Actors are chopped and changed for movies all the time. Sometimes they walk the walk and other times they just walk away. Often actors are dropped for a multitude of reasons, like performance, looks and compatibility to name a few.
But, however awkward and painful it can be, these types of situations rarely make it to the courtroom.
Except in some extreme cases.
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Whether they've ended up never returning or choosing to leave, these are 8 actors who were sued after losing a job.
Evan Rachel Wood in 10 Things I Hate About Life.
You'll find it's not often that actors are actually sued for quitting their movies, but it does happen.
Evan Rachel Wood starred in 13 and Westworld and she was initially the main character in a film called 10 Things I Hate About Life back in 2013.
It was supposed to be a movie that kinda (but not really) followed on from the highly successful 1999 film starring Heath Ledger and Julia Stiles, 10 Things I Hate About You.
But weeks into production, the entire thing was shut down. Months later, the company attempted to restart shooting, but Wood had walked away for good and said her decision was because of personal reasons.
Later the next year though, in June 2014, 10 Things Films LLC launched a lawsuit against the actor and demanded over $30 million in damages.
After news of the lawsuit broke out, Wood's representatives told TMZ it was a "bullying tactic from financially troubled producers."
"The lawsuit is preposterous and simply a bullying tactic from financially troubled producers," her representative said in a statement. "The production shut down in February 2013, when the producers ran out of money.
"Even after that, Evan agreed to resume production in November 2013, by which time the producers said they would have cleared up their issues. However, producers could not get their acts together in time, nor did they pay Evan money that she was owed.
"Repeated subsequent promises by the producers to resume production and pay Evan turned out to be false." this is where things began to unravel for the production company. "Enough is enough. The producers, not Evan, have breached the contract."
John Travolta in The Double.
John Travolta is one of Hollywood's biggest and most famous stars of all time, but things haven't always been smooth sailing for the actor.
In 1997, he was set to start acting in the film The Double, after replacing Anthony Hopkins. However, right before production started, Travolta backed out.
The Mandalay Entertainment production company claimed the actor had demanded the script undergo multiple rewrites that went over the head of Roman Polanski, who was The Double's project director.
Ultimately, the company ended up suing Travolta but the actor alongside his lawyer settled out of court for what can only be assumed as a pretty sum.
But considering no official contracts were signed, Travolta walked away relatively unscathed by the whole ordeal.
The Double film never ended up being made but that's a story for another time.
Kim Basinger in Boxing Helena.
Boxing Helena was mainly meant to be a forgettable movie, but after Kim Basinger backed out of starring in the film, she was involved in a monumental lawsuit.
Because she quit the 1993 film, despite signing a contract, Basinger was sued for $6.4 million by Main Line Pictures.
The actor claimed she didn't want to do the movie after learning some of the "artistic" sex scenes were instead going to be "graphic".
Eventually, Basinger was able to settle for much less than she originally owed (the $8.1 million jury award was repealed and settled for $3.8 million).
Whoopi Goldberg in Theodore Rex.
Even just the threat of a lawsuit can be enough to make you do crazy things, just ask Whoopi Goldberg.
The actor, who starred in Theodore Rex in 1996, most definitely did not want to star in the film.
The direct-to-video film might just be one of the most expensive films of all time following Goldberg's attempts at leaving the production.
Although she tried to back out before filming began — as she only had a verbal agreement with producer Richard Gilbert, unfortunately, Gilbert still threatened to sue her.
Considering the news surrounding Kim Basinger at the time with her Boxing Helena lawsuit, it's no surprise Goldberg chose to with the film.
The actor rejoined the film after receiving a hefty pay rise, continuing on as the star of the film. Luckily for Goldberg the film eventually earned her a shiny award in the process: The Razzie Award for Worst Actress.
Woody Harrelson in Benny and Joon.
Woody Harrelson is known as one of the most laid-back actors of his generation. He has a certain likability in front of the cameras, which we assume keeps him booked and busy. But there was one film that had the potential of ruining his career.
The actor, who in 1993 took an offer to play the leading role in the film Benny and Joon, created a lot of disappointment when he backed out of the movie to take a part in the famous Indecent Proposal.
As a result, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer also known as MGM sued both Harrelson and Paramount. Luckily the whole debacle was settled out of court.
Mario Lanza in The Student Prince.
For all our cinephiles out there, actor Mario Lanza walked away from filming the classic movie musical The Student Prince (1954), but only by the skin of his teeth.
Lanza had a distinctive singing voice in the 1950s and MGM went to painstaking efforts to keep him on board with the film but alas they failed.
The actor eventually walked away from the set despite having multiple scenes still left to shoot after a showdown with producers.
So, of course, the production company took legal action.
Lanza was one of the fortunate ones and got out of paying millions of dollars by allowing MGM to keep the vocals he had recorded before leaving the production. The film continued its production using the audio dub of Edmund Purdom, who later took over the role.
Robert Redford in Blue.
Unless you're a fan of old western flicks, it's unlikely most of us have seen the Western drama Blue, which was meant to star Hollywood legend, Robert Redford.
The 1968 movie was an exciting film for its time, but the behind-the-scenes drama was even better.
While Redford signed on to star in the movie, the actor ended up pulling out just a week before cameras were meant to start rolling. Whilst it's unclear (to this day) why he departed, Paramount wasted no time in going after him in the courtroom.
Dieter Laser in The Human Centipede 3.
The Human Centipede might repulse most people (not me) but it became so popular there was plenty demand to film not only a second film but a third as well.
It's likely everyone would recognise the late great actor Dieter Laser, who portrayed the infamous Dr Heiter. But while The Human Centipede may have elevated his star power, the actor didn't want to stay tied to the franchise forever.
In fact, by the time production for the third film rolled around, Laser and Tom Six (the creator of the infamous movie franchise) were involved in a very bitter lawsuit.
It turns out Laser pulled out shortly before production began for The Human Centipede 3 because he wasn't happy with the direction his character was going in. This impacted the filming schedule and resulted in some serious delays which later resulted in a dramatic lawsuit.
Eventually, Laser and Six came together and made the film, despite their feud. But depending on which side of the fence you're on with horror movies, the overall result could either thrill or horrify you.
Feature Image: Getty.
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