''{{Clash of the Titans}}''. [[http://chud.com/articles/articles/23299/1/BY-ZEUS-THE-VERSION-OF-CLASH-OF-THE-TITANS-YOU-DIDN039T-SEE/Page1.html The old script stayed relatively true to mythology and its modern interpretations, as well as having more gods, more consistent characters, and a less schizophrenic plot.]] Worthington wanted a movie that could appeal to his nephew, and he was running off the high from ''{{Avatar}}'', allowing him to overturn much of what David Leterrier wanted. It's uncertain if the original cut will ever be made truly available.

** Ditto Depp, who infamously decided to act like he was drunk the entire movie instead of trying to act like a {{badass}} like the directors wanted. The result was the iconic [[PiratesOfTheCaribbean Jack Sparrow]] character.
* Robert Pattinson does this in ''{{Twilight}}'', having said he purposefully attempted to portray Edward as a creepy, obsessed nutjob and... giving fans exactly what they wanted, it seems. Pattinson absolutely hates everything about the franchise, explicitly stating in interviews that he thinks that the books are stupid and so are the fans. He only auditioned for the movie so he could have a chance to hit on Kristen Stewart, which is actually pretty appropriate for the character he played.

* There were a few lines in ''StarTrekVI'' that Nichelle Nichols refused to say, given their racist nature (said about Klingons in the movie but could easily have applied to African Americans). Some were cut, others were given to other characters. She also disagreed with the scene about needing to race through books to find the translation for Klingon, stating that as the Communications Officer she should be able to speak Klingon. She was overruled. And William Shatner ''tried'' it when it came to the line "Let [the Klingons] die." Every take, he followed it up with "I didn't mean that." So the director just cut over to Spock after he delivers the first line (Shatner can be seen starting a "I take that back" motion before the cut).

Note that this situation is actually an ''improvement'' on how things worked for a while in Hollywood. After the final collapse of the studio star system in the late 60's, if an actor didn't like how the director was doing their job, it completely possible for the star to get the director fired, then take over director's job themselves for the remainder of the shoot. This practice was officially stopped in 1976, after ClintEastwood had Philip Kaufman fired from ''TheOutlawJoseyWales'' and took over the film himself -- the Director's Guild subsequently made a rule which stated that whenever a film's director was fired, the replacement was not allowed to have been associated with the production in any way whatsoever. This theoretically safeguards directors from overly egotistical actors, although there are, of course, ways around it.

* SamuelLJackson reportedly had it in his contract for the ''StarWars'' prequels that his lightsaber be special and different. He became the first Jedi to have a purple lightsaber. He also stated in numerous interviews prior to ''{{Revenge of the Sith}}'' that he wanted to have a cool on screen death. So Mace gets his hand chopped off, fried by Force lightning, then catapulted out a window to his death.
** Considering Jackson all but begged Lucas to put him in a ''StarWars'' movie, this was most likely just Lucas invoking {{Rule of Cool}}.
** Windu was not the first Jedi to have a purple lightsaber, merely the first on film to have one. There were several purple sabers in the expanded universe, and the 1996 Shadows of the Empire toyline even featured a purple saber on the packaging.

** [[AuthorsSavingThrow For the better.]] Marcus was originally [[MarySue planned to hijack John Connor's role]] as TheMessiah, in a scene that focus groups absolutely went apeshit about. The replacement for that scene was a [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome Dark Knight Ending]]. No, I'm not spoiling it here.
*** YourMileageMayVary. Many viewers feel the revised ending is tacked-on and completely unnecessary, and would welcome the original alternative. Problem is, for every one person who would be "okay" with the original ending, there's another one who would just go completely and totally batshit.
*** Who cares? It was a terrible movie anyway.

*** Travolta is by all accounts proud of it, possibly just for getting it made ''at all'' after more than a decade of attempts.

** Edward Norton ''rewrote'' ''Film/TheIncredibleHulk.'' Supposedly. Although considering the subject matter (and how well the movie turned out) that's [[OneOfUs really cool]].

** And, of course, [[TropesAreNotBad since he was Orson Welles]], this led directly to the [[TheThirdMan Cuckoo Clock Speech]] and ''CardinalWolsey''.

** It wasn't just after ''The Godfather'', he was always erratic and e.g. spent the studio's money on parties during the making of Mutiny on the Bounty.

* If this troper's info is right, Sam Worthington caused a massive number of script changes to ''{{Clash of the Titans}}''. [[http://chud.com/articles/articles/23299/1/BY-ZEUS-THE-VERSION-OF-CLASH-OF-THE-TITANS-YOU-DIDN039T-SEE/Page1.html The old script stayed relatively true to mythology and its modern interpretations, as well as having more gods, more consistent characters, and a less schizophrenic plot.]] Worthington wanted a movie that could appeal to his nephew, and he was running off the high from ''{{Avatar}}'', which meant that he overturned much of what David Leterrier wanted. It's uncertain if the original cut will ever be made really available.

* Rumor has it that Keira Knightley introduced feminism into ''{{Pirates of the Caribbean}}''[='=]s Elizabeth Swann, making her a far more capable and interesting character. Presumably, the character had previously been something in the vein of a cookie cutter love interest. I suppose that makes this Actor Revolt.
** Though she still couldn't get away from post-production upgrade of her A cup to a C.
** "Far more capable and interesting"? A common complaint about the later two movies is [[TheWesley the shoe-horning of her presence into the plot]].

*** [[MemeticMutation And nothing of value was lost.]]

** And by all accounts, [[BatmanGambit it seems to have worked]].
*** Now let's see if it [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor ends up being worth it]]

* A pretty dark example of director wagging took place on the set of ''[[{{Blade}} Blade Trinity]]'' if writer [[http://efilmcritic.com/feature.php?feature=1451 Chris Parry]] is to be believed. Wesley Snipes didn't like the Director (David Goyer, who wrote the first two ''{{Blade}}'' movies and co-wrote ''BatmanBegins''), and decided to do the least amount of work imaginable in response. He was only on set when a shot required him to face the camera directly (his stunt double had to fill in the rest of the time) and seemed to go out of his way to be a dick to everyone involved when he could be bothered to show up. This technically qualifies as ExecutiveMeddling, as Snipes was one of the film's Executive Producers.

** Having seen that episode very recently, I'm a little suspicious of these claims. In fact, of the rapidly aging characters, Kirk is the ''only'' one whose hairline recedes; [=McCoy=] looks half-dead and slightly purple-skinned, but his head is as full of hair as ever, and Spock suffers very little effect due to Vulcan longevity. In fact, Kirk actually suffers the WORST of all the ones affected -- he gets arthritis, and memory loss caused by senility, of which he is constantly criticized and even stripped of command after a competency hearing.
** Speaking of Shatner, he was quite reluctant to do the "getting old" theme in ''StarTrekII''. He was eventually talked into it, but did get his wish that they not include a line which mentioned how old Kirk was.
** According to Leonard Nimoy in ''I Am Spock'', Kirk turns 50 in the movie.

->''"Two takes? No, no no no. I don't... '''do''' two takes. '''Amateurs''' like you do two takes. Print it, I'll be in my three story trailer."''
-->- '''Calculon''', ''{{Futurama}}''

Compare ExecutiveMeddling, ProtectionFromEditors. Contrast PrimaDonnaDirector.

* [[IAmSpartacus Kirk Douglas]] got rid of the first director for ''{{Spartacus}}'' and brought in (then-)little-known StanleyKubrick. Though directing the film made Kubrick famous, he later claimed that almost everything was really controlled by Kirk Douglas. It might have helped that, in addition to the lead, Douglas was also the producer. It's worth noting that the two of them were very good friends, Stanley did it as a favor to Douglas.

** Considering Jackson all but begged Lucas to put him in a ''StarWars'' movie, this was most likely just Lucas invoking RuleOfCool.

** Having seen that episode very recently, I'm a little suspicious of these claims. In fact, of the rapidly aging characters, Kirk is the ''only'' one whose hairline recedes; [=McCoy=] looks half-dead and slightly purple-skinned, but his head is as full of hair as ever, and Spock suffers very little effect due to Vulcan longevity. In fact, Kirk actually suffers the WORST of all the ones affected--he gets arthritis, and memory loss caused by senility, of which he is constantly criticized and even stripped of command after a competency hearing.

Note that this situation is actually an ''improvement'' on how things used to work in Hollywood. Until the 1970s, if an actor didn't like how the director was doing their job, it wasn't at all uncommon for them to get the director fired, then take over director's job themselves for the remainder of the shoot. This practice was officially stopped in 1976, after ClintEastwood had Philip Kaufman fired from ''TheOutlawJoseyWales'' and took over the film himself -- the Director's Guild subsequently made a rule which stated that whenever a film's director was fired, the replacement was not allowed to have been associated with the production in any way whatsoever. This theoretically safeguards directors from overly egotistical actors, although there are of course ways around it.

*** YourMileageMayVary. Many viewers feel the revised ending is tacked-on and completely unnecessary, and would welcome the original alternative.

!!Examples:

[[folder: {{Film}}]]

* Crispin Glover tried to do this in ''BackToTheFuture'', but didn't have enough enough sway to get away with it. His "unreasonable demands" for the sequels may have been creative control, but this cannot be proven. Just as likely would be a payday equal to MichaelJFox's, despite being a tertiary character.

* SamuelLJackson reportedly had it in his contract for the ''StarWars'' prequels that his lightsaber be special and different. He became the first Jedi to have a purple lightsaber. He also stated in numerous interviews prior to ''RevengeOfTheSith'' that he wanted to have a cool on screen death. So Mace gets his hand chopped off, fried by Force lightning, then catapulted out a window to his death.

** It wasn't just after the Godfather, he was always erratic and e.g. spent the studio's money on parties during the making of Mutiny on the Bounty.

* If this troper's info is right, Sam Worthington caused a massive number of script changes to ''ClashOfTheTitans''. [[http://chud.com/articles/articles/23299/1/BY-ZEUS-THE-VERSION-OF-CLASH-OF-THE-TITANS-YOU-DIDN039T-SEE/Page1.html The old script stayed relatively true to mythology and its modern interpretations, as well as having more gods, more consistent characters, and a less schizophrenic plot.]] Worthington wanted a movie that could appeal to his nephew, and he was running off the high from ''{{Avatar}}'', which meant that he overturned much of what David Leterrier wanted. It's uncertain if the original cut will ever be made really available.

* Rumor has it that Keira Knightley introduced feminism into ''PiratesOfTheCaribbean''[='=]s Elizabeth Swann, making her a far more capable and interesting character. Presumably, the character had previously been something in the vein of a cookie cutter love interest. I suppose that makes this Actor Revolt.

** I find that hard to believe. Proof?
*** Here ya go on the "books suck and Edward's a freak": http://impishidea.com/criticism/13/robert-pattinson-too-smart-for-twilight

[[folder: LiveActionTV]]

* Neal [=McDonaugh=] seems to have had a quite ridiculous amount of control over the final fate of his character Dave Williams on {{Desperate Housewives}}. After severe fan backlash to the underwhelming season five finale, producer Marc Cherry was quick to point out that [=McDonaugh=] had expressed his discomfort with Dave's actions in the original script, and so it was rewritten to have him redeem himself somewhat and sink into a catatonic state. This didn't make people much happier, as none of the principal actors in the show's previous major story arcs were allowed so much control over their storylines.

[[folder:WebAnimation]]

[[folder:Advertising]]
* Parodied with a Sprint theatre ad (part of the "Please Turn Off Your Cellphones" adverts) where a chimpanzee actor and his agents argued with a negotiating agency for a bigger slice of the film (eventually culminating in him controlling the soundtrack, which consists of slapping a keyboard).
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Anime and Manga]]
* Shouichi Eri, superstar manga artist and friendly rival to the main characters of ''{{Bakuman}}'', refuses to work for Shonen Jump early on the in the series, except on one condition: they must let him cancel any one series of his choosing. Amazingly, the editors agree; as of this writing, he has yet to exercise this power.
** Some fans have suggested this is really his way out in case he [[ExecutiveMeddling loses creative control of his series.]]
[[/folder]]

<<|CreativityLeash|>>
<<|ShowBusiness|>>

* AlfredHitchcock was known for taking few to no suggestions from his actors. He was even once quoted as saying "Actors are cattle" (and later [[http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/alfredhitc102099.html retracted it]]). Perhaps slightly more famous is his quote towards Ingrid Bergman- Bergman didn't want to play her character the way Hitchcock wanted on one particular day of acting, saying that she couldn't output what he wanted. His only response to her demands was "[If you can't do it,] Fake it."
** Actor ClaudeRains tells a story about how, during the filming of ''{{Notorious}}'', Rains approached Hitchcock with an idea or two about an upcoming scene. When Rains broached the subject, Hitchcock yelled out to his crew, "Quiet, everyone! An ''actor'' is ''thinking''."
** When one actress asked Hitchcock what her character's motivation was, his response was "Your paycheck."

* In the ''StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' episode "The Deadly Years," when Kirk is suffering from rapid aging, his hairline is inconsistent, and actually seems to return as he gets older; he never looks as bad as the other characters who are aging. Even when the plot demanded it, Shatner refused to be shown as bald or old, OrSoIHeard.

*''OrsonWelles'' did this a ''lot''. No matter how [[OneSceneWonder small]] or [[ClassicallyTrainedExtra insignificant]] his role was (and what his [[MoneyDearBoy motives]] were for taking the part), he always rewrote his lines, and in some cases even insisted on directing his own scenes.

* Kirk Cameron's director-wagging, which began during the taping of GrowingPains, did not end with the show. In {{LeftBehind}}: Tribulation Force, there's a scene which has Buck Williams (Kirk's character) and Rayford Steele confronting a friend of the latter who didn't want to hear what the Antichrist planned to do. Cameron (who by that point had just teamed up with Ray Comfort's "The Way of the Master" ministry) manages to combine this with a BigLippedAlligatorMoment when he suddenly throws in this random string of questions related to the 10 Commandments.

* ''GrowingPains'' suffered badly from this after Kirk Cameron became a born-again Christian. He started requesting script changes to make the show more family-friendly, and he insisted that fellow cast member Julie [=McCullough=] be fired due to her frequent appearances in ''{{Playboy}}''. In 1991, the executive producers had finally had enough of Cameron, and quit the show. It only lasted for one more season.

* Parodied with a Sprint theatre ad (part of the "Please Turn Off Your Cellphones" adverts) where a chimpanzee actor and his agents argued with a negotiating agency for a bigger slice of the film (eventually culminating in him controlling the soundtrack, which consists of slapping a keyboard)