Actors whose demands influenced movie productions

A report from The Wall Street Journal counted all the words Keanu Reeves said in 'John Wick: Chapter 4' and found that in 169 minutes he utters only 380 words of dialogue—almost a third of which consists of just one-word lines like, "Yeah"—but director Chad Stahelski says it was the actor's own choice. Stahelski revealed that Wick doesn’t have a lot of dialogue because “Mr. Reeves stripped out roughly half the dialogue written for his character in the initial script.”

As it stands, the longest line of dialogue that Reeves has is in a scene with co-star Hiroyuki Sanada, who plays Shimazu Koji, where Wick says, “You and I left a good life behind a long time ago, my friend." To be fair, Reeves does a whole lot without words in the film, which also experienced a huge box office debut regardless of his lack of dialogue.

1 / 26 Fotos

'Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace' (1999) - Samuel L. Jackson, who plays Mace Windu, noticed that it was hard to identify himself among the many Jedi present during the Battle of Geonosis.

2 / 26 Fotos

'Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace' (1999) - He asked creator George Lucas if he could have a purple lightsaber to make himself stick out more.

3 / 26 Fotos

'Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace' (1999) - Lucas originally turned him down, claiming that lightsabers could only be certain colors, but eventually gave in.

4 / 26 Fotos

'Snakes on a Plane' (2006) -

Another Samuel L. Jackson demand that sparked a change occurred with 'Snakes on a Plane.'

5 / 26 Fotos

'Snakes on a Plane' (2006) -

When film executives wanted to change the name to 'Pacific Air Flight 121,' Jackson intervened and convinced them to leave it as 'Snakes on a Plane.'

He also convinced the studio to add more violence and bump the movie up to an R rating.

6 / 26 Fotos

'Shrek' (2001) - When actor Chris Farley (the original voice of Shrek) died, Mike Myers took over the role. After a good amount of the movie had already been animated, Myers demanded that Shrek speak with a Scottish accent.

7 / 26 Fotos

'Shrek' (2001) - It cost the production between US$4 and $5 million to rework, but DreamWorks executive Jeffrey Katzenberg gave in.

8 / 26 Fotos

'The Fast and the Furious' (2001) - Michelle Rodriguez, who plays Letty in the film franchise, was initially against the plot line for her character.

9 / 26 Fotos

'The Fast and the Furious' (2001) - Letty was supposed to cheat on her boyfriend, but Rodriguez took a moral stance against it.

10 / 26 Fotos

'The Fast and the Furious' (2001) - After threatening to quit the film and gaining support from co-star Vin Diesel, director Rob Cohen allowed the change.

11 / 26 Fotos

'Clash of the Titans' (2010) - Director Louis Leterrier wanted to make Bubo the clockwork owl (famously having appeared in the 1981 original film) a significant part of his 2010 remake. The only problem was that Sam Worthington absolutely hated the owl and complained to no end about it. Eventually, Leterrier got fed up and minimized the owl's appearance in the film.

12 / 26 Fotos

'The Avengers' (2012) -

Robert Downey Jr., who plays Iron Man in the film, was unimpressed by the original ending.

After the near defeat of the Chitauri at the end of the movie, Tony Stark was supposed to just say, "What's next?," and then the credits would roll.

13 / 26 Fotos

'The Avengers' (2012) - Downey Jr. ended up putting together a better scene with director Joss Whedon, adding an extra three pages of script to the movie.

14 / 26 Fotos

'The Hunger Games' (2012) -

In the novels, Buttercup the cat is described as "hideous-looking" and is supposed to be yellow and dirty.

15 / 26 Fotos

'The Hunger Games' (2012) - The cat that played Buttercup in the first movie was black and white, prompting fans and author Suzanne Collins to complain.

16 / 26 Fotos

'The Hunger Games' (2012) - The studio ended up recasting the cat to one that looked more similar to Buttercup's description in the books.

17 / 26 Fotos

'Gone Girl' (2014) - Ben Affleck was supposed to wear a New York Yankees baseball cap to hide his identity during several scenes in the movie.

18 / 26 Fotos

'Gone Girl' (2014) - The Red Sox fan refused, claiming his friends and family would never let him live it down.

19 / 26 Fotos

'Gone Girl' (2014) - Director David Fincher compromised by allowing Affleck to wear a New York Mets hat.

20 / 26 Fotos

'Jurassic World' (2015) -

At the end of the movie, Bryce Dallas Howard's character somehow manages to outrun a T-Rex in heels, causing critics to complain that it was unrealistic.

21 / 26 Fotos

'Jurassic World' (2015) - Apparently director Colin Trevorrow claimed that he tried to convince the actress to change shoes during filming.

22 / 26 Fotos

'Jurassic World' (2015) - Howard insisted that her character had to wear the heels in order to stay true to who she was.

23 / 26 Fotos

'The Mummy' (2017) -

Tom Cruise made some pretty hefty demands when he signed on for 'The Mummy.' One of his demands included complete creative control of the process, from the script to the marketing of the movie.

24 / 26 Fotos

'The Mummy' (2017) -

He also demanded having more screen time than the mummy. All of his demands were met and the movie was a flop. Coincidence?

25 / 26 Fotos

0 / 26 Fotos

'John Wick: Chapter 4' (2023) -

1 / 26 Fotos

'Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace' (1999) - Samuel L. Jackson, who plays Mace Windu, noticed that it was hard to identify himself among the many Jedi present during the Battle of Geonosis.

2 / 26 Fotos

'Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace' (1999) - He asked creator George Lucas if he could have a purple lightsaber to make himself stick out more.

3 / 26 Fotos

'Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace' (1999) - Lucas originally turned him down, claiming that lightsabers could only be certain colors, but eventually gave in.

4 / 26 Fotos

'Snakes on a Plane' (2006) -

Another Samuel L. Jackson demand that sparked a change occurred with 'Snakes on a Plane.'

NL Beeld

5 / 26 Fotos

'Snakes on a Plane' (2006) -

When film executives wanted to change the name to 'Pacific Air Flight 121,' Jackson intervened and convinced them to leave it as 'Snakes on a Plane.'

He also convinced the studio to add more violence and bump the movie up to an R rating.

6 / 26 Fotos

7 / 26 Fotos

'Shrek' (2001) - It cost the production between US$4 and $5 million to rework, but DreamWorks executive Jeffrey Katzenberg gave in.

8 / 26 Fotos

'The Fast and the Furious' (2001) - Michelle Rodriguez, who plays Letty in the film franchise, was initially against the plot line for her character.

9 / 26 Fotos

'The Fast and the Furious' (2001) - Letty was supposed to cheat on her boyfriend, but Rodriguez took a moral stance against it.

10 / 26 Fotos

'The Fast and the Furious' (2001) - After threatening to quit the film and gaining support from co-star Vin Diesel, director Rob Cohen allowed the change.

11 / 26 Fotos

12 / 26 Fotos

'The Avengers' (2012) -

Robert Downey Jr., who plays Iron Man in the film, was unimpressed by the original ending.

After the near defeat of the Chitauri at the end of the movie, Tony Stark was supposed to just say, "What's next?," and then the credits would roll.

13 / 26 Fotos

'The Avengers' (2012) - Downey Jr. ended up putting together a better scene with director Joss Whedon, adding an extra three pages of script to the movie.

14 / 26 Fotos

'The Hunger Games' (2012) -

In the novels, Buttercup the cat is described as "hideous-looking" and is supposed to be yellow and dirty.

NL Beeld

15 / 26 Fotos

'The Hunger Games' (2012) - The cat that played Buttercup in the first movie was black and white, prompting fans and author Suzanne Collins to complain.

16 / 26 Fotos

'The Hunger Games' (2012) - The studio ended up recasting the cat to one that looked more similar to Buttercup's description in the books.

17 / 26 Fotos

'Gone Girl' (2014) - Ben Affleck was supposed to wear a New York Yankees baseball cap to hide his identity during several scenes in the movie.

18 / 26 Fotos

'Gone Girl' (2014) - The Red Sox fan refused, claiming his friends and family would never let him live it down.

19 / 26 Fotos

'Gone Girl' (2014) - Director David Fincher compromised by allowing Affleck to wear a New York Mets hat.

20 / 26 Fotos

'Jurassic World' (2015) -

At the end of the movie, Bryce Dallas Howard's character somehow manages to outrun a T-Rex in heels, causing critics to complain that it was unrealistic.

21 / 26 Fotos

'Jurassic World' (2015) - Apparently director Colin Trevorrow claimed that he tried to convince the actress to change shoes during filming.

22 / 26 Fotos

'Jurassic World' (2015) - Howard insisted that her character had to wear the heels in order to stay true to who she was.

23 / 26 Fotos

'The Mummy' (2017) -

Tom Cruise made some pretty hefty demands when he signed on for 'The Mummy.' One of his demands included complete creative control of the process, from the script to the marketing of the movie.

NL Beeld

24 / 26 Fotos

'The Mummy' (2017) -

He also demanded having more screen time than the mummy. All of his demands were met and the movie was a flop. Coincidence?

NL Beeld

25 / 26 Fotos

Actors whose demands influenced movie productions

With stardom comes power

05/12/24 | StarsInsider

MOVIES Hollywood

Actors can be hard to please and are often unhappy with various aspects of a particular production, script, or character. In some cases, they even end up insisting that something be changed until directors eventually give in to keep them happy.

In the following gallery, go behind the scenes of some of your favorite movies to discover which actors changed the outcome of a movie by demanding things go their way!