A "Star Trek" icon, the guys who played Batman and Joker, and one of the world's biggest superstars. They're all larger-than-life actors who've spent the majority of their lives in front of film and TV cameras â but even they can have an on-set meltdown.
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00:00A Star Trek icon, the guys who played Batman and Joker, and one of the world's biggest
00:05superstars.
00:06They're all larger-than-life actors who've spent the majority of their lives in front
00:10of film and TV cameras, but even they can have an on-set meltdown.
00:14Our journey through these acting breakdowns begins around 1970, in which we find the earliest
00:19recorded instance of an actor losing their cool and storming off set.
00:23And what better person to usher such a trend forward than Orson Welles, the lauded Shakespearean
00:28actor and creator of Citizen Kane is widely considered to be one of the greatest American
00:33filmmakers of all time, and possibly one of the greatest actors, period.
00:37And yes, his final role was infamously as Unicron in Transformers The Movie in 1986.
00:42You underestimate me, Galvatron.
00:46If cinephiles are shocked that such a revered performer spent his final run as an actor
00:50voicing a villain in a children's cartoon would wager that Transformers was far from
00:54the project, he most regrets lending his voice, too.
00:57Welles often lent his recognizable baritone to commercials, but when Swedish frozen food
01:02brand Finders hired him to narrate a trilogy of ads, it was a step too far.
01:06According to his Merchant of Venice co-star Jonathan Lynn, Welles was put off before recording
01:10began, because the ad company asked him to audition.
01:13After allegedly leading them on a literal chase across Europe, he finally got in the
01:17booth to record, only to find the scripts were an affront to his artistic tastes.
01:22Come on, fellas, you're losing your heads.
01:24I wouldn't direct any living actor like this in Shakespeare.
01:27He spitefully bickered with directors over word choice and emphasis before storming out
01:31entirely.
01:33At some point in the 90s or early 2000s, William Shatner was asked to record narration for
01:38a radio commercial, in which he would play himself inviting the listener to step into
01:42the 21st century with him.
01:44After an initial take, the engineer on tape chimes in to ask him for more excitement in
01:48the beginning.
01:49Strangely, the note itself elicits a foreboding laugh from the actor, with the mood only getting
01:54more uncomfortable as the tape rolls.
01:56No, I am going to do it the way you want.
01:59Every paragraph.
02:00Shatner tries another, more excited take that sounds at least half-sarcastic, with him speaking
02:06unnaturally fast with a superficially sentimental tone.
02:10When the engineer starts to speak again, Shatner antagonizes him, then asks him to model how
02:14he'd like the line to sound.
02:16When the engineer obliges after some pressure, Shatner proceeds to mock him during the next
02:21take.
02:22Though he's unsure how, the engineer is clearly aware he overstepped, but Shatner sounds like
02:27he's having too much fun toying with him.
02:29As long as I'm pleasing you, that's all that matters.
02:32He ultimately ends up begging Shatner not to make him read more lines, and apologizes
02:36for offering a note, but Shatner refuses to let up or continue the session as normal.
02:41Perhaps the most well-known entry on this list, Christian Bale's regrettable Terminator
02:46Salvation outburst is sure to remain in the annals of entertainment history.
02:50In the infamous leaked audio clip, the recent star of The Dark Knight can be heard shouting
02:55down director of photography Shane Holbert after he entered Bale's line of sight during
02:59a scene.
03:00Though director Miggy and an associate producer rush in to calm him down, their attempts are
03:04in vain.
03:05Screaming for almost four straight minutes, he berates Holbert for what he feels is unprofessionalism,
03:10questions his ability to work with actors, and insists that he won't return to set until
03:15the offender is fired.
03:16And it was all because seeing a non-Terminator checking the lights pulled him out of character.
03:20Why the fâ are you walking right through, da-da-da-da, like this in the background?
03:25What the fâ is it with you?"
03:27When the audio eventually leaked ahead of the film's release, Bale claimed his inexcusable
03:31behavior was on account of the fact that he was too deep in character.
03:34He said in an interview with the Los Angeles radio station KROQ,
03:37"...I'm half John Connor, I'm half Christian there."
03:40Bale also apologized at length for the tirade.
03:43He insisted that he and Holbert reconciled shortly after the outburst, and that he was
03:47never serious about wanting him fired.
03:49Bale also described himself as hurt that the audio would lead people to believe he thought
03:53he was better than anyone else on set.
03:55To him, that intensity came from a place of caring, perhaps too much, about making the
04:00film as good as possible.
04:02In 2017, Mel B stormed off the set of America's Got Talent after Simon Cowell made an ill
04:07timed joke about her marriage.
04:09After one of the contestants' magic tricks went terribly wrong, Cowell cracked the joke,
04:13"...I'm kind of imagining this would be like Mel B's wedding night."
04:16The former Spice Girl had been going through a very public divorce from Stefan Belafonte.
04:21Mel B rose from her chair, uncovered her drink, and doused Cowell with ice water before walking
04:26away.
04:27In interviews after the episode, her co-host seemed relatively unbothered by the incident,
04:31with Heidi Klum saying that all had to douse Cowell for crossing a line in the past.
04:35Mel B even downplayed it herself, telling the Associated Press,
04:38"...He just said something annoying, so I threw water on him.
04:41Simple as that."
04:43Sometimes on-set freakouts are staged for a prank.
04:46Indeed, actors of every caliber and genre have played this game at some point, including
04:50Joaquin Phoenix.
04:51We know this isn't a genuine on-set meltdown, but just for fun, we're including it anyway.
04:55The moments occur when Phoenix appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! to promote the 2019 thriller
04:59Joker.
05:00During the appearance, Kimmel confronted the actor with behind-the-scenes footage of him
05:04losing his temper on the set of the film.
05:06In the footage, Phoenix gets frustrated at cinematographer Laurence Scher for whispering
05:10while he was trying to prepare for a particularly tense scene.
05:13"...It's not a good joke."
05:14"...You're right, it's not a good joke."
05:18From there, he cursed Scher out.
05:20The whole thing made for a hilarious joke for Kimmel's show.
05:24It wouldn't be a piece about Hollywood meltdowns if there wasn't some mention of director David
05:27O. Russell and his alleged repeated abusive treatment of his peers on and off set.
05:32On the set of the 1999 black comedy Three Kings, he came to physical blows with actor
05:37George Clooney after the former reportedly became fed up with his treatment of a crew
05:41member and his generally abrasive directing style.
05:44Lily Tomlin, who starred in Russell's 2004 comedy I Heart Huckabees, was also driven
05:49to her own on-set breakdown due to the director's intolerable behavior.
05:54In leaked footage from the 2004 film, Tomlin becomes increasingly frustrated by Russell's
05:59constant tweaking of a scene, so much so that she feels she can't keep up with his
06:03demands.
06:04Russell ultimately responded by violently sweeping props off a desk and hurling sexist
06:08slurs at her in a fit of rage.
06:10Tom Cruise needs no introduction as an actor.
06:12The Academy Award nominee's intense love for the art of filmmaking usually translates to
06:17fully committed performances and death-defying stunts.
06:20But like Christian Bale and David O. Russell, that intense passion has spun out of control
06:24on at least one occasion, though Cruise may have been slightly justified in this case.
06:30While filming Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning directly after the COVID-19 pandemic dealt
06:33a blow to the film industry, Cruise was caught on tape shouting at crew members for violating
06:38COVID guidelines put in place by the studio.
06:40Cruise told Empire magazine that he pulled a group of offenders aside and warned them
06:44that they would be fired if they continued to violate the restrictions that allowed them
06:48to keep working during the pandemic.
06:50It's clear that Cruise felt a tremendous amount of pressure to keep the film from being shut
06:55down, both to prevent further delays and to prove to every other studio that the industry
06:59could survive the pandemic.
07:00The actor has since stood by his comments, as they conveyed the magnitude of the responsibility
07:05everyone on set had.
07:07Even the most civilized of Jedi have their breaking point.
07:10Star Wars actor Ewan McGregor found his while attempting to shoot a scene for the Netflix
07:14series Holsten in Central Park.
07:16This New York City cultural hub already presents enough environmental challenges.
07:21From uncontrollable weather and noise levels to its proximity to the general public.
07:25As such, it's likely the team was already fighting an uphill battle that day and was
07:29just hoping to get the shots it needed as quickly and cleanly as possible.
07:33Unfortunately, the cast and crew reached a tiny bump in the road when a photographer
07:37discovered their location and tried to get a closer look at the set.
07:40New York-based photojournalist Steve Sands was apparently trying to engage McGregor between
07:45takes of a scene, but when he said something to the actor as he was walking in the photographer's
07:49direction, McGregor tore into Sands.
07:51The actor used an expletive to demand that Sands stop talking to him.
07:55The moment's audio was recorded and circulated through tabloids at the time, including The
07:59Sun.
08:00Though Sands confirmed the interaction did occur, he seemingly took responsibility for
08:04it and told The Sun he holds nothing against the actor.
08:08Rightly or wrongly, Lindsay Lohan has quite the divisive reputation in Hollywood.
08:12In fact, it's likely her brief altercation on the set of the low-budget 2013 thriller
08:16The Canyons doesn't rank among the most outrageous stories you've heard about her, if you ever
08:21knew about it at all.
08:22You know, I guess maybe it's just not my thing anymore."
08:26But even if it may have gotten lost during one of Lohan's career valleys, there's still
08:30a peak among on-set skirmishes that's hard to actually believe in the first place.
08:34In an audio recording, Lohan becomes frustrated with director Paul Schrader after being asked
08:39to rehearse a scene in which he has no lines.
08:43Immediately perplexed by the idea of having to silently participate, her confusion quickly
08:47turns to anger, which she then takes out on co-star James Dean.
08:50But before Dean can even say or do anything, Lohan snaps at him.
08:54The actor uses an expertive for telling Dean to do his job.
08:57In a later interview with TMZ regarding the incident, Dean didn't seem to have taken anything
09:02she said to heart.
09:03In fact, he thought the whole ordeal was just an amusing behind-the-scenes moment.
09:08When Fox was looking for an actor to succeed Mark Gibson in their television adaptation
09:12of Lethal Weapon, they likely hoped whoever they chose wouldn't emulate Gibson's controversial
09:17side.
09:18Unfortunately for them, that wound up being exactly the case.
09:21Clayne Crawford was ultimately chosen for the role, and as he said on a podcast, his
09:26relationship with the series and his co-star, Damon Wayans, was strange from the start.
09:31Crawford admitted that neither he nor Wayans was enthusiastic about leading the project.
09:35He even said he almost quit after the first season, in part due to Wayans being difficult
09:40to work with.
09:41During production, however, Crawford lost his temper after a long day of shooting, and
09:45was caught on tape screaming at an assistant director.
09:48Crawford wanted the assistant director to get a group of nearby children to stop making
09:51noise during a take.
09:52In the aftermath of the outburst, Crawford said he was asked to give up half his salary
09:56for the episode, and was thereafter warned that the recording could get released and
10:00ruin his career.
10:01All the while, Crawford's relationship with Wayans continued to sour.
10:05Things came to a head when the latter refused to shoot a scene in a church on religious
10:09grounds.
10:10Crawford called Wayans many insulting names, and accused him of only being famous because
10:15of his brothers.
10:16They allegedly wound up fighting outside Wayans' trailer.
10:19A separate incident during an episode Crawford was directing left Wayans with a head wound
10:23from shrapnel.
10:24Crawford was ultimately fired from Lethal Weapon at the end of season two.