Hollywood is not exactly a warm and fuzzy place where everyone gets along like best friends. That’s why so many film sets are hotbeds for drama. But no drama is more intense than the art-infused feuds between actor and director, because ART!
Here are some of the biggest and best actor-director fights in film history.
Mo’Nique and Lee Daniels
Let’s start with the most recent. After Mo’Nique won an Oscar for her role in Precious, she says Daniels told her she was blackballed for not playing the Hollywood game. Then recently she announced that she’d been offered roles in both The Butler and Empire, but never heard anything more until she learned Oprah and Taraji P. Henson were respectively playing what she’d been led to believe were her roles. Despite the struggles, Mo’Nique says she “could work with Lee Daniels tomorrow.”
David O. Russell and Lily Tomlin
We all remember this one. O. Russell is a famously difficult director who’s battled many of his actors, including George Clooney. In fact, after they worked together on Three Kings, Clooney told Premiere magazine, “Quite honestly, if he comes near me, I’ll sock him right in the fucking mouth.” Russell then defended himself, saying “I never physically attacked him. If I ran into him, I’d say, ’Shut the fuck up, you lying-ass bitch.'”
But in terms of sheer profanity and viral sensationalism, nothing beats his battle with Tomlin on the set of I Heart Huckabees. The whole thing is madness, but to be caught on tape throwing things at one of your stars and calling her “cunt” and “whore” is some next-level stuff. Of course, his career has been completely unaffected by this and other tirades — he received Best Director nominations at the 2011, 2013, and 2014 Academy Awards for The Fighter, Silver Linings Playbook and American Hustle, respectively.
