17 Famous Actors Known as Nightmares to Work With in TV and Film Industry

A few years ago, a Reddit user, u/TheG00DESTBoi, posed an interesting question: “People that work on movie sets, what are the most entitled actors you have ever met?”

Disclaimer: These stories have not been verified. The users are supposedly speaking from their own experiences.

Here are 17 of the top responses:

1. “[I worked on] a TV set. James Corden is an absolute jackass, not the funny, happy-go-lucky guy you see on TV.”

— u/throwaway320328302

“Can confirm. He has this thing where he won’t talk to anyone, bar the most senior crew. He treats everyone else like crap. I once witnessed him have a meltdown because the script supervisor (whose job is partly to ensure continuity and keep dialogue true to script) spoke to him directly when the director was occupied (script supervisors normally filter issues via the director). He thinks he’s above everyone.

I just can’t compute people like that — we all started somewhere. Just be nice to people, particularly when they’re working hard to make you look good.”

— u/AnonTvPerson

2. “My boyfriend works in the movie studios (and concerts) where we live and has done small to major movies and met some pretty big movie stars because of it. The worst person he’s ever had to deal with was Blake Lively. He said she was the most entitled, snobbiest, and rudest person to deal with. She threw tantrums on set, and she treated literally every single person like a POS, except for the director.”

“He said if there’s another movie, and she’s in it, he will refuse.”

— u/BeetleJuiceDidIt

3. “My friend has worked on Dr. Phil for years. He has a ‘no eye contact rule’ and is apparently one of the nastiest, most self-absorbed people in the industry.”

— u/TheSeanGils

4. “I used to work in the film and TV industry. … Tyra Banks legitimately will fire some people if they look her in the eye when passing in the hallway, mostly interns. Ugh.”

— u/solojones1138

5. “Michael Cera is a huge fucking asshole. I watched so many young musicians during the Sex Bob-Omb tour come up to him to talk about music or gush about how he inspired them, only for him to either brush them off completely, ask them why they’re talking to him, or just have security come take them away.”

“Total dick.”

— u/amaezingjew

6. “I got hired in for four days for a Netflix original film, and Chris Pine was a massive douchebag. All the crew were completely fed up with him.”

— u/beardy_col

7. “I used to work in the industry for a while. Asked some colleagues about the worst people they’ve worked with. More than one said Steven Seagal was a grade-A douchebag.”

— u/Wooba99

8. “Faye Dunaway, Faye Dunaway…and I cannot stress this enough…FAYE DUNAWAY. I’ve had dealings with her personally and can vouch for her entitledness and nastiness, but my friend who works on movie sets has horror stories. Extremely demanding and also picky.”

“She brings her scales with her everywhere and will make anyone catering weigh it up in front of her. She has a ‘no eye contact’ rule, which must never be disobeyed, and she also yells and screams when things do not go her way.”

— u/digolbitties

9. “I was a production assistant back in 2004–05, and I noticed mainly European actors were very humble and low maintenance, and it was US talent that was the opposite (with exceptions of course). On the films I worked on, Scarlett Johansson was very high maintenance. It was her first tentpole film, and I think it went to her head a little bit. She kept demanding extra things left and right, and it was a miserable experience for most of the PAs on set.”

— u/AfghanHokie

10. “If you want to know the most entitled person I had to deal with, it was hands down Michael Bay. He is an asshole of the first order and anyone associated with him (his bodyguard/assistants), his two huge-ass dogs, and some of his other staff are all straight-up entitled jerks.”

— u/AfghanHokie

11. “Shia LaBeouf. Shia is a real asshole.”

— u/coochthereal

12. “My family member works in the industry. Ben Stiller and John Cusack have been described as very entitled and exactly what you would expect from them.”

ABC / Via youtube.com , NBC / Via youtube.com

— u/jndmack

13. “From a friend who’s a movie director: Russell Crowe is super arrogant and self-important.”

— u/Crouching-Cyka

14. “I was a cameraman for one of my jobs and also worked at cons in my home state in between. Sean Schemmel (who voices Goku in the Dragon Ball English dub) is a dick, and takes playing Goku waaaaay too seriously. He is possessive about the role and insults others who’ve voiced him.”

“He once asked Goku’s Japanese voice actor if she feels ownership of all she’s done. She said no and that she appreciates the character and the effects of it, but that’s not because of her directly. He was in shock to this and kept egging her on to try and make himself feel better about how he feels doing the role.

Ask him about his other roles, and he’s better (he would LOVE to talk more about Lucario and Crowler), but don’t ask him to sign stuff for a friend because he just thinks it’s for you. He put quotation marks around my friend’s name who wanted him to sign his DBZ movie case. He told con staff he was tired of signing material and wanted to end his session early.”

— u/NachoMarx

15. “Martin Kove (who plays Kreese in The Karate Kid and Cobra Kai). A PA had to pick him up at 9 a.m. sharp, but he stared at the kid through a locked glass door for an hour, laughing and reading the newspaper. He was fully dressed, ready to go, and laughing as the PA’s supervisor screamed audibly at the kid through a walkie to get him to set. The PA was in tears when he finally came out, terrified he had already lost his job.”

“The same PA was assigned to take him home after the shoot. Kove said he wants to go to McDonald’s on the way back and apologized. The kid said production didn’t give him any money. Kove said, ‘I’m buying. Sorry about this morning. I don’t know what got into me. Go ahead. Order whatever you want.’

The PA was so pissed, he said he wanted nothing. Kove convinced him to get something. ‘Get a cookie. At least a cookie. My treat,’ said Kove.

The PA said, ‘Alright, fine. I’ll take a cookie.’ Kove bought the cookie at the drive through and got nothing for himself.

As they pulled away, Kove ate the cookie while staring at the PA in the rearview mirror the entire way back to the hotel.”

— u/[deleted]

16. “Back in my days of doing background work, I specifically remember on the set of Bones where they had very specific rules about not looking David Boreanaz in the eye and to keep a distance from him. You would hear stories about extras who would just walk by him, look up, and smile, and then they would immediately get fired and sent home.”

“No other set I worked on had that strict rules about their lead talent.”

— u/[deleted]

17. And finally, “William Shatner thinks he can be a dick and people will laugh at him for it. No, it got him nearly punched in the throat by security after he kept nagging on the guard being so tall it made him uncomfortable.”

— u/NachoMarx

If you’ve ever worked on a TV or movie set, what are your best and worst experiences with actors? Share your stories in the comments!

Some entries have been edited for length/clarity.