11 Times Costars' Working Relationships Were So Fraught, They Reportedly Didn't Want To Appear On Camera Together

In 2014, director Nick Cassavetes told VH1, "Maybe I’m not supposed to tell this story, but they were really not getting along one day on set. Really not. And Ryan came to me, and there’s 150 people standing in this big scene, and he says, ‘Nick come here.’ He’s doing a scene with Rachel, and he says, ‘Would you take her out of here and bring in another actress to read off-camera with me?’ 

I said, ‘What?’ He says, ‘I can’t. I can’t do it with her. I’m just not getting anything from this.’…[later] we went into a room with a producer; they started screaming and yelling at each other. I walked out … And it got better after that, you know? They had it out…I think Ryan respected her for standing up for her character and Rachel was happy to get that out in the open. The rest of the film wasn’t smooth sailing, but it was smoother sailing."

Of course, Ryan and Rachel famously had an enemies-to-lovers arc IRL. After filming ended, they went on to date for two years.

In 2024, Nick apologized for "spill[ing] the beans."

He told Rolling Stone, "That is correct. We were not in any scenes together.”

Detailing how things unraveled, he said, "Vin and I had a few discussions, including an important face-to-face in my trailer. And what I came to realize is that we have a fundamental difference in philosophies on how we approach moviemaking and collaborating. It took me some time, but I’m grateful for that clarity. Whether we work together again or not.”

In 2021, Vin shared his side, telling Men's Health, "It was a tough character to embody, the Hobbs character. My approach at the time was a lot of tough love to assist in getting that performance where it needed to be. As a producer to say, Okay, we’re going to take Dwayne Johnson, who’s associated with wrestling, and we’re going to force this cinematic world, audience members, to regard his character as someone that they don’t know — Hobbs hits you like a ton of bricks. That’s something that I’m proud of, that aesthetic. That took a lot of work. We had to get there and sometimes, at that time, I could give a lot of tough love. Not Felliniesque, but I would do anything I’d have to do in order to get performances in anything I’m producing.”

Then, in 2023, the actors finally laid their feud to rest, and Dwayne returned to the franchise for Fast X.

He tweeted, "Last summer Vin and I put all the past behind us. We’ll lead with brotherhood and resolve - and always take care of the franchise, characters & FANS that we love."

In 1993, Julia told the New York Times, "From the moment I met him, we sort of gave each other a hard time, and naturally, we get on each other's nerves. [He can be] completely charming and very nice, [but] he's also completely disgusting. He's going to hate me for saying this, but he seems go out of his way to repel people. He's a kick."

However, their tension faded as the years went by. In 2022, Nick told Business Insider that he'd never reached out to her, but the hatchet was buried. He said, "I mean, it was absurd what we went through. It was partly my fault and a little bit of hers. Julia got married at the beginning of that film and it was one of those things where I just approached it all wrong."

He also said, "A lot of the lines that Ryan Reynolds has were just a result of Wesley not being there. We would all just think of things for him to say and then cut to Wesley's face, not doing anything because that's all we could get from him. It was kind of funny. 

We were like, 'What are the worst jokes and puns that we can say to this guy?' And then it would just be his face going, 'Mmm.' 'Smiles are contagious.' It's so, so dumb. That was an example of a very troubled shoot that we made fun. You have to find a way to make it fun."

In 2020, Wesley denied Patton's version of events. He told the Guardian, "Once again, Mr Oswalt is the authority. Hohoho! Why do people believe this guy's version of this story? Answer me that.

This is part of the challenges that we, as African Americans, face here in America — these microaggressions. The presumption that one white guy can make a statement, and that statement stands as true! Why would people believe his version is true? Because they are predisposed to believing the Black guy is always the problem. And all it takes is one person, Mr. Oswalt, who I really don't know. I can barely remember him on the set, but it's fascinating that his statement alone was enough to make people go, 'Yeah, you know Snipes has got a problem.'"

You can watch a scene where Wesley doesn't appear next to any of his castmates on camera here.

Mickey said, "Now I don’t look up to him no more; I look through him. I came up from the shit. He doesn’t know that life. I lived that fucking life, so every time I look him in the face I look right through his asshole.”

In a statement, Stan Rosenfield, Robert's representative, said, "According to The Irishman producers, Jane Rosenthal and Emma Tillinger Koskoff, and casting director Ellen Lewis, Mickey Rourke was never asked to be in The Irishman nor was he ever even thought of, discussed or considered to be in the movie."

Then, in a since-deleted Instagram post from 2020, Mickey reportedly said, "Hey Robert De Niro, that’s right i am talking to you, you big fucking crybaby. A friend of mine just recently told me that a few months back you're quoted as saying to newspapers 'Mickey Rourke’s a liar he talks all kind of shit.' Listen Mr.Tough Guy in the movies, you're the 1st person that ever called me a liar and it was in a newspaper. Let me tell you something, you punk ass, when i see you i swear to God on my Grandmother, on my brother and all my dogs, i gonna embarrass you severally 100%. Mickey Rourke, as God is my witness."

At the 2015 New Yorker Festival, Julianna reportedly said, "Right, I’ve heard about [the feud]. Who says that? It’s totally gossip. I heard that question had been asked to [series co-creator] Robert King. There’s no story there, sorry…I actually had heard [that rumor], and I feel that it has been talked about and answered. 

I feel people just like to have gossip or make something into something that isn’t there. There’s no animosity on my part. It’s a shame, because I wonder if it was two men, when one finds out that he fucked his best friend’s wife, if it would get that same attention, you know what I mean?"

She also claimed that their final scene was filmed separately because of scheduling conflicts. She said, "It was shot the way Robert wanted to shoot it, and the story line, too. You also have to remember, there’s difficulty…[Archie] was also doing another show, called The Fall. I went along with whatever Robert asked me to do and I did it happily."

However, Archie seemingly disputed Julianna's version of events. Linking out to the Vulture article containing her former costar's quotes, Archie tweeted, "@TheFallTV was not even in production at that time and I was in New York ready to film the scene!"

In 2019, costar Robert Wuhl told The Hollywood Reporter, "At the time, Michael told me he was trying to get back with his ex-wife. Keaton was firmly, and underline firmly, against that casting of Pfeiffer and he and Peters got into it."

However, Michael changed his tune when Michelle was cast as Catwoman in Batman Returns.

She told Entertainment Tonight, "It was great actually working with him having had a history, because I was really out of my element. Also, the fact that he had done this kind of picture before and I didn't know what to expect.

I felt really comfortable with him. I felt really safe with him. I could go to him and say, 'Why am I feeling so awful? I don't know what's going on.' And he would explain it to me. 'I know. I went through it on the first one.'"

At the movie's premiere, Reese told The Hollywood Reporter, "He's the greatest. And he's so funny, and every day was, like, something new and funny would come out of his mouth. You don't even know where it comes from. It was just so exciting to be with somebody who's just constantly thinking of funny things and really bringing everybody into it, too. So, everybody was being funny."

Vince told ScreenSlam, "Reese takes her work very seriously. She works very hard at her part, and definitely her work matters to her. She's very focused on what she does performance-wise, and she was really easy to play off of."

She said that, "in front of the whole crew," this costar would yell things like "You call yourself an actor?” and “This is what I have to work with?"

Rebecca continued, "I looked at this person, and I said, ‘You can F off. I’m gonna work towards a tennis ball. I never want to see you again.'"

Higher ups told her, "You can’t do this to number one. We have to let this person be on set," so, for the rest of the shoot, Rebecca only acted to the back of the other actor's head.

Appearing on Hot Ones in 2020, she said, "For some reason, they caught a wild tiger shark and, I don't know, had it in a cage or something in the back of a boat. And they were like, 'It's in this cage, so it's docile. It's not..' And I'm like, 'It's a fucking tiger shark!' And it was, like, a seven-foot tiger shark.

And they're like, 'In this scene, we just want it to, like, go by you guys.' And they're like, 'Alright, get in. 'Cause, you know, in this scene, the shark has to come really close to you.' And I was like, 'I mean, you guys can do this with, A, a double, or B, second unit. And I was on Flipper! We had fucking rubber dolphins! You could do this with a goddamn rubber dolphin. You don't need a real-ass shark in the middle of the fucking ocean with chum in it.' And maybe I lost my mind, and maybe I yelled all of that. 

And the director was like, 'You know what, c'mon. Just get in the water. It'll be three seconds. It's fine. Come on, we don't have time. We're losing the light...' And I said, 'Fuck you. Fuck your face. You get in the water.' And then I got on a boat and went back to shore."