Needing a specific smooch, turning down a hairpiece, and more unusual actor demands.
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00:00Putting your foot down when it pertains to the wearing of a specific hairpiece, feeling
00:04the need to put the rest of your castmates through airborne hell for a project, or even
00:09going out of your way to plant a smooch on, um, yourself, all undoubtedly qualify as slightly
00:15to seriously strange recent movie set occurrences.
00:18So with that in mind, I'm Gareth from WhatCulture.com and here are 10 unusual demands made by actors
00:23on recent movies.
00:2510.
00:26Leonardo DiCaprio didn't want the world to see naked Meryl Streep.
00:29The iconic Meryl Streep has more than earned her place among the greats and the respect
00:33of her many colleagues over the years.
00:35However, it was due to the sheer reverence Leonardo DiCaprio had for the record-setting
00:4021-time Academy Award nominee that a rather raunchy and jaw-dropping scene in Adam McKay's
00:45recent end-of-the-world comedy hit Don't Look Up was surprisingly deemed somewhat unnecessary
00:50by the fellow icon.
00:51The Oscar-winning star of the flick went out of his way to push back against the inclusion
00:55of Streep's President Orleans, boasting a lower-back tattoo and strutting around naked
01:00in the film's mid-credits stinger.
01:02Despite the fact that it was actually a body double seen in the scene, Streep was said
01:05to have not even blinked or brought up this being any sort of issue, with the fearless
01:09legend being very much game when it came to playing a character who was ultimately dispatched
01:14in the buff by a Brontorok.
01:169.
01:17Benedict Cumberbatch and Kirsten Dunst refused to speak.
01:20The power of the dog.
01:21Benedict Cumberbatch and Kirsten Dunst's fierce commitment to their roles of Phil Burbank
01:25and Rose Gordon, respectively, in Jane Campion's The Power of the Dog certainly did not go
01:30unnoticed.
01:31And while the same could not have been said for Cumberbatch himself, with the Doctor Strange
01:34actor infamously holding back on showers for a spell, the film's two leading lights actually
01:39went to rather extreme lengths to ensure they didn't catch too many glimpses of one another
01:43over the course of the shoot.
01:45Explaining to NME his reasoning for largely ignoring Dunst's Gordon whilst filming,
01:49Cumberbatch would note,
01:50I didn't want to be really mean to Kirsten, but I needed to stay in character.
01:54So I didn't speak to her on set.
01:56She was the same.
01:57We were the negative to each other's positive.
01:59We were repelled by each other.
02:018.
02:02Nicolas Cage wants to kiss himself.
02:03The unbearable weight of massive talent.
02:05Any film boasting the one and only Nicolas Cage playing a fictionalised version of himself
02:10at the centre of an action-packed comedy tale which focuses on all things Cage was always
02:15destined to be an utterly balmy affair.
02:17And sure enough, with this Nic Cage variant of the man behind the moniker routinely finding
02:21himself at odds with his younger, much more rebellious inner self throughout Tom Gormikin's
02:25flicks.
02:26Coming during a scene involving Cage's on-screen character bickering with his younger, Nicky
02:30self, Gormikin would reveal to IndieWire that the massive talent himself pulled him to one
02:35side before the shooting of the scene and declared,
02:38Guys, I have an idea, I'll French kiss myself.
02:41This being in the peak of the pandemic, the director was tasked with figuring out how
02:44to pull this off without getting anyone sick.
02:47But when Nic Cage requests to plant a smacker on his inner Cage, you get this man a stunt
02:51double.
02:527.
02:53Jared Leto needs a crutch.
02:54Morbius
02:55Jared Leto was at it again when it was time to morb up for his most recent attempt at
02:59making a splash in the super pool.
03:00With the leading vampire tasked with convincingly portraying a character suffering from a rare
03:05blood disease at points in Morbius, on top of refusing to break the character of Dr Michael
03:09Morbius over the course of shooting, Leto was said to have insisted on using fake crutches
03:14to move around set in between takes.
03:16Literally pushed to his limit due to said mode of transport largely delaying his shoot,
03:21director Daniel Espinosa would eventually tell Uproxx that he was forced to get someone
03:25to dump the actor in a wheelchair whenever he required the bathroom as a way of speeding
03:29up the overall process.
03:30Yet all of the committed hobbling in the world couldn't save this mob in time from disaster
03:34on two separate occasions, with Espinosa likely being saved from any further Leto-induced
03:39delays, thanks to the film's deeply underwhelming box office and critical performance.
03:446.
03:45The Rock Doesn't Want a Padded Suit – Black Adam
03:47When the time called for Dwayne Johnson to finally bulldoze his way into the DCEU as
03:51Black Adam, you had to know that the former WWE star would again put his everything into
03:55getting into typically ridiculous shape.
03:58But in a development that most definitely did not go down too well with The Great One
04:01on the back of said gruelling workout regime, the talented costume designers behind the
04:06incoming Warner Bros feature pitched a suit which came with the usually accepted levels
04:10of additional super padding.
04:12Not content with all his hard graft being masked by the costume, and openly declaring
04:16he effing hate this costume, The Rock would tell Total Film,
04:20"...everything was padded, so they immediately started tearing and cutting and ripping.
04:24When I put that costume on the second time with no padding, just cut in a way where it
04:28was enhancing the work that I had put in, I felt, I'm Black Adam."
04:32Whether or not coming into the flick in super shape will be enough to thoroughly change
04:35the hierarchy of power in the DCEU, though, remains to be seen.
04:405.
04:41BULLOCK'S NO-ASSHOLE POLICY – THE LOST CITY
04:43Don't Be An A-Hole is probably the simplest yet easily forgotten unwritten rule when it
04:47comes to creating a pleasant and productive working environment.
04:51When it comes to working alongside Academy Award-winning actor and prolific producer
04:54Sandra Bullock, however, said rule is anything but unwritten.
04:58It's actually something of a law that will see a cast or crew member given their marching
05:02orders should they choose to break it.
05:04During an interview alongside fellow The Lost City star Daniel Radcliffe with Australia's
05:08The Project TV show, Bullock would note how she is an advocate of the no-a-hole policy
05:13when it comes to the sets under her watch.
05:15Going further, the Loretta Sage actor would even reveal that we had a couple of them and
05:19they went home.
05:20And when assuming that her fellow iconic co-star Brad Pitt must have passed said strict test,
05:25Bullock would cheekily respond to her interviewer by joking, well, I don't know about that.
05:29Charming.
05:304.
05:31TOM HOLLAND REFUSED TO WEAR A WIG – SPIDER-MAN NO WAY HOME
05:33While the perks that come with becoming a part of the sprawling Marvel Cinematic Universe
05:37no doubt outweigh the few negatives, that still hasn't stopped the odd superhero actor
05:41from putting their foot down when faced with a particularly frustrating demand from the
05:45superstudio.
05:46In the case of Spider-Man star Tom Holland, said annoying request came in the form of
05:50his hairstyle coming into his most recent spell of web-slinging in No Way Home, with
05:54the actor being put in an awkward position on the back of changing up his weave for Uncharted.
05:59As the British Peter Parker actor would reveal to Esquire, his cooler Nathan Drake styling
06:04initially wasn't deemed suitable for the much nerdier Marvel personality.
06:08But upon being given a strange wig that was just around the sides, Holland decided to
06:12push back as an actor for the first time in his life.
06:15I'm not effing wearing that wig, I'm going to have shorter hair and you're going to
06:19have to deal with it, were Holland's unwavering orders.
06:22So all of Marvel's additional surreal side-fuzz wig work ultimately went to waste.
06:263.
06:27PAUL DANO NEEDS 200 TAKES – THE BATMAN There's nothing wrong with being something
06:31of a perfectionist.
06:32But there's proofreading an important document a few more times just to be safe before clicking
06:37send.
06:38And then there's requesting to perform a scene a whopping 200 times in the pursuit
06:42of nailing a cinematic performance.
06:44According to the Batman director Matt Reeves, that's roughly how many takes it took for
06:47his chosen riddler Paul Dano to deliver the guts in one particular scene in his recent
06:52version of All Things Gotham.
06:54As revealed in a Hollywood Reporter piece on the Batman central antagonist, Dano would
06:58routinely request another chance to bring a different variation of his consistently
07:02captivating performance to the table, while shooting a scene depicting the riddler conversing
07:06with Robert Pattinson's bats on a phone through video chat.
07:09But far from being driven mad by the relentless thespian, though, Reeves would confess how
07:13he admired how he was so inventive and creative, whilst also noting how he's also very critical
07:19of himself.
07:20That's one way of putting it.
07:212.
07:22ANYA TAYLOR-JOY'S IDEA OF SELF DEFENCE – THE NORTHMAN
07:24Of the many shocking and deeply unexpected beats that can be found raging through Robert
07:29Eggers' recent Northman epic, arguably the most unsettling of the lot came in a moment
07:33completely devoid of any violent Vikings bulldozing through a village with an axe in hand.
07:39With Anya Taylor-Joy's Olga of the Birch Forest faced with the disturbing prospect
07:43of being raped by a despicable male, the fierce Slavic sorceress resorts to sticking her hand
07:48between her legs and wiping her menstrual blood on the potential attacker.
07:51Yep, it happens.
07:53Far from being a part of the script from the get-go, however, Eggers would later reveal
07:56to Vanity Fair that this was actually a moment straight from the mind of the actor herself.
08:01And when pressed on summing up the effectiveness of this shocking form of self-defence within
08:05his frequently gritty and savage Viking drama, the visionary director would simply claim
08:10it was great.
08:11With Eggers and cinematographer Jarin Blask being famed for their strict process of largely
08:15sticking to pre-planned storyboards, the former's willingness to take on Taylor-Joy's inspired
08:20suggestions – and likely change up the original plans for the scene – tells you all you
08:24need to know about how much the director trusted his freakishly talented star.
08:291.
08:30Tom Cruise's Need for Flight School and No CGI – Top Gun Maverick
08:33Tom Cruise's need for his co-stars to feel the genuine speed undoubtedly paved the way
08:38for arguably the greatest legacy sequel to date.
08:41Designing his very own all-encompassing aviation training for all the actors according to Phoenix
08:45actor Monica Barbero, producer Jerry Bruckheimer would also note in a behind-the-scenes look
08:50at Top Gun Maverick that the stars were put through three months of gruelling training,
08:55with everything from being aboard jets at high speed to a challenging underwater programme
08:59being a part of the process.
09:00The filmmakers' commitment to throwing the likes of Miles Teller and the gang into the
09:03jet-fuelled reality of the situation no doubt stemmed from Cruise's initial demand when
09:08agreeing to return to the role of Maverick.
09:10In short, as Cruise would reveal to Empire later down the road, after years of wondering
09:14how in the hell this sequel could ever be achieved, I'll do it if – meaning I'm
09:18not going to do the CGI stuff.
09:21In the end, Cruise and co undoubtedly proved there's still life in the practical side
09:24of big screen moviemaking yet, with Maverick now sitting as the star's most successful
09:29box office endeavour to date.
09:31What a ride!
09:32And that's our list!
09:33Know of any other unusual demands made by actors on recent movies?
09:36Let us know all about them in the comments section right down below and do not forget
09:39to like, share and click on that subscribe button while you're at it.
09:42Also be sure to head on over to WhatCulture.com and find some more incredible articles just
09:46like the one this video you're watching right now is based on.
09:49I have been Gareth from WhatCulture.com, thank you as always for clicking on this lovely
09:53video today and hopefully I will see your brilliant faces very, very soon.
09:57Bye!