Hollywood megastar Johnny Depp has had a turbulent life in recent years.

His off-camera troubles have bled through his behaviour on set, as on 2018’s City of Lies, Depp responded negatively when told by the film’s location manager, Greg ‘Rocky’ Brooks, that they would go late into the night shooting on the streets of LA.

Brooks says he was “repeatedly hit” and even verbally abused by Depp, and was later dismissed as a result.

Not a lot of actors embody the stereotype of troubled former child star Lindsay Lohan, who went from teen star to persona non grata in Hollywood all because of her diva-ish attitude and unreliability.

2013’s The Canyons was to be her comeback, but when production began, it was clear that Lohan hadn’t reformed. She didn’t show up on the first day and so was fired.

Lohan cried outside director Paul Schrader’s trailer until he agreed to rehire the actress.

The 1970 American film Maidstone has gone down in Hollywood history for its legendary brawl on set.

The cameras were still rolling when Rip Torn completely lost the plot and attacked his co-star Norman Mailer, using a hammer to hit him on the head claiming he needed to “kill his character.”

Torn strangled Mailer who then bit off part of Torn’s ear. The fight was broken up when Mailer’s wife Beverly intervened.

The brutality of the scene made the final cut, going down in cinematic history as one of the strangest, most brutal meltdowns ever.

Will Smith starred alongside Tommy Lee Jones in 1997’s Men in Black, turning him into one of Hollywood’s most bankable and successful stars.

But for Men in Black 3 in 2012, Smith had a diva-esque request, demanding a “a double decker $2 million trailer” on set. Filming took place just a few blocks away from his New York apartment.

Smith insisted on staying in his luxurious trailer despite complaints from local residents.

Tom Cruise has had public meltdowns over the years, though he seems to have calmed down a lot more. It was in 2020 when he made headlines for having a meltdown on the set of Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning.

The actor and producer was recorded berating his colleagues for their lax approach to COVID-19 restrictions on set. Cruise witnessed two crew members standing too close to each other.

Cruise was heard shouting: “If I see you do it again, you’re f***ing gone. And if anyone in this crew does it, that’s it… don’t you ever f***ing do it again.”

Sir Ian McKellen is a consummate professional, but reprising his Lord of the Rings role of Gandalf in the Hobbit trilogy pushed the veteran actor to his breaking point.

The FX-oriented nature of the trilogy meant McKellen had to shoot many of his scenes against a green screen.

McKellen was lonely and depressed, and “thought perhaps, has the time come for me to stop acting altogether if I can’t cope with these difficulties? I got absolutely miserable and had a little cry to myself. I didn’t realise that the microphone I was wearing was open so everybody could hear me muttering to myself about how I wanted to go home.”

1993’s Super Mario Bros was the first major video game movie based on a video game, and it had a very troubled production.

The script was rewritten daily, much to the disdain of the cast, especially Dennis Hopper who was cast as the villainous King Koopa.

When he was presented with an entirely rewritten scene just minutes before a shoot, Hopper went ballistic, screaming, “You call this writing? This is s**t! It’s s**t! And the fact you’d do it without asking me?”

It took him over three hours to calm down, resulting in an entire morning of filming lost.

1998’s Blade and its 2002 sequel gave Wesley Snipes the biggest role of his career, but 2004’s third instalment Blade: Trinity proved to be the end of his time as a star.

Snipes was on bad terms with writer-director David S. Goyer, whom the actor was said to have chased and physically threatened on set.

Snipes wouldn’t turn up for shooting, staying in his trailer and forcing the crew to shoot with his stand-in. Things were so bad that by the end of the shoot, he would only communicate with his colleagues using post-it notes.

Bill Murray is known for clashing with his co-stars, and his encounter with Richard Dreyfuss whilst filming the 1991 comedy “What About Bob?” has become infamous.

In 2019, Dreyfuss told Yahoo that Murray was “an Irish drunken bully,” saying that an intoxicated Murray “put his face next to me, nose-to-nose.”

He screamed at the top of his lungs, ‘Everyone hates you! You are tolerated!’” throwing a glass ashtray at his co-star.

Even producer Laura Ziskin claims that Murray threw her into a lake after a heated argument.

Martin Sheen was part of the troubled production of Vietnam war epic Apocalypse Now. He was a last-minute replacement for Harvey Keitel, fired by director Francis Ford Coppola early on.

Unfortunately, Sheen was in a very bad place as he struggled with alcoholism, while the on-set pressures didn’t help.

In the Saigon hotel room scene, Sheen really was drunk, unwittingly punching through a genuine mirror and bleeding all over the place for real.

He suffered a heart attack in production, but the actor survived and went on to finish the film.

Tom Hardy was relatively unknown when he made an appearance in 2002’s The Reckoning alongside Paul Bettany. He came to blows with his more famous co-star at the time.

Hardy was questioned years later with fellow actor Vincent Cassel, who jokingly asked him, “would you advise someone who’s shooting their first movie, to take a swing at the lead actor because he’s saying bad things about you?”

Hardy responded with, “I didn’t hit [Bettany], I slapped him. I didn’t want to leave a mark on his face.”

George Clooney isn’t a troublemaker, but he did find some on the set of 1999’s Three Kings, although he doesn’t come out of it as the bad guy.

Three Kings director David O. Russell is notorious for his on-set volatility, and during production, he became physically violent with an extra.

Clooney was having none of it, attacking Russell himself, with a full-on brawl resulting between the actor and the director. Clooney swore he would never work with Russell again afterwards.

Bale launched into an expletive-filled tirade on set at director of photography Shane Hurlbut after the cinematographer walked into his line of sight while filming.

Bale raged on for four minutes, as Hurlbut and the film’s director McG failed to calm the heated actor down.

What’s bizarre is that the British actor continued speaking in the American accent he was using for the role of John Connor.

He was caught on tape with the recording going viral, causing Bale to apologize later on saying that he and Hurlbut had resolved their differences.

With Cameron Diaz and Drew Barrymore in 2000’s Charlie’s Angels, the role was a major step for Lucy Liu’s career, but her performance was overshadowed by a well-publicised spat with her co-star Bill Murray.

Accounts vary, but it’s been reported that Murray upset Liu by telling her she couldn’t act. Liu was reported to have physically attacked the actor, even screaming at him.

This incident led to Murray being replaced by Bernie Mac for the sequel, Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle.

Filmmaker Quentin Tarantino has reunited with the actors from his 1992 debut Reservoir Dogs, including Harvey Keitel, Michael Madsen, Tim Roth and Steve Buscemi.

But there’s one Reservoir Dogs actor Tarantino never worked with again. That was Lawrence Tierney, who was said to have attempted to undermine everything that the director did on set.

The pair got in a fistfight, prompting Tarantino to fire Tierney, who the director later called “a complete lunatic who just needed to be sedated.”

It was also during production when Tierney was arrested after drunkenly trying to shoot his own nephew.

Gene Hackman was never known as an easygoing actor. Writer-director Wes Anderson found out the hard way when he cast the actor in the lead role of his 2001 film The Royal Tenenbaums.

It took a lot of persuasion to sign on, and the cantankerous Hackman didn’t make things easy for Anderson on set.

The actor was frequently argumentative and dismissive of the director, even engaging in some abusive name-calling during production.

His 1978 directorial debut Blue Collar had writer-director Paul Schrader playing ill-advised mind games, telling three of his leading men, Richard Pryor, Harvey Keitel and Yaphet Kotto, that they alone were the film’s lead.

Schrader wanted to inspire rivalry which would show up on screen, but it backfired, especially with Pryor.

The troubled comedy legend suffered from serious drug addiction and was prone to bouts of paranoia.

Fights broke out among the cast, and Pryor was reported to have brought a gun which he pointed at his director, furiously saying he wouldn’t shoot more than three takes of any scene.

LaBeouf co-starred with Tom Hardy in the 2012 film Lawless with many reports that they constantly clashed throughout filming and even got into a physical fight.

There were claims that LaBeouf once knocked Hardy out. Even Hardy himself was quoted saying LaBeouf “knocked me out sparko.”

But this is one instance when reality and rumour don’t line up. Hardy and LaBeouf have refuted claims of a mutual hatred, claiming they were just engaging in rough play-fight.

LL Cool J rose to fame in the 80s as a rapper, with a fairly successful film career, though he did butt heads with some notable people the wrong way.

LL joined future Oscar-winner Jamie Foxx in Oliver Stone’s 1999 sports drama Any Given Sunday, where both actors play members of rival football teams.

The two actors got into the conflict a little too much.

An unscripted moment saw LL punch Foxx in the face, which Foxx obviously didn’t take kindly to. When things seemed to have calmed down, LL went ahead and elbowed Foxx in the head while walking away.

Bette Davis and Joan Crawford had one of the most bitter rivalries in Hollywood history. The two agreed to co-star in a film that played on their animosity all things considering, which was 1962’s Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?

The shoot proved tense, with both ladies antagonising each other.

Davis took it to the extreme, striking Crawford in the face for real in a scene. Some have claimed Crawford needed stitches afterwards.

Crawford got the last laugh when Davis lost out on the Best Actress Oscar to Anne Bancroft. Crawford arranged to accept the award on behalf of Bancroft.

29-year-old James Bond actor George Lazenby was an Australian model with almost no acting experience. He bluffed his way to take over from Sean Connery as 007.

He was great a womaniser like Bond, and Lazenby also had a fondness for alcohol. He was usually drunk on set and even threw empty vodka bottles at crew members.

Despite this, the actor was expected to play Bond again, but he infamously refused, saying that playing the famous spy just once would be enough to establish him as a major star.

There are many examples of Val Kilmer losing it on set. The talented actor’s career has been overshadowed by his crazy on-set antics and controversies.

He clashed with director Joel Schumacher on the set of Batman Forever, while struggling with claustrophobia in the Batsuit.

On 1996’s The Island of Dr. Moreau, Kilmer – going through a divorce at the time – held the production to ransom with his diva-ish demands and selfish behaviour. He clashed with his co-stars and even burned a crew member with a cigarette.

Marlon Brando was one of Hollywood’s most acclaimed, successful actors but for all the great performances of his 60-year career, there were many crazy stories of his erratic behaviour on set.

Brando’s actions on the set of 1996 film The Island of Dr Moreau were enough to make screenwrite, Ron Hutchinson want to pull his hair out. Hutchinson was shocked when the actor turned up to shoot in bad shape.

Ad-libbing is part of making a film, but Brando refused to read any of his written lines: “he wanted to improvise it all,” Hutchinson recalled.

The actor even refused to take an ice bucket off his head for certain scenes due to the heat.

Nicolas Cage is known for his extremes during performances, but he went too far on Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance.

Cage took what he calls a “Nouveau Shamanic” approach, donning black and white face paint and even sewed Ancient Egyptian symbols into his costumes. Most of it was lost when the character’s CGI head was added in post-production.

Back in 2012, Cage told Empire Online, “I wouldn’t say a word to my co-stars or crew or directors. I saw the fear in their eyes… I believed I was the Ghost Rider.”

Al Pacino is one of the greatest actors of his time, but there are times when he was too dedicated. Pacino went from working on The Godfather Part II to Dog Day Afternoon, and it was clear to all that he was exhausted.

Director Sidney Lumet shot the scenes where Sonny calls his wife back-to-back, with Pacino getting increasingly intense.

When filming wrapped, Pacino burst into tears. Lumet called the experience “as good a moment of directing as I’ve ever had in my life.”

George Clooney isn’t the only actor to clash with bullish director David O. Russell. Things got heated between Russell and Lily Tomlin on the set of 2004’s I Heart Huckabees.

Tomlin wasn’t thrilled with Russell’s direction saying, “let’s just take it one f**king line at a time, instead of changing everything” in a leaked audio clip by TMZ.

Russell shot back with: “‘F**k you! I’m just trying to f**king help, you understand me?”

Tomlin has since insisted she no hard feelings with Russell, unlike Clooney.

Actor Klaus Kinski and director Werner Herzog were a volatile combination. During the filming of Aguirre, the Wrath of God, Herzog threatened to shoot Kinski after he tried to leave the project.

Herzog did not make good on his threat, but Kinski came close to killing someone.

One night, cast and crew members were keeping Kinski awake with their noise. The enraged actor took a Winchester rifle and opened fire into the hut.

No one was killed, but one bullet took the tip of an extra’s finger off. Herzog confiscated Kinski’s gun which he still has to this day.

Tom Sizemore and Val Kilmer were friends when shooting began, but wrapping up filming was a different story. Apparently, Sizemore wasn’t happy when Kilmer made remarks about how much more he was earning from the film.

Sizemore snapped due to Kilmer’s insensitivity. He retaliated by launching a 50-pound weight at Kilmer. Sizemore missed, with Kilmer escaping uninjured.

The pair were then instructed to film a fight scene, in which Sizemore punched Kilmer in the chest for real.

The incessant pestering of the paparazzi can prove too much for celebrities. Ewan McGregor reached his limit in November 2020, as he was shooting Halston in New York’s Central Park.

In a leaked clip, McGregor walked up to paparazzo Steve Sands, shouting “stop talking to me.”

An inside source claimed that Sands was causing trouble. McGregor was merely defending himself and the show’s cast and crew.

Sands, 64, said: “I got into a tit for tat on the set. Then Ewan yells at me. That was the end. I don’t hold anything against him.”

In October 2019, footage of Phoenix ranting at a crew member on the set of Joker was aired on Jimmy Kimmel Live.

The actor can be heard talking about a cinematographer, saying: “The constant whispering, just shut the f**k up, dude,” then complaining about his nickname “Cher” on set.

Phoenix said he was “embarrassed” by his behaviour. But there were claims by Phoenix’s publicist that the clip was a hoax meant to boost publicity for the movie.

By the time Monroe made 1959’s Some Like It Hot, she was the most bankable female movie star in Hollywood. She did want to be taken more seriously as an actress so she hired Paula Strasberg from New York’s Actor’s Studio as her acting coach.

Unfortunately, Monroe trusted Strasberg more than director Billy Wilder, which soon caused major problems. Monroe reportedly took 60 takes to deliver the three-word line, “It’s me, sugar!”

And despite attempting to go method, Monroe couldn’t remember her dialogue. Wilder was fed up so he taped her script onto the backs of set furniture so she could read her lines correctly.

1952’s Singin’ in the Rain is a classic musical, but production was anything but pleasant. Leading man and co-director Gene Kelly brought so much tension on set, given his many demands for perfection.

He insulted Debbie Reynolds for her inability to dance as perfectly as he envisioned.

Fred Astaire even found Reynolds cowering under a piano in tears after enduring another tirade from the perfectionist that was Kelly.

Thankfully, Kelly apologised to Reynolds, even admitting that he was unbearable to work with.

Sean Connery was 73 when The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen essentially forced him to retire.

The original Bond actor clashed with director Stephen Norrington, even losing a whole day of shooting because Norrington thought an elephant gun prop ‘did not look quite right,’ which annoyed Connery.

Connery had such a bad time that he never took part in another film. He told The Hollywood Reporter in 2018 that Norrington should’ve been “arrested for insanity”.

Shelley Duvall’s unhinged portrayal of Wendy in The Shining was pretty convincing, thanks to director Stanley Kubrick pushing Duvall to the brink of madness while shooting.

The actress was forced to cry for hours on end, and for weeks at a time. She did as many as 127 takes for a scene where she hits Jack Nicholson with a baseball bat.

Duvall was so stressed her hair began falling out. In a 1980 interview with critic Roger Ebert, Duvall described her experience as “almost unbearable.”