To us, being a successful movie or TV star sounds glamourous.
Making big money from big movies, and starring alongside Hollywood royalty.
What’s not to love?
Well, being an actor isn’t as easy as we all might thinking -- they suffer grueling
hours, and emotionally tough scenes.
Some that eventually break the star resulting in them storming off set, or wanting to quit
the film for good.
So today on Beyond on the Screen we’re going to be listing off the Top 10 Scenes That Almost
Made An Actor Quit.
Let’s jump in.
10 Winona Ryder - Alien: Resurrection Now, this may not come as a surprise, as we
all know, Winona Ryder is notorious for having breakdowns, leaving the industry, and then
returning a little while later to start aknew.
However, after a serious, almost life threatening incident occurred on Alien: Resurrection,
Ryder almost quit for good.
To start, Ryder’s biggest fear is drowning -- a result of a near death incident that
occurred when she 12, after a trip to the beach.
She got caught in a riptide, and had to be rescued by lifeguards.
When they pulled her out, she had no pulse and was only revived after many attempts at
CPR.
Following that time, it’s no wonder that she now has quite the intense phobia of water.
However, Ryder was forced to overcome that fear when she starred in Alien: Resurrection
-- which required her to film a handful of underwater scenes.
She got through them, barely, even encountering complications that almost led to another drowning
incident -- forcing her to question her career completely.
However -- she wasn’t the only one, on the same shoot Ron Perlman hit his head when exiting
the water, rendering him unconscious and forced to be rescued.
9 Daisy Ridley - Star Wars: The Force Awakens Daisy Ridley has a place in the hearts of
most Star Wars fans.
Personally, I’ve never been a huge fan of the films, but Ridley’s portrayal of Rey
is excellent, even I can see that.
However -- there was a moment during filming that she began to doubt that of herself.
Storming off set and almost quitting the film for good.
While in the middle of the desert shooting one of her scenes, JJ Abrams gave her a note
that resulted in her having a crippling panic attack.
So, what was the note?
Well, apparently he called her performance “wooden”, which is definitely not something
any actor wants to hear.
Thankfully for us, she decided to stay.
8 Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio - The Abyss This is a case of an actor being pushed to
their absolute breaking point by a director, and honestly, I don’t think either of them
are in the wrong.
During one particular scene in The Abyss, Mary’s character is given CPR, resulting
in the actress being pressed down on even slapped multiple times throughout the takes.
She got through it though, until she was informed that the camera broke mid-take and they were
forced to reshoot.
Mary stormed off-set, threatening to quit in the process.
She did eventually return though to film the take that ultimately made it into the movie.
7 Gene Hackman - The French Connection Gene Hackman is never a happy chappy, especially
not when filming The French Connection -- which Hackman won an Oscar for.
However, following the release of the film, it came out that the director, William Friedkin,
wasn’t too happy with the casting choice -- stating that Hackman wasn’t his first
choice.
However, Hackman also had doubts following an intense scene that he was forced to film,
which required him to wear a Santa suit and tackle a guy 27 times.
INSANE.
Hackman threatened to leave set, and even stated in his Oscar speech that he almost
quit multiple time.
Honestly, I don’t blame him.
6 Woody Brown - The Accused That Accused is a tough film to swallow, full
stop.
Dealing with the horrific rape of a woman, played by Jodie Foster, in the middle of a
packed bar, as people watch on, with no one doing anything to stop it.
As an audience is painful to watch, but as an actor it was apparently just as painful
to film.
The actors who played the rapists were so distressed while filming that Jodie Foster
would constantly have to reassure them that she was okay.
One of the men, Woody Brown, became so physically sick from the role, that he had to run off-set
and was found puking in his trailer.
5 Uma Thurman - Kill Bill Vol.1 It’s not a surprise that we would eventually
stumble across defamed Hollywood exec, Harvey Weinstein on our list.
And his incident involving Uma Thurman became public knowledge back in 2018, adding just
another notch to his criminal belt.
While on the set of Kill Bill Vol.1, Uma was forced to ride in a convertible, one that
didn’t want to ride in knowing full well that it was unsafe.
However, after she was informed alterations were made to make it driveable, she hopped
behind the wheel, resulting in her crashing into a palm tree, permanently injuring her
neck and knees.
Following the incident, she spent 15 years in legal battles with Miramax, Weinstein’s
production company, forcing them to release the footage of the incident, which later surfaced
in 2018.
4 Lauren Cohen - That Walking Dead AMC’s The Walking Dead is a hugely successful
show, with Lauren Cohen’s character “Maggie” a favourite amongst fans.
However, when one script came across her desk, she almost up and left, leaving the show behind.
In season 3, her character was forced to perform a c-section on Lori.
This disturbed Cohen so much, that she went to fellow co-star and on-screen husband Glenn
and stated, “I have to leave the show, I don’t think I can do it.”
She ultimately decided to stay though, and think we’re all grateful that she did.
3 Faye Dunaway - Chinatown It’s no surprise that Roman Polanski has
made it onto this list -- the defame director, who is still allowed to make films for some
reason, has been hit with many controversies throughout his long career.
One notable one occurring on the set of Chinatown.
Faye Dunaway famously clashed with the director, after he refused to allow her bathroom breaks
while she was shooting a car scene with Jack Nicholson.
Which resulted in her peeing into a coffee cup and throwing it in Polanski’s face.
Thatta girl.
The ordeal made Dunaway question her role in the movie altogether, almost quitting in
the process.
2 Tippi Hedren - The Birds Hitchcock is renowned for having treated his
actors terribly, on and off-set.
Evening black listing those who refused his advances.
Sound like anyone familiar?
Anyway, Tippi Hedren encountered this problem while on set of The Birds.
According to her filming the final attack scene of the film was the worst week of her
entire life.
The plan was to use mechanical birds to attack Hedren, however, when it came down to it,
they use real birds, with prop men throwing them at the actress.
On the fifth day of shooting the scene the actress broke down in tears, ordering Hitchcock
to give her a weeks rest.
1 Shelley Duvall - The Shining Duvall had a truly brutal time filming The
Shining, due to the nature of the film, and because of Stanley Kubrick’s treatment towards
her.
Due to Kubrick’s methods, the film ran over schedule, forcing Duvall away from her family
for a longer period of time.
But her breaking point occurred during the now infamous baseball bat scene, which Kubrick's
demanded she film a recording-breaking 127 times.
Duvall stated, I quote, “Going through day after day of excruciating work was almost
unbearable.”
I can imagine.
Following The Shining, Duvall slowly began to drift further and further away from the
industry -- eventually becoming a recluse and even appearing on the Dr. Phil show.
Well, there we have it!
Do you guys agree with our list?
Were there any that we missed?
Leave us all your thoughts and feelings in the comments down below.
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Thanks again for turning in, I’m Lucy McPhee, and until next time, see ya later.