Imagine you're the star actor of a major motion picture.
There may be days when the idea of facing the public is too much, but with millions
of dollars at stake, there's going to be a lot more drama if you want out of the project
altogether.
Here are some times when an actor actually stopped a movie from getting made.
Yes, it's true, Dude, Where's My Car?
almost got a sequel.
"Dude, what does mine say?"
"Sweet, what about mine?"
"Dude, what does mine say?"
"Sweet, what about mine?"
As far back as 2002, Fox has been trying to get a second Dude movie off the ground, according
to IGN.
Tentatively titled Seriously, Dude, Where's My Car?, the picture would follow Ashton Kutcher
and Sean William Scott as they, one can only assume, get really high and try to find their
car.
As you might recall, Kutcher got kind of big there for a second, starring in a number of
blockbusters like No Strings Attached and What Happens In Vegas.
With his plate so full, Kutcher kept turning down the Dude sequel.
But don't lose all hope, according to The Independent, he said in 2016 that the sequel
could still happen.
If you're a millennial, you probably have a special place in your heart for Mrs. Doubtfire.
It was the ridiculously successful, universally heartwarming, and retrospectively odd story
of a middle-aged man who disguises himself as an elderly woman to circumvent a court
order to stay away from his children.
"He's half man, half woman."
"WHAT!"
There wasn't much that Robin Williams couldn't make amazing, and the picture did gangbusters
business at the box office.
It's no surprise the studio wanted a sequel, but according to Worst Previews, the film's
star kept turning down the project, citing problems with the script.
However, time and boatloads of money wear down the mightiest of mountains.
According to Entertainment Weekly, by spring 2014 Williams had reportedly changed his mind
and said he was ready to give the character another go.
Sadly, his tragic death in August of that year put an end to the project for good.
At some point, everyone has considered how much money it would take to get them to do
something embarrassing.
"So I'm here now, I found you, Daddy."
For Will Ferrell, the answer is apparently "more than $29 million."
Elf was something of a surprise hit when it was released in 2003.
It managed to grab a hefty chunk of cash at the box office, eventually pulling in over
$200 million on a $33 million budget.
Obviously, the studio felt like the only logical follow-up was to sign the man-child actor
up for a sequel.
And then, according to The Guardian, Ferrell said no.
It's a shocking move, but even after he was offered $29 million to put the tights back
on, Ferrell had no interest in the project.
His reason?
He didn't want people to think he was doing a bad sequel just for the money.
John Travolta used to be hard to beat at the box office.
A young superstar in the '70s, he rebounded with a surprise comeback in the mid-'90s,
breaking $100 million at the box office with Pulp Fiction, Phenomenon, and Face/Off over
a four-year span.
Studios were drooling all over him, so expectations were high when Travolta teamed with Roman
Polanski on a new picture called The Double, set to shoot in France.
According to Entertainment Weekly, Travolta reported to the set and seemed ready to film
all summer, even going so far as to send his personal jet back home.
But after rehearsing for just a few days, the Saturday Night Fever star picked up and
left.
According to Travolta, one of his children needed a minor surgery and he wanted to make
sure he'd receive the best care available.
But the star's absence was a blow the production couldn't bounce back from.
The film folded and a contentious legal battle erupted, according to The Guardian.
The production company sued Travolta, and it took five years before the lawsuit was
settled out of court.
Back in 1992, Shock jock extraordinaire Howard Stern had just appeared at the 1992 MTV Video
Music Awards as National Lampoon's Fartman, a satirical character whose various subtleties
you can probably figure out from the name.
Stern's high-profile costumed appearance on the show drummed up a decent amount of interest
in a Fartman movie.
New Line in particular was especially hungry for more, agreeing to an informal deal with
Stern to produce a big screen adaptation of the Fart Knight.
But in 1993, Stern put a stop to production, according to Entertainment Weekly.
He became frustrated with New Line for refusing to give him the go-ahead on an R-rated script.
Stern bowed out, swearing that this wasn't the last we'd see of Fartman.
And that's the last we saw of Fartman.
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