5 Movie Sets That Came to Physical Blows
Movie sets can be tense places. Between Hollywood-size egos, similarly massive budgets at stake and all the ways things can go wrong, tensions are bound to flare. It can lead to anything from strong words to actual fists thrown. Like when…
George Clooney Choked David O. Russell on the Set of ‘Three Kings’
It’s no secret that, in Clooney’s words, Russell is a “miserable f--k” to work with, and he found that out firsthand on the set of Three Kings. Clooney got fed up with Russell bullying extras, “so I went over and put my arm around him. I said, ‘David, it’s a big day. But you can’t shove, push or humiliate people who aren’t allowed to defend themselves.’ He turned on me and said, ‘Why don’t you just worry about your f---ed-up act? You’re being a d--k. You want to hit me? You want to hit me? Come on, pu--y, hit me.’” At that point, Clooney “went nuts. I had him by the throat. I was going to kill him.”
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A word of advice: Don’t dare movie stars to hit you. They don’t face real-people consequences.
Wesley Snipes Choked Director David Goyer on the Set of ‘Blade: Trinity’
Another chokey set was that of Blade: Trinity, a production notoriously troubled by Snipes and his “f--king crazy” antics, according to co-star Patton Oswalt. It all came to a head when Snipes sat Goyer down and suggested he quit, to which the director responded by suggesting that Snipes quit, since they had all his close-ups and “could shoot the rest of the movie with (his) stand-in,” which “freaked Wesley out so much” that he “tried to strangle” Goyer. Snipes denied the accusation, insisting that he would have been arrested if it were true, because he apparently didn’t get the message about movie stars and consequences.
Richard Pryor Punched Harvey Keitel on the Set of ‘Blue Collar’
Pryor wasn’t exactly known to do things by the book, which didn’t sit well with an old-school pro like Keitel on the set of 1978’s Blue Collar. It was Pryor’s tendency to go off script that particularly rattled Keitel, so during one particularly rambling improvisation, he “spoke directly into the camera to scratch the take.” Pryor, who was almost certainly coked to the gills to begin with, descended on Keitel, fists “flying.” Honestly, it’s hard to pick a side here. Violence is never okay, and professionalism is important. But you do not ruin a Pryor bit.
Errol Flynn Attacked Director Michael Curtiz on the Set of ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’
Curtiz may have made such great films as Casablanca and The Charge of the Light Brigade, but he was also “a tyrant, he was abusive, he was cruel,” according to actress Olivia de Havilland. Flynn had a lot of beef with him on the set of the latter, but he reached his breaking point when he witnessed Curtiz’s sadistic treatment of the film’s horses and attacked him, though “they were pulled apart before any serious damage was done.”
Dreamy and a defender of animals? No wonder this guy’s pull changed the lexicon.
LL Cool J Slapped Jamie Foxx on the Set of ‘Any Given Sunday’
In Cool James’ defense, Foxx later insisted that “everybody was so f--king crazy” on the set of Any Given Sunday, and “Oliver Stone revved it” until what was supposed to be a verbal argument between their characters became physical. First, LL Cool J simply gave Foxx a light smack and insisted he was just improvising, but for the next take, it was less light. Cut to Foxx’s head getting smashed against a camera crane. “I didn’t get too involved because it was on the field,” Stone later said.
The man is truly a chaos demon.
