The Mummy
When you've got as much clout as Tom Cruise, you can make all sorts of stipulations when
you sign on for a movie.
Reportedly, Cruise's demands for the 2017 Mummy movie included near-total creative control.
As later outlined in a Variety investigation, Cruise was accused of micromanaging almost
every aspect of the film's production, changing everything from the script to the way it was
marketed.
Perhaps most notably, Cruise allegedly insisted that his character, Nick Morton, be given
more screen time than the mummy.
His presence was beefed up accordingly, effectively turning the horror franchise reboot into another
of the star's blockbuster action vehicles.
Snakes on a Plane
Just like snakes have all sorts of reasons for getting on planes, stars have all sorts
of reasons for agreeing to take on a role.
Samuel L. Jackson, for example, admitted that he only wanted to star in Snakes on a Plane
because of its title.
When executives considered changing the title to Pacific Flight 121, he personally intervened,
telling them it was "the stupidest damn thing I ever heard."
Jackson also advocated for more violence and profanity, an issue because the studio envisioned
Snakes as a campy PG-13 action movie.
Eventually, they agreed with his more adult-oriented take and he agreed to re-shoots to secure
an R rating… which just served to make the edited TV version all the more ridiculous.
"I have had it with these monkey-fighting snakes on this Monday to Friday plane."
The Avengers
In the original script for The Avengers, the scene immediately following the near-defeat
of the Chitauri was much less light-hearted.
After sending the bomb through the wormhole and falling back to Earth, Tony Stark simply
asked "What's next?" after being roused by his comrades.
Robert Downey Jr. felt this line fell a little flat and suggested trying something different.
According to Entertainment Weekly, director Joss Whedon put together three pages of new
lines based on Downey's suggestion.
In the newly revamped scene, Iron Man has a little more banter with his teammates.
"Have you ever tried shawarma?"
"There's a shawarma joint three blocks from here."
"I don't know what it is but I want to try it."
Everyone liked the line so much that Whedon filmed a bonus post-credits scene of the entire
cast eating.
But since production had already wrapped, he had to film the scene when the cast came
back together for the premiere.
According to EW, Chris Evans even had to wear a fake jaw prosthetic to hide the beard he'd
grown.
That's why Captain America isn't eating with the rest of the team.
And it was all because Robert Downey, Jr. wanted to spice up his lines.
Jurassic World
Critics were pretty happy with Jurassic World, but that didn't stop audiences from complaining
that Bryce Dallas Howard's character somehow outruns 22 tons of T-rex in high heels.
Director Colin Trevorrow was completely aware of how ridiculous this was, and reportedly
spent much of the film's production trying to convince her to literally slip into something
more comfortable.
Howard refused, insisting that her character had to wear heels the whole time.
"We'll find them."
"You'll last two minutes in there!
Less in those ridiculous shoes."
Trevorrow would later admit that he wasn't sure exactly why Howard was so insistent,
but he respected her decision, and the heels stayed in.
Howard herself would later say she never expected wearing the heels to be such a major talking
point, but she was happy to have the effort she put into running through the jungle acknowledged,
Clash of the Titans
Bubo the clockwork owl is one of the most memorable parts of the original Clash of the
Titans, so naturally, director Louis Leterrier planned on making it a major part of his 2010
remake.
Unfortunately, Sam Worthington hated Bubo.
Leterrier later recounted that Worthington complained about the owl at every opportunity,
going as far to accuse the director of trying to ruin his career by making him star opposite
something so ridiculous.
Leterrier goaded Worthington by saying he wasn't trying to ruin his career, just damage
it, which didn't exactly help matters.
Ultimately, to appease his star, Leterrier took the owl out of the film, relegating it
to a brief cameo.
Shrek
Shrek's signature Scottish accent went through a couple of major changes before audiences
fell in love with the big green ogre.
Saturday Night Live vet Chris Farley was originally supposed to voice the character, but passed
away before he could finish recording his lines; after his passing, Mike Myers stepped
in.
It wasn't until after roughly a third of the movie had been animated, however, that Myers
decided Shrek should be Scottish.
Myers' reasoning was that since the movie's villain, Lord Farquaad, spoke with an upper-class
English accent, Shrek should sound more blue-collar, to highlight the difference between them.
"It's hideous!"
"Aw, that's not very nice.
It's just a donkey."
He also felt that the Scottish accent lent itself better to dramatic, abrupt shifts in
tone and would allow him to emote in a more exaggerated fashion.
DreamWorks exec Jeffrey Katzenberg pegged the cost of reworking the already animated
scenes at 4 to 5 million dollars—roughly 10 percent of the movie's overall budget.
Star Wars: Attack of the Clones
After watching a rough cut of the Battle for Geonosis with Star Wars creator George Lucas,
Samuel L. Jackson noticed that it was hard to spot his own character, Mace Windu, amongst
the dozens of Jedi on screen.
He asked Lucas if it'd be possible for Windu to wield a purple lightsaber—partly because
it'd stand out more, and partly because purple is Jackson's favorite color.
"So I said to George, 'You think I can get a purple lightsaber?'
'Lightsabers are green or lightsabers are red.'
'Yeah but I want a purple one.'"
Lucas initially turned down the request, but later decided to let Jackson get his purple
lightsaber.
Because when Samuel L. Jackson asks for something, he gets it.
"I have the real one at home that says 'Bad Motherf---er' right here."
"Are you serious?"
"Yeah!"
A Million Ways to Die in the West
Family Guy has mocked a lot of people over the years, but one joke in particular came
back to haunt creator Seth MacFarlane.
Family Guy made a joke about how Liam Neeson would never be able to play a cowboy in a
western because of his inability to convincingly mask his distinctive Irish accent.
"This glen's gonna be tough to traverse.
And the river's gotta be 50, 60 meters wide.
And God knows how many fathoms."
Years later, when MacFarlane asked Liam Neeson to star in his comedy western A Million Ways
to Die in the West, Neeson said he'd do it, with one condition.
"When Seth called me up to ask that I do this film, I said I'd do it on one condition, that
I can use my own Irish accent."
MacFarlane agreed, and Neeson's character became an inexplicably Irish cowboy—all
because of a throwaway line in an old episode of Family Guy suggesting that it'd be pretty
stupid for anyone to hire Liam Neeson to star in a western.
"You really do have a death wish, don't you."
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