Megan Fox and Michael Bay.
(Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)Creating cinematic magic on the big screen often requires a lot of blood, sweat and tears behind the scenes to bring all the threads together.
While the ideal end result for a movie is entertainment that comes to life seamlessly (which also makes a lot of money for the people involved in the process), things can sometimes get a little messy between the people making it in along the way.
From big explosions to lawsuits to war of words, scroll through the sequel to delve into some of the most notorious feuds between directors and stars — and find out how their relationship became less than harmonious.
Long before Don’t Worry Darling hits theaters in September 2022, the psychological thriller has been making dramatic headlines off-screen. THANKS! You have successfully subscribed. Subscribe to newsletters Please enter a valid email. Subscribe By signing up, I agree to the terms and privacy policy and receive emails from us. Weekly offer of the day […]
Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively
Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively.
(Photo by José Perez/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images)Rumors were circulating that the director/actor Justin Baldoni and actress Blake Lively didn’t get along during the promotional tour of It ends with usreleased in August 2024.
The animosity between the two men was confirmed when Lively, 37, sued Baldoni, 40, in December 2024 for sexual harassment and accused the director of trying to tarnish her reputation with a smear campaign – a claim that Baldoni’s lawyers have vehemently denied.
Olivia Wilde and Florence Pugh
(L to R) Nick Kroll, Florence Pugh, Chris Pine, Olivia Wilde, Sydney Chandler, Harry Styles and Gemma Chan.
(Photo by Alessandra Benedetti – Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images)In the case of the 2022 version, Don’t worry, darling, many viewers were more interested in the behind-the-scenes drama than the film itself. The film was directed by Olivia Wilde and played Florence Pugh – and speculation was rife tension between the two.
Upstream of Don’t worry, darlingAfter its release, Pugh did limited promotion of the film, avoided being photographed next to Wilde, and skipped or arrived late to press his commitments. Although neither has confirmed the truth about their relationship, there have been rumors that Pugh may have been unhappy with Wilde’s relationship with his partner. Harry Styles.
Megan Fox and Michael Bay
Michael Bay and Megan Fox.
(Photo by Getty)During her Transformer days, Megan Fox rocked the boat with the director Michael Bay when she publicly compared him to “Hitler” – which ultimately led to her being fired from the franchise and replaced by Rosie Huntington Whiteley.
“He’s like Napoleon and he wants to create this crazy, infamous reputation as a madman. He wants to be like Hitler on his sets, and he is,” Fox, 38, said. Wonderland Magazine in 2009. “So he’s a nightmare to work for, but when you take him away from the set and he’s not in director mode, I really enjoy his personality because he’s so goofy, so desperately clumsy.”
While he eventually cut her from his films, Bay said GQ Magazine in 2011, he wasn’t particularly offended.
“I wasn’t hurt, because I know it’s just Megan. Megan loves getting a response,” Bay, 59, said. “She does it in a rather incorrect way. I’m sorry, Megan. I’m sorry I made you work 12 hours. I’m sorry for forcing you to arrive on time. Movies aren’t always warm and fuzzy.
Jake Gyllenhaal and David Fincher
David Fincher and Jake Gyllenhaal.
(Photo by Getty)Jake Gyllenhaal And David Fincher didn’t mince their words when it came to talking about their experiences collaborating on the 2007 film Zodiac.
“Fincher paints with people,” Gyllenhaal, 44, said of the director in 2007, complaining, “It’s hard to be a color.”
Fincher then had his own take on what it was like to work with Gyllenhaal – and didn’t hold back.
“Jake was in the unenviable position of being very young and having a lot of people competing for his attention, all while working for someone who doesn’t let you take a day off,” said Fincher, 62 years. The New York Times in 2020. “I think Jake’s philosophy was informed by… look, he had made a bunch of films, even as a kid, but I don’t think he was ever asked to focus on the smallest details, and I think he was. very distracted.
Katherine Heigl and Judd Apatow
(L to R) Katherine Heigl, Seth Rogen, Paul Rudd, Leslie Mann and Judd Apatow.
(Photo by Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic, Inc for Variety Magazine)Another infamous case where a movie star confronted his director was when Katherine Heigl came out opposing the film she starred in, 2007’s Knocked up.
Its director Judd Apatow I was less than impressed when she slammed Knocked up during an interview with Vanity Fair in 2008.
Months after a reported breakup between It Ends With Us costars Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni, she sued him for sexual harassment. In the lawsuit, which was filed on Friday, December 20 and obtained by Us Weekly after being reported by TMZ and the New York Times, Lively accused Baldoni of starting a […]
“It portrays women as shrews, humorless and uptight,” Heigl, 46, said. “It portrays men as lovable, goofy, fun-loving guys. It exaggerated the characters, and I struggled with that some days. I play such a bitch; why is she such a killjoy? Why do you represent women this way? Ninety-eight percent of the time it was an amazing experience, but it was hard for me to like the movie.
For his part, Apatow told the radio host Howard Stern in 2009, he expected an apology from Heigl after his disparaging remarks, but he never got one.
“[You’d think] at one point I get a call saying, ‘Sorry, I was tired…’ and then the call never comes,” Apatow, 57, said.
