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6 Actors Whose Huge Requests Changed The Fate Of A Movie.

6 Actors Whose Huge Requests Changed The Fate Of A Movie.

Actors sometimes have a little bit of push and pull when it comes to the script, the direction, or the setting of a movie. Here are some of the biggest examples of requests made from actors that dramatically changed the direction of the film.


Original credit to Carolyn Burke. Go check out her stuff on Cracked.

Jack Nicholson Requested A Lot More Sex For His Role In The Departed.

Jack Nicholson is a good actor, which means he can make requests and people just... go with it. As an example, when Nicholson was offered a small part in Martin Scorsese's Boston-based gangster movie, The Departed, he refused. He wasn't excited about the role. But, you know, he's Jack, and after a bit of a sitdown and a bit of a chin-wag, they found a solution: They made the part way, way bigger.

But Scorsese did more than make the part bigger; he let Nicholson help define nearly every aspect of the character. For example,

because Nicholson's a famous Yankees fan, the Boston-based Irish gangster he was playing couldn't wear a Red Sox hat.


Another example: Because Nicholson wanted the role to have a lot more action in bed, they added a lot more action in bed. He was convinced that his character should have a sex scene to showcase his immorality. Or something.

Which is how a 70-year-old man ended up in a sex scene with two prostitutes and fistfuls of simulated cocaine. All but a few seconds of this scene were cut from the final film, but at least that must have been a fun day on the set for Nicholson.


Sam Worthington Rewrites Greek Mythology To Impress His Nephew on the next page!

Sam Worthington Rewrites Greek Mythology To Impress His Nephew

Sam Worthington first rose to fame following the success of Avatar. You might remember it. It was the really blue movie.

Following this, Worthington began getting offered lots of big hero roles, which was how he found himself cast as Perseus in Clash Of Titans, a remake of a classic 1980s B-movie. During the production of Clash, everyone knew it would need to be "refreshed" a bit from its goofy source material, and Worthington took a particular interest in this editing process. Notably, he (an actor, let's keep in mind) insisted that a key character from the original movie, the creepy mechanical owl Bubo, get written out.

This was more than a gentle suggestion. He was VERY insistent that the owl be taken out. In the end, the poor benighted creature's role was reduced to a small cameo, in which Worthington's character finds it and is told, "It's nothing, just leave it."

There's more. Worthington wasn't a big fan of togas, so out they went. (Again, this is a film about Greek people.) Also, there were other issues in the script which he felt needed work. Like his opinion that Perseus, a half man, half God, should be more half man ... half man. And even though Greek mythology is almost entirely about heroes bound by inescapable fates, he didn't like that either. So out goes fate.

So yeah, pretty fundamental changes to the canon of Greek mythology. And the reason behind all this madness? He was trying to impress his nine-year-old nephew. In an interview he said, "Greek mythology, your destiny is set for you, and I thought that was another crap message to give to my nephew, because to say to him, Youre already going to be destined to do this, this and this. I believe you can make your own fate, so we played against that, so my Perseus is, to use that word again, a boisterous belligerent kind of teenager, is how Ive been playing him, who you tell him you cant do something and hell run headlong into doing him and that gets him into a lot of trouble. Hes not the Golden Boy, hes the teenager who has to learn how to grow up. Thats what I consider the main difference from the first film."



See what Angelina Jolie requested on the next page!

Angelina Jolie Stopped A Wanted Sequel By Strongly Requesting Her Character Commit Suicide

Prior to agreeing to star in Wanted, the most ballistically creative movie in recent memory, Angelina Jolie had some issues with the script. Not physics-related issues - no, the curving bullet stuff was all fine with her. Her problem was that it didn't feel right for her character - an assassin manipulated by sinister forces - to get away with the murder of so many innocent people. She thought it would feel truer if, after learning the true nature of her work, her hardened hitman would take her own life.


So that's the end of that, right? Wrong!

The problem is that the movie made quite a bit of money for Universal, which has left the studio anxious to make a sequel. A problem only slightly slowed down by the fact that the first film killed its biggest star and didn't in any way leave itself open for a sequel. But you know, writers are cheap. They can fix that kind of thing. Even with her character dead, the studio has been trying to get Jolie back on board the project for years.

But she's not biting. So you have to ask yourself: How many times does someone have to express mild disinterest, and then strong disinterest, and then shoot themselves in the head, before you get the message? Move on, Universal. She's just not that into you.


Jamie Foxx Forced A New Miami Vice Ending By Leaving The Shoot. Find out how on the next page.

Jamie Foxx Forced A New Miami Vice Ending By Leaving The Shoot

The 2006 film adaptation of Miami Vice was "troubled," as these things are often called. A demanding director, the threat of gang violence, and actual hurricanes will do that. The violence was a particularly thorny issue. One shooting location in the Dominican Republic was so dangerous that even the local police wouldn't go near it. The production apparently had to recruit full-blown gang members to provide security. But like, hey. If anybody's gonna protect you, it's them.


The gang members did an amazing job. BUT, a couple of days later, when a cop approached the set, and got in argument with a security guard, the cop was shot.

So star Jamie Foxx walked off the set. No more filming outside the U.S. for him. That's fair it was clearly not a safe place to be and he had every right to make that call.

However faced with an unfinished movie and half his main cast missing, the director Michael Mann was forced to bring the shoot to Foxx. A finale planned to be shot in Paraguay was scrapped, and the whole production was relocated to Miami. Mann ultimately felt that the new ending was the better one. Phew!


More on the next page!

Crispin Glover Refused To Say His Lines, Making His Charlie's Angels Character Mute

Crispin Glover signed on to film Charlie's Angels, but wasn't super fond of his lines. In his opinion, they were too expositional. His solution? If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all. Literally.

And although this was unconventional, the fact that he remained completely silenced while slowly bending over to pick something off the ground made him one of the most well-rounded character in the film.

Glover suggested that his character remain mute for the entire film, and was granted his wish.


Jack Nicholson Requested A Lot More Sex For His Role In The Departed. Read about it on the next page.


Harrison Ford Killed Han Solo After Decades Of Trying

Most people know that Harrison Ford has been trying to kill Han Solo for a long time.

During the filming of the original trilogy, Ford felt that Solo's character arc - a self-centered rogue who slowly grows to believe in something greater - would have been capped off nicely with a meaningful death scene during Return Of The Jedi. You know, because nothing is quite so nice as a death.

But Han Solo didn't die in Jedi. (That was another spoiler, sorry, sorry.) This annoyed Ford, who by this point had mixed feelings about people associating him with that character. Check out this interview Ford has with David Letterman. He is nominally there promoting Blade Runner, but he gets rightfully peeved after Letterman

asks him a question about Return Of The Jedi.

Decades later, when promoting The Force Awakens on Jimmy Kimmel's show, Kimmel asked Ford if he was grateful that his character endured for so many years. Ford had to think about this a bit before answering It's a hard question to answer!

But in that same interview, he again talks openly about his desire to see the character killed off. He does it again on the same show a few months later (although for some reason, this time he isn't dressed as a hot dog, I don't know why, it's a great look for him). And then there was that Jimmy Fallon interview wherein, upon being asked if he got emotional when he put Han's costume back on, he answered, "No, I got paid."

J.J. Abrams reportedly discussed Solo's death extensively with Ford. And although we don't have evidence that Ford's side of this conversation involved seizing Abrams by the lapels and screaming "Yes, yes, a thousand times, yes," boy, we wouldn't be surprised if that's exactly how it happened. He was pretty darn set on it from the start.

People Reveal The Weirdest Thing About Themselves

Reddit user Isitjustmedownhere asked: 'Give an example; how weird are you really?'

Let's get one thing straight: no one is normal. We're all weird in our own ways, and that is actually normal.

Of course, that doesn't mean we don't all have that one strange trait or quirk that outweighs all the other weirdness we possess.

For me, it's the fact that I'm almost 30 years old, and I still have an imaginary friend. Her name is Sarah, she has red hair and green eyes, and I strongly believe that, since I lived in India when I created her and there were no actual people with red hair around, she was based on Daphne Blake from Scooby-Doo.

I also didn't know the name Sarah when I created her, so that came later. I know she's not really there, hence the term 'imaginary friend,' but she's kind of always been around. We all have conversations in our heads; mine are with Sarah. She keeps me on task and efficient.

My mom thinks I'm crazy that I still have an imaginary friend, and writing about her like this makes me think I may actually be crazy, but I don't mind. As I said, we're all weird, and we all have that one trait that outweighs all the other weirdness.

Redditors know this all too well and are eager to share their weird traits.

It all started when Redditor Isitjustmedownhere asked:

"Give an example; how weird are you really?"

Monsters Under My Bed

"My bed doesn't touch any wall."

"Edit: I guess i should clarify im not rich."

– Practical_Eye_3600

"Gosh the monsters can get you from any angle then."

– bikergirlr7

"At first I thought this was a flex on how big your bedroom is, but then I realized you're just a psycho 😁"

– zenOFiniquity8

Can You See Why?

"I bought one of those super-powerful fans to dry a basement carpet. Afterwards, I realized that it can point straight up and that it would be amazing to use on myself post-shower. Now I squeegee my body with my hands, step out of the shower and get blasted by a wide jet of room-temp air. I barely use my towel at all. Wife thinks I'm weird."

– KingBooRadley

Remember

"In 1990 when I was 8 years old and bored on a field trip, I saw a black Oldsmobile Cutlass driving down the street on a hot day to where you could see that mirage like distortion from the heat on the road. I took a “snapshot” by blinking my eyes and told myself “I wonder how long I can remember this image” ….well."

– AquamarineCheetah

"Even before smartphones, I always take "snapshots" by blinking my eyes hoping I'll remember every detail so I can draw it when I get home. Unfortunately, I may have taken so much snapshots that I can no longer remember every detail I want to draw."

"Makes me think my "memory is full.""

– Reasonable-Pirate902

Same, Same

"I have eaten the same lunch every day for the past 4 years and I'm not bored yet."

– OhhGoood

"How f**king big was this lunch when you started?"

– notmyrealnam3

Not Sure Who Was Weirder

"Had a line cook that worked for us for 6 months never said much. My sous chef once told him with no context, "Baw wit da baw daw bang daw bang diggy diggy." The guy smiled, left, and never came back."

– Frostygrunt

Imagination

"I pace around my house for hours listening to music imagining that I have done all the things I simply lack the brain capacity to do, or in some really bizarre scenarios, I can really get immersed in these imaginations sometimes I don't know if this is some form of schizophrenia or what."

– RandomSharinganUser

"I do the same exact thing, sometimes for hours. When I was young it would be a ridiculous amount of time and many years later it’s sort of trickled off into almost nothing (almost). It’s weird but I just thought it’s how my brain processes sh*t."

– Kolkeia

If Only

"Even as an adult I still think that if you are in a car that goes over a cliff; and right as you are about to hit the ground if you jump up you can avoid the damage and will land safely. I know I'm wrong. You shut up. I'm not crying."

– ShotCompetition2593

Pet Food

"As a kid I would snack on my dog's Milkbones."

– drummerskillit

"Haha, I have a clear memory of myself doing this as well. I was around 3 y/o. Needless to say no one was supervising me."

– Isitjustmedownhere

"When I was younger, one of my responsibilities was to feed the pet fish every day. Instead, I would hide under the futon in the spare bedroom and eat the fish food."

– -GateKeep-

My Favorite Subject

"I'm autistic and have always had a thing for insects. My neurotypical best friend and I used to hang out at this local bar to talk to girls, back in the late 90s. One time he claimed that my tendency to circle conversations back to insects was hurting my game. The next time we went to that bar (with a few other friends), he turned and said sternly "No talking about bugs. Or space, or statistics or other bullsh*t but mainly no bugs." I felt like he was losing his mind over nothing."

"It was summer, the bar had its windows open. Our group hit it off with a group of young ladies, We were all chatting and having a good time. I was talking to one of these girls, my buddy was behind her facing away from me talking to a few other people."

"A cloudless sulphur flies in and lands on little thing that holds coasters."

"Cue Jordan Peele sweating gif."

"The girl notices my tension, and asks if I am looking at the leaf. "Actually, that's a lepidoptera called..." I looked at the back of my friend's head, he wasn't looking, "I mean a butterfly..." I poked it and it spread its wings the girl says "oh that's a BUG?!" and I still remember my friend turning around slowly to look at me with chastisement. The ONE thing he told me not to do."

"I was 21, and was completely not aware that I already had a rep for being an oddball. It got worse from there."

– Phormicidae

*Teeth Chatter*

"I bite ice cream sometimes."

RedditbOiiiiiiiiii

"That's how I am with popsicles. My wife shudders every single time."

monobarreller

Never Speak Of This

"I put ice in my milk."

– GTFOakaFOD

"You should keep that kind of thing to yourself. Even when asked."

– We-R-Doomed

"There's some disturbing sh*t in this thread, but this one takes the cake."

– RatonaMuffin

More Than Super Hearing

"I can hear the television while it's on mute."

– Tira13e

"What does it say to you, child?"

– Mama_Skip

Yikes!

"I put mustard on my omelettes."

– Deleted User

"Oh."

– NotCrustOr-filling

Evened Up

"Whenever I say a word and feel like I used a half of my mouth more than the other half, I have to even it out by saying the word again using the other half of my mouth more. If I don't do it correctly, that can go on forever until I feel it's ok."

"I do it silently so I don't creep people out."

– LesPaltaX

"That sounds like a symptom of OCD (I have it myself). Some people with OCD feel like certain actions have to be balanced (like counting or making sure physical movements are even). You should find a therapist who specializes in OCD, because they can help you."

– MoonlightKayla

I totally have the same need for things to be balanced! Guess I'm weird and a little OCD!

Close up face of a woman in bed, staring into the camera
Photo by Jen Theodore

Experiencing death is a fascinating and frightening idea.

Who doesn't want to know what is waiting for us on the other side?

But so many of us want to know and then come back and live a little longer.

It would be so great to be sure there is something else.

But the whole dying part is not that great, so we'll have to rely on other people's accounts.

Redditor AlaskaStiletto wanted to hear from everyone who has returned to life, so they asked:

"Redditors who have 'died' and come back to life, what did you see?"

Sensations

Happy Good Vibes GIF by Major League SoccerGiphy

"My dad's heart stopped when he had a heart attack and he had to be brought back to life. He kept the paper copy of the heart monitor which shows he flatlined. He said he felt an overwhelming sensation of peace, like nothing he had felt before."

PeachesnPain

Recovery

"I had surgical complications in 2010 that caused a great deal of blood loss. As a result, I had extremely low blood pressure and could barely stay awake. I remember feeling like I was surrounded by loved ones who had passed. They were in a circle around me and I knew they were there to guide me onwards. I told them I was not ready to go because my kids needed me and I came back."

"My nurse later said she was afraid she’d find me dead every time she came into the room."

"It took months, and blood transfusions, but I recovered."

good_golly99

Take Me Back

"Overwhelming peace and happiness. A bright airy and floating feeling. I live a very stressful life. Imagine finding out the person you have had a crush on reveals they have the same feelings for you and then you win the lotto later that day - that was the feeling I had."

"I never feared death afterward and am relieved when I hear of people dying after suffering from an illness."

rayrayrayray

Free

The Light Minnie GIF by (G)I-DLEGiphy

"I had a heart surgery with near-death experience, for me at least (well the possibility that those effects are caused by morphine is also there) I just saw black and nothing else but it was warm and I had such inner peace, its weird as I sometimes still think about it and wish this feeling of being so light and free again."

TooReDTooHigh

This is why I hate surgery.

You just never know.

Shocked

Giphy

"More of a near-death experience. I was electrocuted. I felt like I was in a deep hole looking straight up in the sky. My life flashed before me. Felt sad for my family, but I had a deep sense of peace."

Admirable_Buyer6528

The SOB

"Nursing in the ICU, we’ve had people try to die on us many times during the years, some successfully. One guy stood out to me. His heart stopped. We called a code, are working on him, and suddenly he comes to. We hadn’t vented him yet, so he was able to talk, and he started screaming, 'Don’t let them take me, don’t let them take me, they are coming,' he was scared and yelling."

"Then he yelled a little more, as we tried to calm him down, he screamed, 'No, No,' and gestured towards the end of the bed, and died again. We didn’t get him back. It was seriously creepy. We called his son to tell him the news, and the son said basically, 'Good, he was an SOB.'”

1-cupcake-at-a-time

Colors

"My sister died and said it was extremely peaceful. She said it was very loud like a train station and lots of talking and she was stuck in this area that was like a curtain with lots of beautiful colors (colors that you don’t see in real life according to her) a man told her 'He was sorry, but she had to go back as it wasn’t her time.'"

Hannah_LL7

"I had a really similar experience except I was in an endless garden with flowers that were colors I had never seen before. It was quiet and peaceful and a woman in a dress looked at me, shook her head, and just said 'Not yet.' As I was coming back, it was extremely loud, like everyone in the world was trying to talk all at once. It was all very disorienting but it changed my perspective on life!"

huntokarrr

The Fog

"I was in a gray fog with a girl who looked a lot like a young version of my grandmother (who was still alive) but dressed like a pioneer in the 1800s she didn't say anything but kept pulling me towards an opening in the wall. I kept refusing to go because I was so tired."

"I finally got tired of her nagging and went and that's when I came to. I had bled out during a c-section and my heart could not beat without blood. They had to deliver the baby and sew up the bleeders. refill me with blood before they could restart my heart so, like, at least 12 minutes gone."

Fluffy-Hotel-5184

Through the Walls

"My spouse was dead for a couple of minutes one miserable night. She maintains that she saw nothing, but only heard people talking about her like through a wall. The only thing she remembers for absolute certain was begging an ER nurse that she didn't want to die."

"She's quite alive and well today."

Hot-Refrigerator6583

Well let's all be happy to be alive.

It seems to be all we have.

Man's waist line
Santhosh Vaithiyanathan/Unsplash

Trying to lose weight is a struggle understood by many people regardless of size.

The goal of reaching a healthy weight may seem unattainable, but with diet and exercise, it can pay off through persistence and discipline.

Seeing the pounds gradually drop off can also be a great motivator and incentivize people to stay the course.

Those who've achieved their respective weight goals shared their experiences when Redditor apprenti8455 asked:

"People who lost a lot of weight, what surprises you the most now?"

Redditors didn't see these coming.

Shiver Me Timbers

"I’m always cold now!"

– Telrom_1

"I had a coworker lose over 130 pounds five or six years ago. I’ve never seen him without a jacket on since."

– r7ndom

"140 lbs lost here starting just before COVID, I feel like that little old lady that's always cold, damn this top comment was on point lmao."

– mr_remy

Drawing Concern

"I lost 100 pounds over a year and a half but since I’m old(70’s) it seems few people comment on it because (I think) they think I’m wasting away from some terminal illness."

– dee-fondy

"Congrats on the weight loss! It’s honestly a real accomplishment 🙂"

"Working in oncology, I can never comment on someone’s weight loss unless I specifically know it was on purpose, regardless of their age. I think it kind of ruffles feathers at times, but like I don’t want to congratulate someone for having cancer or something. It’s a weird place to be in."

– LizardofDeath

Unleashing Insults

"I remember when I lost the first big chunk of weight (around 50 lbs) it was like it gave some people license to talk sh*t about the 'old' me. Old coworkers, friends, made a lot of not just negative, but harsh comments about what I used to look like. One person I met after the big loss saw a picture of me prior and said, 'Wow, we wouldn’t even be friends!'”

"It wasn’t extremely common, but I was a little alarmed by some of the attention. My weight has been up and down since then, but every time I gain a little it gets me a little down thinking about those things people said."

– alanamablamaspama

Not Everything Goes After Losing Weight

"The loose skin is a bit unexpected."

– KeltarCentauri

"I haven’t experienced it myself, but surgery to remove skin takes a long time to recover. Longer than bariatric surgery and usually isn’t covered by insurance unless you have both."

– KatMagic1977

"It definitely does take a long time to recover. My Dad dropped a little over 200 pounds a few years back and decided to go through with skin removal surgery to deal with the excess. His procedure was extensive, as in he had skin taken from just about every part of his body excluding his head, and he went through hell for weeks in recovery, and he was bedridden for a lot of it."

– Jaew96

These Redditors shared their pleasantly surprising experiences.

Shopping

"I can buy clothes in any store I want."

– WaySavvyD

"When I lost weight I was dying to go find cute, smaller clothes and I really struggled. As someone who had always been restricted to one or two stores that catered to plus-sized clothing, a full mall of shops with items in my size was daunting. Too many options and not enough knowledge of brands that were good vs cheap. I usually went home pretty frustrated."

– ganache98012

No More Symptoms

"Lost about 80 pounds in the past year and a half, biggest thing that I’ve noticed that I haven’t seen mentioned on here yet is my acid reflux and heartburn are basically gone. I used to be popping tums every couple hours and now they just sit in the medicine cabinet collecting dust."

– colleennicole93

Expanding Capabilities

"I'm all for not judging people by their appearance and I recognise that there are unhealthy, unachievable beauty standards, but one thing that is undeniable is that I can just do stuff now. Just stamina and flexibility alone are worth it, appearance is tertiary at best."

– Ramblonius

People Change Their Tune

"How much nicer people are to you."

"My feet weren't 'wide' they were 'fat.'"

– LiZZygsu

"Have to agree. Lost 220 lbs, people make eye contact and hold open doors and stuff"

"And on the foot thing, I also lost a full shoe size numerically and also wear regular width now 😅"

– awholedamngarden

It's gonna take some getting used to.

Bones Everywhere

"Having bones. Collarbones, wrist bones, knee bones, hip bones, ribs. I have so many bones sticking out everywhere and it’s weird as hell."

– Princess-Pancake-97

"I noticed the shadow of my ribs the other day and it threw me, there’s a whole skeleton in here."

– bekastrange

Knee Pillow

"Right?! And they’re so … pointy! Now I get why people sleep with pillows between their legs - the knee bones laying on top of each other (side sleeper here) is weird and jarring."

– snic2030

"I lost only 40 pounds within the last year or so. I’m struggling to relate to most of these comments as I feel like I just 'slimmed down' rather than dropped a ton. But wow, the pillow between the knees at night. YES! I can relate to this. I think a lot of my weight was in my thighs. I never needed to do this up until recently."

– Strongbad23

More Mobility

"I’ve lost 100 lbs since 2020. It’s a collection of little things that surprise me. For at least 10 years I couldn’t put on socks, or tie my shoes. I couldn’t bend over and pick something up. I couldn’t climb a ladder to fix something. Simple things like that I can do now that fascinate me."

"Edit: Some additional little things are sitting in a chair with arms, sitting in a booth in a restaurant, being able to shop in a normal store AND not needing to buy the biggest size there, being able to easily wipe my butt, and looking down and being able to see my penis."

– dma1965

People making significant changes, whether for mental or physical health, can surely find a newfound perspective on life.

But they can also discover different issues they never saw coming.

That being said, overcoming any challenge in life is laudable, especially if it leads to gaining confidence and ditching insecurities.