Just because they are rich, famous, and celebrities, it does not mean that they cannot get fired. There have been several great actors and actresses who have been fired. Here are some of the most notable cases.
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#1. Anne Hathaway
It's not crazy to say you don't want to do a frontal nudity shot in a movie. It's a little crazy to say you don't want to do a frontal nudity shot in a film when you've showed your bare breasts for other movies. It's really crazy to say that you don't want to do a frontal nudity shot in a movie when the film plans to show a vagina that isn't even yours crowning in childbirth. This is Anne Hathaway's claim for what happened on set for the movie Knocked Up. She said that she didn't want to do a childbirth scene because she had never experienced real childbirth. Isn't that what acting is? You act like you're experiencing childbirth, but you don't actually have to give birth on camera. She says this like it's an honorable thing for real mothers everywhere. Had Hathaway really been a prostitute before playing Fantine in Les Miserables? I certainly hope so. We wouldn't want the performance to be disingenuous. Hathaway was fired and replaced with Katherine Heigl, making Heigl a popular choice in Hollywood for a year afterward. Thanks for that, Anne.
#2. Jean-Claude Van Damme
Remember when Jean-Claude Van Damme was the Predator in Predator? Well, if you're just finding it out now, oh boy you're in for a treat. The story goes that Van Damme, fresh from Belgium with big dreams of becoming an action movie star, came to the set of Predator expecting to have a large role. He apparently was not told that he would need to dress up in a big red suit, a suit that would be hidden with the magic of cameras, but Van Damme was confused about the entire thing. He complained relentlessly about the look of the suit, saying he looked like a superhero; he thought this was what he would look like in the final cut. Then came the rubber suit, the big mechanical, dorky looking early mockup of the Predator's costume. This suit made Van Damme even more uncomfortable, saying he felt unsafe jumping and running in it. Eventually he was replaced and so was the god awful first suit. I guess it's not crazy, but it's a little hilarious.
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#3. Judy Garland
When Judy Garland was first cast in the role of Helen Lawson in Valley of the Dolls, it seemed like a near perfect match, albeit an ironic one. After all, it was widely rumored that the character of Neely O'Hara was actually based on Garland's real life. Now, Garland has a pretty tragic story, but we won't get into all that here. Let's just say that, in the early days of shooting for the film, Garland would show up late, drunk and disorderly. Reports suggest that getting anything completed with her on set was next to impossible. Eventually the filmmakers let her go because of her vices and her problems, all vices and problems that her character was supposed to have. Maybe she was just method acting. Maybe she was just too real.
#4. Megan Fox
You may have noticed that, after Transformers 2, that eye candy that was Megan Fox had been replaced by eye candy Rosie Huntington-Whiteley. You ever wonder why? Probably not, but I'll tell you anyways. In a magazine interview, Fox compared Michael Bay, the Jewish born and raised Michael Bay, to Adolf Hitler. Interesting figure to choose Megan, well done. Once the article was released and people read it, Fox was fired. Apparently it was producer Steven Spielberg, director of such classics as Schindler's List, that suggested to Bay that he fire Fox. He would later hire her back for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for some odd reason, but that's neither here nor there.
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#5. Suzanne Sommers
Suzanne Sommers, star of The Home Shopping Network and the Thighmaster commercials, used to actually be a major TV star. It's true! Originally she was a megastar on Three's Company with John Ritter. Unfortunately for her career, Sommers worked up the nerve to challenge the Hollywood gender pay gap in the 80s. After four seasons on the show, she demanded a 500% pay raise to equal the pay of comedy legend John Ritter. It was a brave move but a foolish move. They whittled Sommers' screen time down to almost nothing that season and finally worked her off completely. After that, despite some odd appearances here and there, Sommers' career was effectively over. Ah well.
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#6. Ryan Gosling
When Ryan Gosling was first cast as Susie Salmon's father, Jack Salmon, he pictured the character at about 210 lbs, a 60lb increase from the weight he was at. He just never told the director, Peter Jackson, what he thought. He simply went home and started melting Hagen Dazs ice cream down and drinking it, for real. He went and guzzled so much melted ice cream that he gained 60 lbs of pure fat. Then, when he showed up to shoot, they fired him. Now Gosling was fat and unemployed. After Gosling went home to drink more ice cream, Jackson hired Mark Wahlberg and that was that. One crazy decision cost Gosling a job. He would be alright in the end.
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#7. Harvey Keitel
The legend says that Harvey Keitel, fresh of a great performance in Mean Streets, was cast as Captain Willard in Apocalypse Now, but was fired because he struggled to play the character as a passive person. You might think, so why does this make Keitel crazy? He didn't really do anything wrong to get fired. You're right. He didn't. If he didn't get fired, though, he would have gone crazy. See where I'm going with this? Yeah, it's a stretch. Whatever. Martin Sheen came on and replaced Keitel, and he basically went crazy on set. Buddy had a nervous breakdown and suffered a heart attack. There are so many different stories about how trying the film shoot was and how difficult it was for everyone involved. It's been said that Apocalypse Now isn't only about Vietnam. It is Vietnam.
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#8. Shannen Doherty
Shannen Doherty has been accused of being a spoiled brat by nearly everyone that she's ever worked with. Look up any most-hated celebrity lists and you'll be sure to see her name. Jason Priestley from Beverly Hills, 90210 claims that she complained once about being picked up in a Lincoln Town car and not a limo. She apparently took any chance she could get to whine. For that she was canned from the show. There's also the long-running feud with co-star Alyssa Milano on the set of Charmed. Rumor has it that Doherty was eventually removed from the show because of her attitude and the constant drama surrounding the shoots.
