Public feuds, day drinking, and sexual assault: With great fame comes great entitlement, and
some of Hollywood's finest are just downright jerks.
As Kendall Roy on HBO's "Succession," Jeremy Strong stars in one of the biggest shows on television.
But as his career has been on a massive upswing, his reputation amongst his fellow actors has
taken a bit of a hit.
Though he rejects the label himself, Strong is frequently described as a method actor.
Phenomenal results can be achieved by remaining in character in this fashion, but the tactics
of method actors often rub crew members and castmates the wrong way.
One notorious profile on Strong in "The New Yorker" struck a particularly powerful blow
to his public reputation.
The profile revealed that while shooting "Succession," he was prone to preparing rehearsed speeches
and trying to pass them off as improvisation, as well as getting inebriated on set when
his character fell off the wagon.
His castmates have described his method acting approach as occasionally frustrating or intrusive,
but none have been more vocally opposed to his habits than Brian Cox, who plays Strong's
on-screen father Logan Roy.
During an interview with "Town & Country," Cox said that he thinks Strong is a fantastic
actor but that he finds his method acting style to be annoying.
"Succession" is far from the only production where Strong's method acting has been an impediment
for others.
On "The Trial of the Chicago 7," he frequently ruined takes by pulling pranks while in character
as hippie Jerry Rubin.
And for one scene, he requested to be blasted with real tear gas, even though that would
have meant putting hundreds of extras and crew members through the same physical torment.
Gérard Depardieu is one of the most celebrated actors in the history of French cinema.
Having nearly 250 credits in his filmography over the course of five decades, Depardieu
has played many iconic and acclaimed roles.
With such superstardom inflating his ego, he has been known to act as if the rules didn't
apply to him.
Depardieu committed petty crime in his youth, and he's had plenty of brushes with the law
after becoming a star as well.
"Did you steal?"
"Steal?
Yes, of course."
His scandals ran the gamut from physical assault and frequent fighting to white-collar crimes
connected to his numerous businesses to a weird incident in which he urinated on a plane.
"You were flying to Ireland—" "Yes, I peed on the plane.
Yes."
During the #MeToo movement, Depardieu was accused of sexual assault by more than a dozen
women, most of whom were actors or crew members who worked with him.
As reported by the "Associated Press," 13 accusers came out against him while also suggesting
that his total number of victims was surely much higher since he had a reputation for
frequently groping and fondling the extras on his film shoots.
Depardieu has often been hailed as one of the greatest actors of his generation, but
incredible performances don't justify his actions by any stretch of the imagination.
Tommy Lee Jones is a four-time Oscar nominee and one-time winner for his role in 1994's
"The Fugitive."
He is known less for his range and more for his reliability when it comes to playing rugged,
ornery characters.
The dial can shift from violent and intense, such as in films like "The Hunted," to comedically
slanted, as we see in "Men in Black."
Regardless, the same core archetype of a curmudgeon is usually present.
And as it turns out, this baseline character type is close to home for Jones.
In a 2006 edition of "Texas Monthly," the actor was profiled in a piece titled "Tommy
Lee Jones is Not Acting," which posited that he really is the rude and grumpy fellow that
he routinely plays on screen.
He is known to be incredibly impolite to the press and the general public, and that behavior
extends to film sets.
When Jim Carrey appeared on "Norm MacDonald Live," he recounted his experiences working
with Jones on "Batman Forever."
"He said to me he couldn't sanction my buffoonery."
Tobey Maguire is best known for starring as Spider-Man in the Sam Raimi trilogy, and he
recently reprised the role in "Spider-Man: No Way Home."
The heroic, morally upright side of the character is allegedly not one shared by Maguire personally.
For many years, the actor has had a reputation for being hard to work with and extremely
troublesome behind the scenes.
His rude, out-of-control behavior on sets has drawn fire from his co-stars, and his
public outbursts captured by paparazzi have hurt his image with the general public.
Maguire is one of the only successful Hollywood stars to be so incendiary in real life that
he became the villain of a woman's non-fiction autobiography and its corresponding film adaptation.
The 2017 film "Molly's Game" tells the true story of Molly Bloom, who ran high-stakes
poker games for Hollywood celebrities.
In the film, Michael Cera plays an antagonist who goes by 'Player X.'
He makes it his mission to destroy Bloom's reputation and livelihood while also being
as awful as possible to his fellow players at every turn.
Though the character's true identity remains unnamed in the movie, Bloom names him outright
as Tobey Maguire in her autobiography.
Dustin Hoffman has given some of the best and most influential performances of all time.
His roles in films like "The Graduate" and "Midnight Cowboy" were instrumental in ushering
in the New Hollywood movement, completely changing the film industry of the late 1960s
and 1970s.
One of his most acclaimed films was "Kramer vs. Kramer," in which he plays a husband who
is left in charge of his young son when his wife leaves him.
Hoffman earned his first Oscar win for the role, but his methods for achieving that performance
were questionable, to say the least.
Hoffman was engaging in hardcore method acting for the role and took it upon himself to force
what he considered to be a stronger performance out of co-star Meryl Streep, who also won
her first Oscar for the film.
While indulging in frequent improvisation, Hoffman slapped Streep, smashed a real glass
against a wall right beside her head without warning, and made low-blow insults about her
recently-deceased boyfriend, actor John Cazale.
"I'm leaving you."
"Honey, please.
I can't hear."
Far worse than all of his nasty on-set behavior, however, are the numerous sexual assault allegations
that have been made against Hoffman, as reported in Forbes.
His accusers came into contact with Hoffman through film shoots and his theatrical performances
on Broadway, making working with him in any capacity an unpleasant proposition.
Jennifer Lopez has drawn acclaim for both her music and her acting, as well as for having
led a successful career as a producer.
Despite her legions of die-hard fans, Lopez's reputation is far less sterling when it comes
to those who have to work with her, not just enjoy her output from a distance.
She has frequently been described as difficult or outright impossible to work with professionally.
Lopez has shown a tendency to lash out at and insult other celebrities when giving interviews.
One of the celebrities that Lopez was most harsh towards was Cameron Diaz, in a now-infamous
interview with "Movieline."
When the two were cast alongside each other in "What to Expect When You're Expecting,"
there was obviously a lot of animosity on set.
This was far from being an isolated incident, as there are countless stories of her making
life harder for co-stars and crew members and even members of the general public, such
as a hotel maid who she reportedly had fired for asking for an autograph.
Lopez has since denied that claim.
Lara Flynn Boyle's big breakout role was on the one-of-a-kind television phenomenon "Twin Peaks."
She played Donna Hayward, the best friend of murder victim Laura Palmer.
Boyle starred in both of the show's two seasons before it was prematurely canceled by ABC.
When the prequel movie, "Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me," was released just one year
after the cancellation, Boyle was no longer involved, although her character still was.
The recasting of Donna Hayward with Moira Kelly raised fan suspicions that behind-the-scenes
issues had led to Boyle's removal from "Twin Peaks," especially considering the fact that
she was the only cast member replaced.
When the 2017 revival of the series, "Twin Peaks: The Return," finally came to fruition
many years later, Boyle publicly voiced her desire to return to the series.
Instead, creator David Lynch purposefully excluded her, despite pretty much everyone
else returning.
Her behind-the-scenes romances were considered by some to be a hindrance to the series.
According to an "AV Club" interview with Sherilyn Fenn, she allegedly put a stop to the planned
romance between the Dale Cooper and Audrey Horne characters because she was dating actor
Kyle MacLachlan in real life.
Boyle had a few other major roles outside of "Twin Peaks," but as word spread of her
being difficult to work with, her good roles dried up.
These days, her acting gigs are few and far apart, and frequently take the form of trashy
B-movies like "Hansel & Gretel Get Baked."
Casey Affleck is the younger brother of fellow actor Ben Affleck.
The brothers have worked together many times over the years, but Casey Affleck's career
took a bit longer to reach the heights of his brother's.
Still, many film critics considered him to be the superior actor of the two, and the
one who has consistently chosen more interesting projects.
His performances in movies like "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford"
and "Manchester by the Sea" both drew widespread acclaim, and the latter even earned him his
first Oscar win.
"I'm sorry Lee.
He passed away about an hour ago."
As reported by "The Daily Beast," Affleck was accused of sexual harassment by multiple
women, including the cinematographer and a producer of 2010's "I'm Still Here."
The accusations led to a pair of lawsuits that Affleck settled out of court.
On the same shoot, Affleck partially admitted to creating an unsafe work environment and
that he was rarely sober throughout the production.
According to "The Guardian," he encouraged his cast and crew to party with him as part
of the mockumentary experience.
Sean Penn is a five-time nominee and two-time Oscar winner with many acclaimed performances
and even a few films as a director under his belt.
Over the years, he has developed something of a negative reputation, a fact that Penn
has knowingly embraced.
In his Oscar acceptance speech for his performance in 2008's "Milk," Penn said,
"I do know how hard I make it to appreciate me."
Penn has also made it clear on other occasions that he knows he can be difficult to work
with and even to simply interact with on a personal level.
He has been involved in many altercations and blow-ups with the directors of his movies
and does not hesitate at all to voice his opposition to their creative decisions.
All of this is without even getting into his tangled history of domestic abuse allegations
and violent altercations in the U.S. and abroad.
And while some of them have been disputed by all parties involved, the details remain murky.
Morgan Freeman once held a reputation as a kindhearted man, an upstanding member of society,
and a role model for all.
Not many actors can claim to be typecast as God and as the go-to default for narration
with one of the most distinctive voices in Hollywood.
But after a long and storied career with a gentle and beloved reputation, Freeman was
outed as a prolific predator.
According to "CNN," the actor was accused by at least eight women of sexual harassment
and groping on film sets.
Though the news became public during the #MeToo movement that began in 2017, his pattern of
inappropriate behavior was well-known by those in the industry for years beforehand.
A crew member on 2013's "Now You See Me" revealed that the women on the shoot all knew to expect
unwelcome sexual remarks and touching whenever he was on set.
They even collectively decided to wear more conservative clothing in the hopes of combatting
his advances.
Freeman is also known to make film shoots trying ordeals for the directors he works
with, even in some of his most acclaimed roles.
When shooting "The Shawshank Redemption," Freeman allegedly refused to do additional
takes or follow the script.
He also forced the big final moments of the film to be scrapped and changed because he
considered them, as he stated in an interview with the "New York Daily News,"
"Sort of asinine, sort of cliched, sort of unnecessary."