Even Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson can't handle the pressure sometimes...
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00:00 So the life of a movie star is often viewed as glamorous and enviable. Riches, exotic locations,
00:06 fame and adoration. All that stuff is certainly nothing to sneeze at, right? But at the same time,
00:11 there can also be a much darker side to this lifestyle. Some actors, from child stars to
00:16 seasoned veterans, just can't handle the pressure and will begin to veer off the rails, their money
00:21 and adulation just blowing up in their face. Even putting those extreme cases to one side,
00:26 actors of all levels can feel nervousness and uncertainty or self-doubt and fear. Like everybody
00:31 else, they can sometimes have confidence or esteem issues and occasionally can be unsure that what
00:36 they're doing is the right thing for them. And these feelings have led actors to seriously
00:40 consider quitting some rather famous movies, from a wizarding world icon getting cold feet
00:45 in the middle of the franchise, to an entire superhero team confronting their director
00:50 and threatening to bail. Of course, they ultimately didn't quit in the end, but for a moment,
00:54 these stars were deadly serious about throwing in the towel. So let's take a look at them as
00:58 I'm Jules, this is WhatCulture.com, and these are 10 actors who threatened to quit famous movies.
01:03 10. Mark Ruffalo - 13 going on 30
01:07 One of the reasons that actors get paid the big bucks is because they often have to do things
01:11 that are extremely uncomfortable, like dangerous stunts, sex scenes, horse riding, and almost
01:16 getting your nipple waxed off, you know, that sort of thing. In Mark Ruffalo's case, that discomfort
01:20 revolved around the dance scenes in his 2004 rom-com 13 Going on 30, which almost made him
01:26 quit the film entirely. According to co-star Jennifer Garner, "Ruffalo felt like a bit of an
01:31 idiot during the rehearsals for a dance scene that was set to Michael Jackson's thriller,
01:35 mainly because the people he was dancing with were far more experienced than he was. This,
01:39 understandably, wasn't a nice situation to be in, and Ruffalo contemplated dropping out as a result."
01:45 On the plus side, it all turned out great in the end. That dance scene is one of the
01:48 most memorable moments in the movie, and Ruffalo's career has been absolutely smashing it ever since.
01:54 9. Kellan Lutz - The Twilight Saga
01:57 When we think about movie stars, we often think of the red carpet premieres, the huge paychecks,
02:02 the glitz, the glamour, and all-around fabulous lifestyle. What we don't think about are the
02:06 cold winter nights on set, where actors will often have to sit around doing nothing,
02:11 waiting for the crew to prepare the next shot. It was this waiting around that almost made Kellan
02:15 Lutz walk out of the Twilight Saga during the production of the two-part final chapter,
02:20 with the actor recently revealing that he grew extremely frustrated with that part of the process,
02:25 which, in turn, caused his passion for the job to diminish.
02:28 He said, "I almost didn't do the Breaking Dawn movies because I was like, 'Guys,
02:32 mentally I need to be doing something,' and it was draining. I only have one life,
02:35 and if I only lived to be 30, I just spent a couple of months waiting on set. My agent was
02:40 like, 'But all the money you're making?' And I'm like, 'You can't take it with you. I really don't
02:44 care about money. I've worked enough. I'm grateful we did the movies, but it got to the point where
02:48 my passion, the twinkle in my eye, wasn't there anymore." Now, it is easy for somebody who's
02:53 making a lot of money to say, "I don't care about money," but his comments are nonetheless
02:57 a refreshingly candid take on some of the downsides of the Hollywood game. And in the end,
03:01 he did appear in all five Twilight movies, so clearly he mustered enough willpower to
03:05 see the franchise through. Either that, or he just phoned it in like the rest of them.
03:09 8. Evangeline Lilly - Ant-Man
03:12 Ant-Man made its way to cinemas in 2015, as the final film in Phase 2 of the Marvel Cinematic
03:18 Universe. But not before it endured a rather tumultuous production cycle that saw original
03:22 director Edgar Wright replaced with Peyton Reed. Wright, of Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and Scott
03:27 Pilgrim vs. The World fame, did a lot of pre-production work on the film before exiting
03:32 in May 2014 due to "creative differences", leaving Marvel Studios little time to right the ship for
03:37 that aforementioned 2015 release. As you can imagine, there was a lot of pressure on everyone's
03:42 shoulders, and there were lots of mixed emotions, with lead actress Evangeline Lilly even considering
03:47 leaving the project with Wright initially believing his exit to be an injustice. Considering that it
03:52 was Wright who cast her in the film, it's understandable why she felt that way. But
03:56 after several lengthy creative discussions, she ultimately decided to stick around for
04:00 Reed's own take on the material. 7. Paul Savino - Goodfellas
04:05 Few actors would turn down the opportunity to appear in a Martin Scorsese movie. And even less
04:10 than that would sign up for one, do four weeks of pre-production, then quit three days before
04:14 shooting was scheduled to begin. But that was the position that Paul Savino found himself in while
04:19 working on Scorsese's 1990 crime epic Goodfellas, with the actor finding it difficult to bring out
04:24 his character's aggressive, brutish nature, which gave him cold feet. At a film festival in 2015,
04:30 Savino stated that portraying Thug Paulie was "so far from me. I'm a poet, I'm an opera singer,
04:35 I'm an author. None of it's gangster." So he called his manager and asked for him to be released
04:39 from the movie. But when he found the character after noticing his own stern expression in the
04:44 mirror, he decided to continue with the project. Now, Goodfellas is widely considered one of
04:48 Scorsese's best movies and one of the greatest achievements in cinema. It was also nominated for
04:52 six Oscars, including Best Picture. So yeah, he was probably quite relieved that he didn't jump ship.
04:58 6. Emma Watson - Harry Potter
05:00 We often forget how difficult it must have been for the young stars of Harry Potter to spend
05:05 10 of the most important years of their lives working under that glaring Hollywood spotlight.
05:09 And it really isn't a surprise that the pressure was too much for them at some points. In fact,
05:13 there was even a time where Emma Watson was seriously considering quitting the role of
05:17 Hermione Granger, as revealed during the recent Potter reunion special. According to director
05:22 David Yates, who was at the helm of the franchise from The Order of the Phoenix onwards, and has
05:25 also made all three Fantastic Beasts films, it was the fifth movie where Watson wasn't sure whether
05:30 she wanted to come back. Watson herself added that Order of the Phoenix was where things started to
05:35 get spicy. "I think I was scared," with co-star Rupert Grint also claiming that he had similar
05:40 moments of doubt all the way through the series. Again, it isn't surprising that such young kids
05:45 found this arduous 10-year process difficult, so full credit to them for finding the strength
05:49 to see it through. 5. The Entire Cast - X-Men 2
05:54 The 2000 X-Men movie and its 2003 sequel were instrumental in propelling the comic book movie
05:59 genre to the heights that we see it today. But they were reportedly a pain in the ass to make.
06:04 In a retrospective about the many bits of drama behind those original X-Men movies,
06:08 The Hollywood Reporter detailed a troubling incident that occurred during the production
06:12 of X-Men 2, wherein director Bryan Singer became incapacitated after taking a narcotic,
06:18 which a couple of the crew members also took. Naturally, there were concerns that somebody
06:22 could be injured if Singer continued to work while under the influence, and that's exactly what
06:26 happened when star Hugh Jackman was left bleeding after a stunt went wrong. This prompted producer
06:32 Ralph Winter to halt production, but bizarrely, the studio then appeared to side with Singer,
06:37 essentially telling executive producer Tom DeSanto, who was on set during all of this commotion,
06:41 to get out of Singer's way. Enter the majority of the movie's main cast members, who confronted
06:46 Singer while dressed in their full X-Men costumes, and threatened to quit the film if DeSanto was
06:51 removed. Singer's reps deny that this happened, but showing up at your boss' trailer in black
06:56 spandex is certainly a good way to make your voice heard.
06:59 4. Nicole Kidman – The Others
07:02 Actors often have to jump between movies with wildly different tones. One week,
07:06 you could be doing some voiceover work for a family animation, and the next,
07:09 you could be filming a bloodthirsty death scene in an R-rated slasher flick. It was this tonal
07:14 whiplash that gave Nicole Kidman second thoughts about appearing in her 2001 horror film The
07:19 Others, with the actress finding it difficult to transition from the colourful and upbeat Moulin
07:23 Rouge to the dark and disturbing psychological thriller, which takes place almost entirely
07:28 inside a creepy old house. She said, "When I got there and was just about to start rehearsals,
07:32 I really didn't want to do it. My whole being, my whole psyche was rejecting it,
07:36 and I was desperate to try and get out of it. I begged them to let me out. All I wanted to do was
07:40 make love stories and musicals and be happy." Spoiler alert for a 20-year-old movie, but
07:45 considering that The Others involves Kidman's character murdering her own children by suffocating
07:49 them with a pillow, it's not hard to understand why she couldn't enter that headspace easily.
07:54 3. Chris Hemsworth - Ghostbusters (2016)
07:58 Chris Hemsworth received a ton of praise for his fun performance in the 2016 reboot of Ghostbusters,
08:03 but the actor himself was terrified that he just wouldn't be any good. The role of hunky receptionist
08:08 Kevin required a lot of on-screen improvisation, primarily because the script didn't flesh the
08:13 character out at all. Naturally, this was a major concern for Hemsworth, who touched base with the
08:18 director and was promised that Kevin would be written up before shooting officially began,
08:22 but that didn't happen. Nervous at the prospect of having to build his character on the fly,
08:26 Hemsworth then strongly considered pulling out of the project the night before production started,
08:30 but was convinced at the last minute. Hemsworth later told Variety, "I had no real plan and I
08:36 just felt ridiculous, so I just used that." So his lack of preparation actually helped him in the end.
08:41 2. Dave Bautista - Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
08:44 Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is the only movie on this list that actually hasn't come out yet,
08:49 and that's because production has been plagued with setbacks. Initially set for 2020,
08:53 the movie was delayed when writer-director James Gunn was fired in 2018, but then when he was
08:58 rehired in 2019, he signed a deal to direct The Suicide Squad, which pushed back Vol. 3 even
09:04 further. Fortunately, though, the movie finally started shooting in 2021, so everything kind of
09:09 worked out in the end. But during that time when Gunn was fired and everything was up in the air,
09:13 certain cast members, namely Dave Bautista, weren't too chuffed with Disney in the least,
09:17 and even threatened to quit the film if Gunn's script wasn't used. He said, "Where I'm at right
09:22 now is that if Marvel don't use that script, then I'm going to ask them to release me from my
09:26 contract, cut me out, or recast me. I'd be doing James a disservice if I didn't." Bautista was by
09:31 far the most outspoken cast member in the wake of Gunn's firing, even accusing Disney of empowering
09:36 a smear campaign by cyber-Nazis. Jeez, Dave, come on, tell us how you really feel.
09:40 1. Dwayne Johnson - Pain and Gain
09:44 Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson doesn't seem like the type of guy to throw in the towel on
09:48 anything he does, and yet, according to director Michael Bay, the star came surprisingly close to
09:53 quitting his 2013 movie Pain and Gain. In fact, Bay claims that Johnson did actually quit the
09:58 project roughly one week before shooting was scheduled to begin, forcing Bay to give him a
10:03 pep talk to bring him back on board. He told Johnson, "You are my secret weapon," and assured
10:08 him that the movie would be worth his time. He said, "He literally quit the week before, and he
10:12 goes, 'I can't do this.' And I'm like, 'Dwayne, you are my secret weapon on this movie.' And I
10:16 wrote him this long letter of all the actors I worked with who said that they were scared to
10:20 do something and how it turned out. And he goes, 'Okay, okay, all right.'" Though joining a Michael
10:25 Bay movie is something of a gamble in terms of the final product's quality - I mean, for every
10:29 Armageddon, there's also a Transformers 2 - Johnson's gamble definitely paid off here. Not
10:34 only is Pain and Gain one of the better Bay movies, it's also one of the best performances
10:38 of Johnson's career. And there we go, my friends. Those were 10 actors who threatened to quit
10:42 famous movies. I hope that you enjoyed that, and please let me know what you thought about it down
10:45 in the comments section below. As always, I've been Jules, you can go follow me over on Twitter
10:49 @RetroJWithA0, or you can swing by Liv and Let's Dice, where I do all of my streaming outside of
10:54 work, and it'd be great to see you over there. But before I go, I just want to say one thing.
10:58 Hope that you are treating yourself with love and respect, my friend, because you deserve all
11:02 of the best things in life, like love, happiness, and success. And I don't want anything or anyone
11:07 else to tell you otherwise, all right? You're a massive ledge. Now go out there and absolutely
11:11 smash it today. As always, I've been Jules, you have been awesome. Never forget that,
11:16 and I'll speak to you soon. Bye.