You're Fired! And it Hurt
by Ed_Jones_XLIX | created - 2 months ago | updated - 1 month ago | PublicYes, it even happens in Hollywood. Actors get let go for a multitude of reasons. Sometimes before shooting begins. Disagreements run the gamut. Sometimes it's for the best. Sometimes not.
So we ask you, what one Movie or TV Show do you think would have benefited the most if the listed actor was not fired from the production?
Poll is loosely based on this article in Marie Claire by Alex Warner and Adam Schubak
After voting, please discuss here.
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1. Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2018)
14A | 106 min | Biography, Comedy, Crime
When Lee Israel falls out of step with current tastes, she turns her art form to deception.
Director: Marielle Heller | Stars: Melissa McCarthy, Richard E. Grant, Dolly Wells, Ben Falcone
Votes: 43,784 | Gross: $8.80M
Julianne Moore was replaced
2. House of Cards (2013–2018)
14A | 51 min | Drama
A Congressman works with his equally conniving wife to exact revenge on the people who betrayed him.
Stars: Kevin Spacey, Michel Gill, Robin Wright, Kate Mara
Votes: 453,540
Kevin Spacey was fired for off screen issues
3. Knocked Up (2007)
18A | 129 min | Comedy, Romance
For fun-loving party animal Ben Stone, the last thing he ever expected was for his one-night stand to show up on his doorstep eight weeks later to tell him she's pregnant with his child.
Director: Judd Apatow | Stars: Seth Rogen, Katherine Heigl, Paul Rudd, Leslie Mann
Votes: 343,817 | Gross: $148.73M
Anne Hathaway was let go over differences regarding a scene.
4. Two and a Half Men (2003–2015)
22 min | Comedy, Romance
A hedonistic jingle writer's free-wheeling life comes to an abrupt halt when his brother and 10-year-old nephew move into his beach-front house.
Stars: Jon Cryer, Ashton Kutcher, Angus T. Jones, Conchata Ferrell
Votes: 235,468
Charlie Sheen for personal behavior issues
5. The Conners (2018– )
30 min | Comedy
Follow-up to the comedy series Roseanne (1988), centering on the family members of the matriarch after her sudden death.
Stars: John Goodman, Laurie Metcalf, Sara Gilbert, Alicia Goranson
Votes: 7,457
Roseanne Barr was fired for Twitter comments
6. American Psycho (2000)
R | 101 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
A wealthy New York City investment banking executive, Patrick Bateman, hides his alternate psychopathic ego from his co-workers and friends as he delves deeper into his violent, hedonistic fantasies.
Director: Mary Harron | Stars: Christian Bale, Justin Theroux, Josh Lucas, Bill Sage
Votes: 468,094 | Gross: $15.07M
Leonardo DiCaprio was replaced
7. Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011)
PG | 154 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
The Autobots learn of a Cybertronian spacecraft hidden on the moon, and race against the Decepticons to reach it and to learn its secrets.
Director: Michael Bay | Stars: Shia LaBeouf, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Tyrese Gibson, Josh Duhamel
Votes: 378,595 | Gross: $352.39M
Megan Fox was fired for making derogatory comments.
8. Beverly Hills, 90210 (1990–2000)
PG | 44 min | Drama, Romance
A group of friends living in Beverly Hills, California make their way through life from their school days into adulthood.
Stars: Jason Priestley, Shannen Doherty, Luke Perry, Jennie Garth
Votes: 30,374
Shannen Doherty was let go because of on set disagreements
9. Grey's Anatomy (2005– )
G | 41 min | Drama, Romance
A drama centered on the personal and professional lives of five surgical interns and their supervisors.
Stars: Ellen Pompeo, Chandra Wilson, James Pickens Jr., Justin Chambers
Votes: 235,812
Isaiah Washington was let go for inappropriate comments directed at another actor
10. Three's Company (1976–1984)
PG | 30 min | Comedy
The misadventures of two women and one man living in one apartment and their neighbors.
Stars: John Ritter, Joyce DeWitt, Suzanne Somers, Richard Kline
Votes: 11,620
Suzanne Somers was let go over contract negotiations
11. Anger Management (2012–2014)
22 min | Comedy, Romance
Divorced former baseball player Charlie Goodson is now an anger management therapist. He has a teenage daughter with obsessive-compulsive disorder and he has a purely sexual relationship ... See full summary »
Stars: Charlie Sheen, Shawnee Smith, Noureen DeWulf, Michael Arden
Votes: 29,588
Selma Blair was fired for complaining about Charlie Sheen holding up shooting schedules.
12. The Avengers (2012)
PG | 143 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Earth's mightiest heroes must come together and learn to fight as a team if they are going to stop the mischievous Loki and his alien army from enslaving humanity.
Director: Joss Whedon | Stars: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner
Votes: 1,236,230 | Gross: $623.28M
Edward Norton
Was Bruce Banner in 2008s 'The Hulk' but was not even considered for the reprisal role in this production.
13. The Lovely Bones (2009)
PG | 135 min | Drama, Fantasy, Thriller
Centers on a young girl who has been murdered and watches over her family - and her killer - from purgatory. She must weigh her desire for vengeance against her desire for her family to heal.
Director: Peter Jackson | Stars: Rachel Weisz, Mark Wahlberg, Saoirse Ronan, Susan Sarandon
Votes: 153,578 | Gross: $43.82M
Ryan Gosling was fired for being "Fat". No kidding. He thought that the role he was offered required that his character should be "heavy". So he gained 60lbs. When he showed up on the first day of shooting he was let go.
14. House M.D. (2004–2012)
14A | 44 min | Drama, Mystery
An antisocial maverick doctor who specializes in diagnostic medicine does whatever it takes to solve puzzling cases that come his way using his crack team of doctors and his wits.
Stars: Hugh Laurie, Omar Epps, Robert Sean Leonard, Jesse Spencer
Votes: 400,709
Kal Penn
Odd story here: Penn was offered a job as an associate director for the Obama administration's Office of Public Liaison. A job he couldn't pass up. But when it came time to finish his role, the writers killed him off by having his character commit suicide.
15. Gossip Girl (2007–2012)
14A | 42 min | Drama, Romance
Privileged teens living on the Upper East Side of New York can hide no secret from the ruthless blogger who is always watching.
Stars: Blake Lively, Leighton Meester, Penn Badgley, Ed Westwick
Votes: 147,784
Taylor Momsen was let go for her “unreliable and erratic behavior”
16. Criminal Minds (2005–2020)
TV-14 | 42 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
The cases of the F.B.I. Behavioral Analysis Unit (B.A.U.), an elite group of profilers who analyze the nation's most dangerous serial killers and individual heinous crimes in an effort to anticipate their next moves before they strike again.
Stars: Matthew Gray Gubler, Kirsten Vangsness, A.J. Cook, Joe Mantegna
Votes: 151,271
Thomas Gibson was let go after an on-set altercation
17. Iron Man 2 (2010)
PG | 124 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
With the world now aware of his identity as Iron Man, Tony Stark must contend with both his declining health and a vengeful mad man with ties to his father's legacy.
Director: Jon Favreau | Stars: Robert Downey Jr., Mickey Rourke, Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle
Votes: 702,073 | Gross: $312.43M
Terrence Howard over a salary dispute
18. Paddington (2014)
G | 95 min | Adventure, Comedy, Family
A young Peruvian bear travels to London in search of a home. Finding himself lost and alone at Paddington Station, he meets the kindly Brown family, who offer him a temporary haven.
Director: Paul King | Stars: Hugh Bonneville, Sally Hawkins, Julie Walters, Jim Broadbent
Votes: 94,104 | Gross: $76.27M
Colin Firth was let go as the voice of the Paddington when it was deemed that his mature tone wasn't right for the part
19. Scandal (2012–2018)
PG | 43 min | Drama, Thriller
A former White House Communications Director starts her own crisis management firm only to realize her clients are not the only ones with secrets.
Stars: Kerry Washington, Darby Stanchfield, Katie Lowes, Guillermo Díaz
Votes: 65,850
Columbus Short was let go for personal issues off screen
20. Her (2013)
14A | 126 min | Drama, Romance, Sci-Fi
In a near future, a lonely writer develops an unlikely relationship with an operating system designed to meet his every need.
Director: Spike Jonze | Stars: Joaquin Phoenix, Amy Adams, Scarlett Johansson, Rooney Mara
Votes: 518,466 | Gross: $25.57M
Samantha Morton was deemed not to have "The Voice" needed for the part of "The Operating System". Scarlett Johansson got the nod as "The Voice"
21. Chicken Little (2005)
G | 81 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
After ruining his reputation with the town, a courageous chicken must come to the rescue of his fellow citizens when aliens start an invasion.
Director: Mark Dindal | Stars: Zach Braff, Joan Cusack, Garry Marshall, Don Knotts
Votes: 83,685 | Gross: $135.39M
Holly Hunter was fired after recording the bulk of the lines for Chicken Little when it was determined that the title character would be changed to a boy.
22. Predator (1987)
R | 107 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
A team of commandos on a mission in a Central American jungle find themselves hunted by an extraterrestrial warrior.
Director: John McTiernan | Stars: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Carl Weathers, Kevin Peter Hall, Elpidia Carrillo
Votes: 362,530 | Gross: $59.74M
Jean-Claude Van Damme was fired from playing the title character role of The Predator, but no one really knows why. Many rumors abound, but the truth is out there! I want to believe!
23. The Cosby Show (1984–1992)
G | 30 min | Comedy, Family, Romance
The goings-on in the life of a successful African-American family.
Stars: Bill Cosby, Phylicia Rashad, Keshia Knight Pulliam, Malcolm-Jamal Warner
Votes: 30,466
Lisa Bonet was let go for supposedly, "creative differences." More likely was that she had recently participated in a nude photo shoot for a magazine
24. Back to the Future (1985)
PG | 116 min | Adventure, Comedy, Sci-Fi
Marty McFly, a 17-year-old high school student, is accidentally sent thirty years into the past in a time-traveling DeLorean invented by his close friend, the eccentric scientist Doc Brown.
Director: Robert Zemeckis | Stars: Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover
Votes: 1,015,524 | Gross: $210.61M
Eric Stoltz was let go in favor of Michael J. Fox. Adding insult to injury, Producers knew that Fox was unavailable for four weeks. So they used Stoltz to play McFly so that the other actors scenes could be shot. Stoltz was essentially a stand in.
25. Aliens (1986)
R | 137 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Ellen Ripley is rescued by a deep salvage team after being in hypersleep for 57 years. The moon that the Nostromo visited has been colonized, but contact is lost. This time, colonial marines have impressive firepower, but will that be enough?
Director: James Cameron | Stars: Sigourney Weaver, Michael Biehn, Carrie Henn, Paul Reiser
Votes: 635,276 | Gross: $85.16M
James Remar was dismissed for off screen personal problems
26. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
14A | 178 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
A meek Hobbit from the Shire and eight companions set out on a journey to destroy the powerful One Ring and save Middle-earth from the Dark Lord Sauron.
Director: Peter Jackson | Stars: Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Orlando Bloom, Sean Bean
Votes: 1,609,508 | Gross: $315.54M
Stuart Townsend was let go in favor of Viggo Mortensen. No specific reason was given. Good call by Peter Jackson
27. Beverly Hills Cop (1984)
18A | 105 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
A freewheeling Detroit cop pursuing a murder investigation finds himself dealing with the very different culture of Beverly Hills.
Director: Martin Brest | Stars: Eddie Murphy, Judge Reinhold, John Ashton, Lisa Eilbacher
Votes: 158,052 | Gross: $234.76M
Sylvester Stallone who had the role of Axel Foley initially, was fired when he attempted to re-write his role. The studio didn't like that.
28. Kevin Can Wait (2016–2018)
PG | 30 min | Comedy
A retired police officer is on a fresh career path as he rises to the challenge of being a newly single dad. His kids are grateful to him for making sure they're okay, but decide it's time for him to get out of the house, so they turn to Vanessa (Leah Remini), his former police partner, for help.
Stars: Kevin James, Taylor Spreitler, Ryan Cartwright, Gary Valentine
Votes: 8,298
Erinn Hayes was let go for no specific reason. Her character was killed off
29. Valley of the Dolls (1967)
18A | 123 min | Drama, Music, Romance
Film version of Jacqueline Susann's best-selling novel chronicling the rise and fall of three young women in show business.
Director: Mark Robson | Stars: Barbara Parkins, Patty Duke, Paul Burke, Sharon Tate
Votes: 7,232 | Gross: $44.43M
Judy Garland was fired for her erratic behavior and refusal to come out of her dressing room one day for filming.
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