“He wants to be like Hitler on his sets, and he is,” said Megan Fox, of working with Michael Bay on “Transformers.”

11 actors who had a terrible time making iconic movies

"He wants to be like Hitler on his sets, and he is," said Megan Fox, of working with Michael Bay on "Transformers."

By Brianna Zigler

June 24, 2026 12:34 p.m. ET

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Bob Hoskins as Eddie Valiant in 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit'; Tippi Hedren as Melanie Daniels in 'The Birds'; Megan Fox as Mikaela Banes in 'Transformers'. Credit:

Everett; FilmPublicityArchive/United Archives via Getty; Robert Zuckerman/DreamWorks/Paramount

Sometimes, the movies we love the most weren’t exactly adored by the actors making them.

Making a feature film is no easy task, and depending on the style of movie, the plot, the location, the special effects, and so much more, it can be more arduous than normal. It’s also not uncommon for an overbearing or unpleasant director to make the production experience more of a nightmare than it needs to be.

It can be difficult to learn that an actor had a bad time filming one of the best movies of all time, like Mia Sara not getting along with John Hughes on the set of *Ferris Bueller’s Day Off *(1986)*, *or Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron arguing while making *Mad Max: Fury Road* (2015).

Though we’d like to believe that the actors on the sets of our favorite films held hands, smiled, laughed, and became the best of friends, the reality is that a movie is just a job — and often, it’s a difficult one.

** takes a look at 11 actors who didn’t have the greatest experience while making an iconic movie.

Marilyn Burns, Texas Chain Saw Massacre

Marilyn Burns as Sally Hardesty in 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre'.

Late actress Marilyn Burns starred in Tobe Hooper’s *The Texas Chainsaw Massacre** *(1974)*, *a horror staple that’s gone on to influence countless movies since. However, in one of Burns’ final interviews before her death in 2014, she divulged that making the movie wasn’t as fun as watching it.

“The van was suffocating,” Burns told *Screen Crush**.* “Tedious. Hot. Miserable. We were traveling with five actors and the camera guy and sound and director and continuity guy. All of us in this van, going 15 miles an hour, trying not to make any noise. Just crawling along as they kept changing the script. We'd stop to sit on the side of the road when they decided that the lines weren't working. That was the first couple weeks of shooting. It was real hot and miserable, especially when Ed [Neal, who plays the hitchhiker] came on and gunpowder had to explode and we didn't know what we were doing. They just put gunpowder on his hand and lit a match. We almost killed ourselves!”

While Burns admitted that she was certainly looking forward to the end of filming, she also stopped other cast members from quitting. “I picked up a couple of them on the way to set just to make sure they'd show!” she recalled. “Nobody except me thought it was going to get done. I'm sure Tobe and Kim [Henkel] did. I was determined to see it to the screen.”

Richard Dreyfuss, Jaws

Richard Dreyfuss as Matt Hooper in 'Jaws'. Everett Collection

The movie that turned young Steven Spielberg into a blockbuster director was a notoriously difficult production, in no small part due to technical difficulties caused by *Jaws*’ fake shark, Bruce. But there were a plethora of other issues too, related to the script, the budget, the location, and more.

One of *Jaws*’ stars, Richard Dreyfuss, spoke to *ROUTE Magazine* about the troubled time making the legendary film — though he’s done that a lot. “If there’s a subject that, if I had a fair choice of reaching for a pistol and putting it in my mouth, I would choose that before I chose talking about *Jaws* again,” the actor quipped.

To paint a picture of the particular chaos, Dreyfuss explained, “We started shooting on May 2nd without a script, without a shark and without a cast. I wasn’t hired until May 3rd and the script was all over the place, and no one realized that we, as a film unit, were the first film ever attempted on the real ocean. Just imagine the unanticipated consequences of that ignorance.”

When asked about the atmosphere on set, Dreyfuss added, “Not great. It was very difficult — a lot of stress. I’d much rather create the necessary stress out of acting than have to endure it in real life.”

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Harrison Ford, Blade Runner

Harrison Ford as Rick Deckard in 'Blade Runner'.

Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty

Shooting the sci-fi cult classic was “a long slog,” according to star Harrison Ford, who played the titular blade runner Rick Deckard. "I didn’t really find it that physically difficult—I thought it was *mentally* difficult,” he told *Vanity Fair* in 2017.

Part of the reason the shoot felt so grueling was because Ford and director Ridley Scott clashed over script decisions. Scott wanted Deckard to be revealed as a replicant, but Ford didn’t like that idea. “I felt that the audience needed to have someone on-screen that they could emotionally relate to as though they were a human being,” the actor said.

“Ridley made a tactical error, because Harrison very much wanted to collaborate. He wasn’t going to be the type of guy who said, ‘I’m a superstar—just let me do my thing,’” said Paul M. Sammon, a journalist who was present on-set and wrote a book about the production, *Future Noir.*

Speaking recently about *Blade Runner* in 2025, Ford told *Variety* that it was an “extraordinary experience” despite shooting for “50 nights in rain.”

“It was sort of miserable to make,” he continued, “but it holds its own.”

Megan Fox, Transformers

Megan Fox as Mikaela Banes in 'Transformers'.

Robert Zuckerman/DreamWorks/Paramount

Megan Fox got candid in a 2009 interview with *Wonderland* magazine when asked about what it was like working with director Michael Bay on the *Transformers* movies. Famously, Bay gave Fox the direction to “be hot” while filming.

“He’s like Napoleon,” Fox said of Bay, “and he wants to create this insane, infamous mad man reputation. He wants to be like Hitler on his sets, and he is.” She did admit, though, that when he wasn’t on set, Bay was much more tolerable.

“I kind of really enjoy his personality because he’s so awkward, so hopelessly awkward,” she added. “He has no social skills at all. And it’s endearing to watch him. He’s vulnerable and fragile in real life and then on set he’s a tyrant.”

Speaking about the note to just “be hot,” Fox said, “‘Mike,’ I’ll say, ‘Who am I talking to? Where am I supposed to be looking at?’ And he responds, ‘Just be sexy.’ I get mad when people talk to me like that.”

Tippi Hedren, The Birds

Tippi Hedren as Melanie Daniels in 'The Birds'.

FilmPublicityArchive/United Archives via Getty

Old Hollywood star Tippi Hedren had an infamously difficult relationship with Master of Suspense Alfred Hitchcock, who directed the actress in *Marnie* (1964) and, most notably, *The Birds* (1963)*.*

In an excerpt from her memoir,* Tippi: A Memoir, *Hedren recounts the real-life horror of making the avian horror film, and the moment when everything *really* went wrong. For the climactic “bedroom scene,” Hedren’s Melanie would be terrorized by a flock of bloodthirsty birds — with no way to escape.

Though Hedren was supposed to film with mechanical birds, she learned that very morning that the mechanical birds weren’t working, and they would have to use live ones.

“I heard Hitchcock yell, ‘Action,’” she wrote, “and right on cue, the handlers began hurling those live birds at me. It was brutal and ugly and relentless.”

Ultimately, they spent multiple days filming what amounted to a minute-long scene. “I was pelted with still more live, screaming, frantic birds, while the birds that were tied to me began pecking me as they’d been trained to do,” Hedren recounted. “I was too focused on my own survival to notice, but I was told later that it was even more horrifying and heartbreaking for the crew to watch than the previous four days had been, and there wasn’t a thing anyone but Hitchcock could do to put a stop to it.”

Bob Hoskins, Who Framed Roger Rabbit

Bob Hoskins as Eddie Valiant in 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit'.

Buena Vista Pictures/Courtesy Everett

Acting against animated creations is standard practice these days in our Marvel and *Star Wars-*ified world. But when *Who Framed Roger Rabbit* (1988) was made, it was a gigantic undertaking, trying to create a believable universe in which real people interacted with hand-drawn, animated characters.

The strenuous process took a toll on star Bob Hoskins, who spends the entire film chatting with various cartoons. This was long before the days of mo-cap or green screens, and acting with imaginary scene partners was far from the norm. Thus, Hoskins trained himself to “hallucinate.”

“It screwed up my brain,” he once said, per *Express**.* “I would be sitting, talking normally and suddenly a weasel would creep out of the wall at me.” His doctor had reportedly told him to take a break from acting for five months, but instead, he took a full year.

Hopefully, it was some sort of solace for the late actor that his performance was truly remarkable, in a film that serves as not just a turning point for motion picture special effects, but also stands as a timeless and masterful work of art.

Malcolm McDowell, A Clockwork Orange

Malcolm McDowell as Alex DeLarge in 'A Clockwork Orange'.

Turner Classic Movies/Courtesy Everett Collection

In a 2021 interview with *NME*, *A Clockwork Orange* star Malcolm McDowell talked about the “torture” of making Stanley Kubrick’s controversial classic, during which McDowell sustained an eye injury.

“One of the electricians said: ‘He’s tryin’ to kill you Malc, he’s tryin’ to kill you,’” McDowell recalled. “[Kubrick] was a control freak, without a doubt, on everything. [Kubrick] showed me a picture of this and I went, ‘Oh yeah? Wow’. He goes, ‘What do you think?’ ‘What do you mean what do I think? It’s an eye operation going on.’ He said: ‘I’d like you to do that.’ I went: ‘What? There’s no way! No, no, no.’ But he already had a doctor from Moorfields [Eye Hospital, in London] coming over to talk to me about it.”

He continued, “And of course this doctor comes over and he’s the guy in the movie. ‘You’ll have no problem, your eyes will be anesthetized,’ he said. ‘You won’t feel a thing.’ Well, famous last words. That wasn’t exactly accurate. So they scratch my corneas and then a week later [Kubrick] says: ‘I’ve seen all the stuff, and it’s great, but I need a real close-up of the eye.’ And I went: ‘Well, why don’t you do it on the stunt double? That’s what he gets paid for.’ ‘Malcolm, your eyes are… I can’t do that.’ So I had to go back in and do it again! And of course, they scratch my corneas [again], nothing like originally, but I knew it was coming.”

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Sam Neill, Possession

Isabelle Adjani as Anna and Sam Neill as Mark in 'Possession'.

The 1981 art-house horror classic *Possession* is about to get the remake treatment from *Smile* director Parker Finn. Die-hard fans of the film may object to this, but at least its production won't be as extreme as the original's — hopefully.

In Sam Neill’s memoir *Did I Ever Tell You This?*, the *Jurassic Park* star heavily discusses his fraught time making Andrzej Żuławski’s chaotic film, which is about a couple going through a divorce, leading to something far more sinister.

About Żuławski, Neill wrote that he “didn’t like him much”: "What he saw as direction often was just downright bullying.” Still, Neill admitted that the director was an artist, adding, “He had vision. He was a true cineaste. And they are rare.”

“Żuławski asked more of you than you could possibly give," he said. "There were times when he would scream, bellow at [co-star Isabelle Adjani] right in her face. It was distressing to see.”

Later, Neill pondered whether he might be considered a victim of abuse due to the Polish director’s practices. In an interview with *The Independent**, *he also discussed when Żuławski forced him to hit Adjani.

Neill had said of *Possession,* “I call it the most extreme film I’ve ever made, in every possible respect, and he asked of us things I wouldn’t and couldn’t go to now. And I think I only just escaped that film with my sanity barely intact.”

Zoe Saldaña, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

Zoe Saldaña as Anamaria in 'Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl'.

Before she was a Guardian of the Galaxy, Zoe Saldaña had a small role early in her career in another major Disney franchise: *Pirate of the Caribbean.* In the first film, *The Curse of the Black Pearl* (2003), she appeared as the pirate Anamaria, whose ship was stolen by Jack Sparrow.

However, her first franchise experience wasn’t a good one. When *The Hollywood Reporter* probed Saldaña about how she “hated” making the movie, she replied, “Those weren’t the right people for me. I’m not talking about the cast. The cast was great. I’m talking about the political stuff that went on behind closed doors.”

“It was a lot of above-the-line versus below-the-line, extras versus actors, producers versus PAs. It was very elitist,” she continued. “I almost quit the business. I was 23 years old, and I was like, ‘F— this!’ I am never putting myself in this situation again. People disrespecting me because they look at my number on a call sheet and they think I’m not important. F— you.”

Mia Sara, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off

Mia Sara as Sloane Peterson in 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off'.

Mia Sara has been forever immortalized as Sloane Peterson, the titular character's girlfriend in *Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.* However, the experience soured Sara on acting, and after a mostly low-key career, she retired in 2012. Mike Flanagan would, however, end up persuading her to appear in his 2025 film, *The Life of Chuck*.

In an interview with *The Times* in June 2026, Sara said plainly, "I don't really give interviews because making *Ferris Bueller* was not that good an experience for me. But I'm very aware of what a precious thing this movie is, and I don't want to disappoint people."

Her primary reason for disliking the work? "I didn't get along well with [director] John [Hughes]." In that same interview, she went on to call him a “strange guy.”

"He wanted us all to hang out together and to introduce us to the French New Wave films," she said. "But the others were seasoned actors, and I was a snotty New York kid and had seen all those movies, so he was frustrated in that desire. I didn't have the emotional maturity to deal with other people's egos, or my own."

Charlize Theron, Mad Max: Fury Road

Charlize Theron as Furiosa in 'Mad Max: Fury Road'.

Jasin Boland/Warner Bros

A book about the intense process behind the making of *Mad Max: Fury Road* shed more light on the tense relationship between stars Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron.

Kyle Buchanan’s *Blood, Sweat and Chrome* features testimony from the cast and crew as to how bad things got between the two actors, “citing everything from different approaches to acting to just general animosity and distrust,” per *.*

On one particularly bad day, however, Hardy showed up three hours late to set, and Theron laid into him.

"Whether that was some kind of power play or not, I don't know, but it felt deliberately provocative. If you ask me, he kind of knew that it was really pissing Charlize off, because she's professional and she turns up really early," said first assistant camera Ricky Schamburg.

“She was right. Full rant,” camera operator Mark Goellnicht recalled. “She screams it out. It's so loud, it's so windy — he might've heard some of it, but he charged up to her and went, 'What did you say to me?' He was quite aggressive. She really felt threatened.”

Though Theron didn’t want to “make excuses for bad behavior,” she also admitted it was “a tough shoot.” Ultimately, Hardy copped to his actions: "The pressure on both of us was overwhelming at times. What she needed was a better, perhaps more experienced partner in me,” he confessed.

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