10 Directors LUMBERED With Actors They DID NOT Want

Hello all of you beautiful people, Jules here for WhatCulture.com and uh, god imagine this right

you've just been signed on to a brilliant new project, you've got an amazing script writer

you've got a really talented crew and somebody's forcing you to work with an actor that you really

don't want to work with. Yikes. Well, let's take a look at this. This is WhatCulture.com and these

are directors who were lumbered with actors they didn't even want. Warner Brothers forced David O

Russell to hire George Clooney, Three Kings. The story of David O. Russell and star George

Clooney's animosity on the set of the 1999 war comedy Three Kings, The Stuff of Hollywood Legend

and it apparently all stemmed from the fact that Russell didn't want Clooney to star in the movie

The director actually liked Nicolas Cage for the role of Major Archie Gates, but when he turned the

offer down, yes it can happen apparently, and Warner Brothers rejected Russell's other picks

namely Dustin Hoffman, he was effectively strong-armed into casting studio fave Clooney

Not only did Russell think the actor was wrong for the part, he apparently wasn't a fan of his head-bobbing and mugging acting style

which combined with Russell's tough directorial style, led to increased tensions on the set

This culminated in the two getting into a physical altercation after Clooney defended a cast member who was berated by Russell

and Clooney vowed to never work with the director again. The resulting movie, though, was pretty great, at least

And though Russell continues to be an infamous hothead, he did later concede that Clooney was ultimately perfect for the part

Joss Whedon isn't convinced by bad actor Ray Fisher. Justice League. Acting as perhaps one of the most public falls from grace in recent moviemaking history

Joss Whedon's all-round dodgy behaviour on the set of Justice League ultimately led to a number of that film's stars

calling out the Avengers Assemble director publicly. Among those DCEU big-screen titans was one Ray Fisher

playing Cyborg in the flick, who claimed that Whedon was at the center of gross, abusive, unprofessional, and completely unacceptable behavior on set

And now, after staying silent in the face of these various allegations for some time

the Buffy the Vampire creator has let his true feelings on Fisher and the matter at hand be known

Speaking in a conversation with New York Magazine, Whedon would class the claims as false and unjust

before labeling Fisher a bad actor in both senses. The director would also confess that he cut down Cyborg's storyline due to his feeling that it logically made no sense

With Whedon going as far as to state that Warner Brothers brought him on board to fix this originally Snyder-harmed superhero ensemble epic

it's become painfully obvious, if it wasn't already, that this outspoken director wasn't too happy to work with Fisher and a few of the other Justice League faces

And his recent heavily criticised comments have understandably gone down like a cup of cold sick in general

Jonathan Demme had no faith in Jodie Foster and was persuaded by the producers, The Silence of the Lambs

Though it might seem absurd today, director Jonathan Demme had enormous reservations about casting Jodie Foster as FBI agent Clarice Starling in The Silence of the Lambs

after being unconvinced by her Boston accent for her Oscar-winning role in 1988's The Accused

Before his recent death, Demme said, I saw her acting all over the place and I wasn impressed Demme exhausted numerous other options before Foster was eventually cast Michelle Pfeiffer found the material too dark Meg Ryan was slightly offended by the offer

and Orion Pictures rejected Laura Dern because she wasn't famous enough. The movie's producers

firmly nudged Demi towards Foster and with his other enthusiastic options depleted, he didn't

have much choice. It all worked out in the end of course, with both Demi and Foster winning Oscars

for their work on the film, but Deme said, and look what happened. I fell madly in love with her

I named our production company Strongheart Productions after Jodie's sense of character

Oh, it all worked out in the end then. Michael Reeves didn't want Vincent Price

Witchfinder General. It simply did not matter that Vincent Price was one of the most well-known movie stars

gracing planet Earth at the time. English director Michael Reeves had a vision

for Witchfinder General, and it most definitely did not involve the fly sensation leading his picture

Instead, Reeves was said to have had Donald Pleasance in mind for the role of Matthew Hopkins, the famous English witch hunter

But the feature's American co-financers, American International Pictures, were much more interested in Price taking up the leading part

and pushed Reeves to cast the unmistakable presence. Reeves would proceed to openly state to colleagues that Price was without a doubt not his preferred actor for the role

with the director even going as far as to snub the House of Wax face in refusing to meet him at Heathrow Airport before shooting

Reciprocating the disdain sent his way by Reeves throughout the course of making the picture

Price would admit, Reeves hated me. He didn't want me at all for the part. I didn't like him either

Despite all this bad blood, Price would still go on record to confess that the work he put into the performance of Hopkins

seen in the 1968 historical horror, was one of the best performances I've ever given

So there's a silver lining after all. What a life. Tony Kaye only hired Edward Norton after running out of time to audition anyone else

American History X American History X is one of the best films of the late 1990s, though that brilliance was forged

through an increasingly acrimonious relationship between director Tony Kaye, in his filmmaking

debut no less, and star Edward Norton. It all stems from the fact that Kaye didn't want Norton

to play neo-Nazi Derek, initially attempting to snag Joaquin Phoenix for the role, but the actor

turned it down. With precious little time to continue auditioning actors before shooting

started, Kaye had no choice but to bring Norton aboard, and though shooting itself wasn't at all

problematic, considerable issues arose during post-production. Norton attempted to help Kay shape the film in editing, which Kay wasn't all that receptive to, resulting in the director being

locked out of the editing room and Norton helping create a more studio-friendly edit of the film

The volatile Kay attempted to have his name removed from the film and publicly trashed the

final cut ahead of its world premiere, despite it ultimately earning rave reviews and scoring

Norton a Best Actor Oscar nomination. Kay continues to be a controversial figure in the industry

Bristling with Bryan Cranston in his 2011 film detachment and he hasn't directed a film since

Quentin Tarantino gave Diane Kruger the role as a last resort in glorious s

Despite going on record to admit that her time working alongside Quentin Tarantino during the making of 2008 in glorious s was pure joy and that the director treated her with utter respect and never abused his power or forced her to do anything she wasn comfortable with

Diane Kruger still was very much under the impression that she was something of a last

resort for the Pulp Fiction visionary. Revealing in a conversation on Rain with John Smith that

she knows Tarantino didn't want to audition her, after not being impressed by a film of hers he'd

seen, Kruger would go on to confess he didn't believe in me from the get-go. If that wasn't

enough, Kruger even went as far as to admit that Tarantino only offered her the chance to audition

because there was no one left to audition. Hammering home just how disinterested the

iconic filmmaker initially was in Kruger for the part of Bridget von Hammersmark

Tarantino also refused to meet her in the US, with the star paying money out of her own pocket

to meet him in Germany. But knowing that she wanted to change the narrative and prove Quinton

was wrong to snub her for so long, Kruger jumping through these aforementioned hoops and approaching

the process with a you-know-what-f-him attitude ultimately scored her the job and a vital part

in yet another unmissable Tarantino flick. John Frankenheimer put up with Val Kilmer to work with

Marlon Brando, The Island of Dr. Moreau. 1996's The Island of Dr. Moreau is one of the most

infamously troubled productions in Hollywood history, and legendary filmmaker John Frankenheimer was hired last minute after original director Richard Stanley was fired for failing to keep

the production on track. The director's primary motivation for signing on, aside from money of

course, was to work with Marlon Brando, though in order to do so he had to suffer through a

continually tense working relationship with the notoriously difficult Val Kilmer. Kilmer, who had just learned that his wife had filed for divorce, was a routinely volatile presence during

the six-month shoot, to the extent that Frankenheimer famously told him, your problem is you confuse the size of your paycheck with the size of your talent. woof

furthermore when Kilmer wrapped shooting the director reportedly implored his crew now get that

off my set and vowed never to be associated with the actor again

we sure hope that Brando was worth it John Patty Jenkins' heart sank

at Gal Gadot's casting Wonder Woman along with just about every comic book fan

taking up residence on the internet at the time Patty Jenkins was hell bent on making sure

Wonder Woman was done justice upon beginning talks to come on board

to helm the then-incoming 2017 DCEU standalone feature. But having a vision of an out-and-out

all-American figure for the part of Diana, Jenkins would later admit to Playboy

that her heart sank when news first broke that Warner Brothers had finally found

their Wonder Woman in 2013, that being the elegant Gal Gadot. This coming before Jenkins had fully confirmed

her commitment to bringing Diana's story to life. Jenkins would admit, I had been talking to the studio for so long

about doing it, and I was like, well, that's that. I'm sure we wouldn't have made the same choice, but after really paying attention to her and watching her and looking at her

Jenkins would eventually confess, frankly, I think they did a better job than I could have

because I don't know that I would have scoured the earth as hard to find her

In the time since discovering exactly what Gadot brought to the DC dance

Jenkins has since taken to labelling her star as the greatest, and even brought another super flick into being with her as the lead once again in 2020 Wonder Woman 1984 Good health may not have been Patty first choice but this unwanted superhero definitely

had the director and just about everyone else blasting her casting from the get-go

eating their words before long. What a Wonder Woman! Kate Mara was studio-mandated casting

and Josh Trank hated it. Fantastic Four. There will hopefully be a warts-and-all documentary

one day about the flaming train wreck that was the production of 2015's Fantastic Four reboot

which saw in over his head director Josh Trank becoming increasingly erratic amidst major

tensions with Fox. The cast member to take the lion's share of the heat from Trank, though

was reportedly Kate Mara, who was a studio-mandated casting choice after Trank also screen-tested

Margot Robbie and Emmy Rossum. There have been extensive claims about Trank's suspected drug use

while directing the film, which may somewhat explain his reportedly aggressive and abusive

behaviour to not only Mara, but numerous crew members as well. Ironically, the director even

ended up embattled against star Miles Teller, who Trank had to fight with the studio to get cast in

the first place. Though all parties involved have been pretty cagey about discussing the on-set

troubles, the disastrous end product definitely speaks for itself. Louis Leterrier wanted Mark Ruffalo instead of Edward Norton. The Incredible Hulk. Edward

Norton once again arrives on the scene as an actor that was undoubtedly not the director's

first choice for the role of leading man. Much like in the case of American History X

Norton was brought on as something of a second choice in the mind of Louis Leterrier

with the Incredible Hulk's director ironically feeling that Mark Ruffalo was better suited to

the role of Bruce Banner than the Academy Award-nominated star. Marvel Studios, on the

other hand, felt that Norton was a much more popular choice for the face of one of their first

MCU offerings. With Leterrier confessing to the Huffington Post that when he suggested Ruffalo

for the part, he was met with the response of, no, you should get Edward Norton because he's

more famous. On top of this, Marvel claimed that Ruffalo was only in the market for smart

intellectual movies. In the end, Norton was infamously dropped as banner in the MCU post-Leterrier

flick, with Ruffalo taking up the reins in Stead Girl Figure. Laurence Olivier only hired Marilyn Monroe because she actually owned the movie rights

The Prince and the Showgirl. And finally, stage and screen icon Laurence Olivier decided to helm

a film adaptation of Terence Rattigan's 1953 stage play The Sleeping Prince, which Olivier himself

originally directed and starred in on The West End, though it did come with a compromise of

casting Marilyn Monroe in the lead role of Elsie, because you see, Monroe had purchased the film

rights to the play, putting Olivier in something of an awkward position when it came to casting the

attractive blonde lead actress for the movie. Monroe was reluctantly cast as Elsie, and the

starlet reportedly clashed repeatedly not only with the director, but also numerous other cast

and crew members due to her unprofessional and difficult behaviour. According to supporting

player Jean Kent, the difficult shoot caused Olivier to age 15 years. The final film received

broadly positive reviews, with many praising Olivier for wringing a decent performance out

of Monroe, though considering the director-slash-star's passion for the source material, it clearly didn't turn out quite how he'd hoped