18 Actors Who Took Matters Into Their Own Hands

Actors are the visible part of a movie’s production, often without the real power to change how it ends up in theatres. That, of course, isn’t always the case, and many performers have used their influence to turn things their way, either for a better final product, or to aid their coworkers.

This doesn’t mean that actors should always be in charge, but they should definitely be heard. These are the actors who refused to back down on their ideals, be them the story’s direction or equality of working opportunities. And we applaud them for it.

Tom Cruise Fired Insurance Company For Mission Impossible

When the insurance firm refused to cover his terrifying Burj Khalifa stunt in Ghost Protocol, Cruise simply asked producers to replace them. It turns out you cannot stop an action star from hanging off the tallest building.

Edward Norton Recut American History X Himself

Norton got heavily involved in the editing room for American History X. He took such a pivotal role in shaping the final version that director Tony Kaye actually decided to publicly disown the theatrical cut entirely.

Ryan Reynolds Leaked Deadpool Footage To Studios

After years of stalling, Reynolds admitted he was the one who leaked the 2014 Deadpool test footage online. The massive fan enthusiasm gave Fox exactly the push they needed to finally greenlight the wise cracking superhero movie.

Samuel L Jackson Demanded A Purple Lightsaber

Jackson wanted Mace Windu to stand out during the massive battle scenes, so he boldly asked George Lucas for a purple lightsaber. Lucas actually agreed, breaking the traditional Jedi color palette of just blue and green blades.

Sylvester Stallone Refused To Sell Rocky Script

Before he was a massive star, Stallone wrote the screenplay for Rocky. Despite being offered serious money, he flat out refused to sell the rights to his script unless the studio agreed to cast him in the lead.

Brad Pitt Saved The Dark Se7en Ending

Studio executives often want happy endings, but Pitt knew that would ruin Se7en completely. To protect the grim finale, he smartly had a clause written directly into his contract stating the dark ending could not be altered.

Ben Affleck Refused To Wear A Yankees Hat

While filming Gone Girl, director David Fincher asked lifelong Boston Red Sox fan Affleck to wear a New York Yankees cap. Affleck absolutely refused, and the two stubbornly compromised on a New York Mets hat for the scene.

Michelle Rodriguez Fixed Fast And Furious Love Triangle

The original 2001 script placed Letty in a messy love triangle with Dom and Brian. Rodriguez strongly objected to her character cheating on Dom, and she actually threatened to quit the production until they removed the storyline.

Matt Damon Wrote Good Will Hunting For Himself

Tired of waiting for the perfect acting gig, Damon and his friend Ben Affleck simply wrote the lead roles to star in themselves. Their initiative paid off massively when they took home an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.

Reese Witherspoon Founded A Company For Better Roles

Frustrated by a lack of great parts for women, Witherspoon founded production companies like Type A Films and Pacific Standard. She eventually launched Hello Sunshine in 2016 to ensure she and other actresses always had quality material.

Tom Hanks Paused Cast Away For Weight Loss

Filming on Cast Away was totally halted for roughly a year just so Hanks could lose around 50 pounds. During that long hiatus, director Robert Zemeckis kept busy by filming the thriller What Lies Beneath instead.

Christian Bale Starved Himself For The Machinist

Bale pushed his body to terrifying limits, dropping 63 pounds in just four months to play the emaciated Trevor Reznik in The Machinist. His intense dedication resulted in one of the most drastic physical transformations in cinema.

Denzel Washington Rewrote His Training Day Character

Washington took a close look at his corrupt narcotics officer character Alonzo Harris and decided to rewrite portions of the dialogue. He wanted to make the villain feel even more wicked, resulting in a truly unforgettable performance.

Keanu Reeves Took Pay Cuts For The Matrix

Reeves knows exactly who makes an action movie look good. He voluntarily took a massive pay cut for The Matrix sequels specifically so the stunt performers and special effects teams could earn more money for their hard work.

Emma Thompson Wrote Sense And Sensibility Screenplay

Thompson spent five long years carefully adapting Jane Austen’s 1811 novel Sense and Sensibility into a feature film screenplay. Her dedication was rewarded in 1996 when she won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Halle Berry Fought Hard For Monster’s Ball Role

Before she secured her history making role in Monster’s Ball, Berry had to fight incredibly hard just to be considered. She relentlessly pushed the producers to let her audition, proving she had the dramatic chops to pull it off.

Crispin Glover Sued Over Back To The Future

Glover stood his ground when the producers of the 1989 sequel used unauthorized footage and put prosthetics on a replacement actor to mimic his face. He sued the studio, ultimately changing how actors’ likenesses are protected in Hollywood.

Daniel Day Lewis Built His Own Crucible House

For the 1996 film The Crucible, Day-Lewis fully committed by using 17th-century tools to help build the replica Puritan house his character inhabited. He also lived in the village without modern conveniences like electricity or running water.