8 Actors Who Quit Movies Because Of Seconds Of Footage
Anne Hathaway didn't care for THAT shot in Knocked Up.
The complexity of getting even the simplest and most straight-forward movie made cannot be underestimated.
Beyond the mind-boggling logistics of getting everyone in the same place and shooting the damn thing, actors can end up circling projects for months or even years before departing amid the ever-popular "creative differences."
Sometimes this stems from major disagreements with the filmmaker about the direction of the story or their character, but occasionally it comes down to something small which evidently means a lot to the actor in question.
These 8 performers, for instance, all ended up bailing from roles in films that would ultimately become phenomenally successful, all because of a few scattered seconds of footage they couldn't get onboard with.
Principles are principles, of course, and every artist has their own code for choosing projects, but it's also fair to say that these actors all ditched ludicrously successful films because they couldn't bring themselves to take part in just a small portion of it.
Thankfully in most cases it's hard to feel too bad about the end result, considering that the actor eventually cast in each part did a generally splendid job...
8. Mark Wahlberg Was "Creeped Out" By Ennis Spitting On His Hand - Brokeback Mountain
Believe it or not, Mark Wahlberg was originally in talks to star in Ang Lee's Oscar-winning drama Brokeback Mountain, set to play the role of gay sheepherder Jack Twist, as was ultimately played to Oscar-nominated success by Jake Gyllenhaal.
Despite meeting over the part and reading a portion of the script, Wahlberg later admitted that its matter-of-fact depiction of gay sex left him "creeped out," ultimately drawing the line at the memorable moment where Jack's lover Ennis (Heath Ledger) spits on his hand for lubrication ahead of their initial tryst. Wahlberg said:
"I met with Ang Lee on that movie, I read 15 pages of the script and got a little creeped out. It was very graphic, descriptive - the spitting on the hand, getting ready to do the thing. I told Ang Lee, 'I like you, you're a talented guy, if you want to talk about it more...' Thankfully, he didn't...I didn't rush to see Brokeback, it's just not my deal...Obviously, it was done in taste - look how it was received."
Though Wahlberg's comments suggest he wasn't particularly comfortable with the film's subject matter as a whole, he evidently might've been a little more amenable to join the awards-friendly production if it took a more sanitised approach to its sex scenes - which, thankfully, it didn't.
Everything worked out for the best, basically.