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I don't mean to paint him as a prima donna (Oh, OK, I actually kind of do, given the frequency with which he apparently stormed off set and his insistence that the past Doctors be relegated firmly to guest star status in The Three Doctors), because the obvious consequence of this would likely have happened to any star in that circumstance. The inherent egoism of being the star is going to bleed into the part. And with Pertwee it rapidly did.
I remember reading news stories about Patrick Stewart being unhappy about the apparently asexual Captain role he had been handed on the show and was going to the lengths of suggesting that he would quit if something wasn’t done about it. So it comes to two episodes in a row where the Captain has become irresistible to women (well Dr Bev and Vash) and he even starts getting his chest out to prove his virility.
"This script is a nice first pass, Mister Spielberg. But I have some notes."
—Drew Magary
on Edward Norton, "The Hater's Guide to the 2015 Oscars"
on Edward Norton, "The Hater's Guide to the 2015 Oscars"Thanks to the contract squabble that delayed Mad Men until 2012, we didn't even get to see Jones in the one thing that justifies her existence. Jones spent 2011 serving as human topiary in the new X-Men movie...and passing every waking hour looking like someone stole her last box of Parliaments.
—Drew Magary, "The 25 Least Influential People of 2011"
, "The 25 Least Influential People of 2011"Listen to Smith talk about Cop Out and Bruce Willis, and you come away with the sense that he doesn't always know how to get the best out of a strong-willed, big-name star; the same is evident here.
Hello John, it's Ron Howard. I'm looking at your contract here, and I know I am 'to honor any and all of Mr. Depp' acting choices even if they are poorly motivated or downright effeminately contrarian,' but can we talk about this? Look, I love Shirley Temple as much as the next guy. And I think I figured out a way you can keep the curly wig, but can we lose the 'good ship lollipop' dress? Please? I'm begging you. I mean, this is The Jonas Salk Story. Also, let me know what you think about those 15 scenes that are all in slow motion with violin music.
At the recent Los Angeles press day, Robert Rodriguez addressed the issue head on by saying that he knew Alba wouldn't go topless, but he wanted the best actress for the part, and that that was more important. Four seats down, Eva Green and Josh Brolin — both of whom bare almost all in this film and others — did an admirable job of not facepalming.
Real Life
"When you hire the Marx Brothers, you get three Assistant Directors."
"One doesn't so much direct a Charles Laughton picture as referee."
"I take direction from one person—under protest. But from two, I don't sit still."
—Orson Welles, Findus Foods Frozen Peas outtakes
"I hear 'stars' talking about 'their pictures,' 'their publics,' 'their this' and 'their that.' Okay — but it's fatal to forget that the author, the dialogue-writer, the director and the cutter are just as important to the finished picture as the star. Whenever a star forgets that and begins to believe his own fan mail, he's on his way out! Why anyone goes 'high-hat' in this business is and always has been a mystery to me."
"I've worked with the greatest directors of all time. Francis Ford Coppola. Monte Hellman. You know why they're great? Because they let me do whatever the fuck I wanted!"
—Harry Dean Stanton to Alex Cox while making Repo Man.
"I've made over a hundred pictures. How many have you made?"
"Richard, actors stand in front of the camera, directors stand behind it. Now go stand behind the camera."
"Willis called the shots like he did on Hawk and like he used to do on Moonlighting. He had scenes rewritten. He did what he wanted to do. We were working with Orson Willis."
—Production Member, Striking Distance
"I love my job, and, with the exception of Kim Basinger, most of the people I work with.”
—Jeffrey Katzenberg
"...there's a strange dichotomy of encouraging us to be fiscally responsible, but then upper management allows certain talent and filmmakers to bleed us dry with their outlandish requests for private jets, wardrobe and grooming stylists — and are surprised when they are asked to work more than 5 hours to promote their film."
—Anonymous employee at Sony Entertainment
employee at Sony EntertainmentEddie Mayoff played a Pentagon general whose passion was laundry. He was more nightclub performer than actor but, in his serene pomposity, a delight onstage. He, too, was hard to work with. Small eyes, aglitter with paranoia, set in a great slab-like face. Whenever he wanted a line changed, he would begin a monologue. "They take out their quarter, see?" He would pantomime a phantom quarter being removed from his pocket. "They put it in the slot, see? They get on the subway." He'd sway back and forth, on the train. "They come downtown. To the Booth Theater. Then they...' He would describe minutely the mind of "they"—the Mayoff fans—who would be outraged or shortchanged if he were to say "and" rather than "but."
—Gore Vidal (on the making of Visit to a Small Planet), Palimpsest
"Someone gave her a salad for lunch and she threw it on the floor. She was watching her weight and said the salad would be better on the floor than in her hand...She allegedly threw mirrors, combs and boxes of hairpins at the staff of the theater. She also pulled gray hairs out of her wig because she wanted to play a younger version of Hepburn than the playwright had written."
—Anonymous stagehand on Faye Dunaway's one woman Broadway show
"I don't think even Tom Stoppard or Harold Pinter could have written a scene that would have satisfied both Tom and Lalla at that point."
—Paul Joyce on directing Doctor Who, "Warrior's Gate"
"I struggled with letting in other people’s opinions. I never let directors talk to me, because I was so spoiled. I started off with people like Miloš Forman, Sidney Lumet, James Lapine, unbelievably gifted people. So there I was saying, 'Don’t talk to me, I don't want your opinion'. I behaved abominably. I don’t care if my work was good or if I got an award for it. I'm not proud of how I was then, and it pained me."
—Mandy Patinkin on his role on Chicago Hope
"I get along with Chevy because I barely work with him and don't have him constantly ruining whole days when I'm there, like he does with the regular cast members. I view him now as a confused old man who can't really hurt me in any way. I understand why the regulars on Community and the full time writers hating him. If he wasted my time as much as much as he wasted their time, I'd hate him, too."
"There’s a part of me that's a Hollywood animal as well. I can’t wait to get into the writer's room and see how we do this. I feel like I'm finally rolling into the next phase of my adulthood."
"I wish the next phase of her adulthood was at the bottom of a volcano" said the writers who have to deal with her when she comes into the writer’s room to share her ~ideas~.
—Michael K., "Katherine Heigl Doesn't Feel Creatively Challenged"
, "Katherine Heigl Doesn't Feel Creatively Challenged""She was awfully full of herself. In 110-degree weather, after two weeks of rehearsal, she'd ask the director, 'What’s my motivation?' and she'd play her goddamn flute till we were ready to strangle her."
—Anonymous Crew Member on Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend, referring to Sean Young
