10 actors who sued their own movies
When massive budgets, studio meddling, and movie star egos are involved, controversy is bound to occur.
As much as those involved in the filmmaking process would declare that it is a form of art, the industry that employs them is still a business. The most important aspect of keeping that business alive is profits, as the only way that films can keep evolving is if people are going to see them. Ever since the explosion of the blockbuster model in the 1970s, which began with Jaws and Star Wars, studios have been desperate to earn the type of hits that can justify another full year of expenses.
Egos tend to get bruised when making ambitious productions, and not every film set ends up being an amiable one; for every project in which the director and actor are close with one another, there is one where the entire team is feuding behind-the-scenes. While generally these types of debates and controversies only tend to pop up in gossip magazines and social media reports, they can sometimes reach an actual court.
Actors tend to be very protective of both their image and salary, and are incentivised to defend themselves publicly, even if it means making an enemy out of the studio that once employed them. While publicly suing a film that they’ve appeared in might not be great for the title’s long-term reputation, certain situations are so incorrigible that they demand this type of extreme reaction. Those who enjoy reading about Hollywood scandals might find that these are just another entertaining spectacle to watch.
The 10 actors who sued their own film projects:
Kevin Costner – ‘Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves’ (1991)
Kevin Costner is renowned for having a fairly sizable ego, but that hasn’t prevented his films from being massive financial successes, leading him on an incredible run, especially in the ‘90s, when many of his films were overperforming, and none were more surprising than Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. While there hadn’t been a ton of successful films based on the character, Prince of Thieves ended up being one of the year’s biggest hits, only behind Terminator 2: Judgment Day.
Costner ended up suing because he had been cut out of some of the film’s profits, and alleged that he had not been informed about the profit participation. It’s not hard to have sympathy for him, for as much as Costner’s inability to do a convincing English accent was mocked, his star power is what ended up making the film such a smash success.
Scarlett Johansson – ‘Black Widow’ (2021)
Scarlett Johansson has been an important part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe since she made her debut as the spy Natasha Romanoff, AKA Black Widow, back in Iron Man 2. After the character was elevated in The Avengers two years later, demands grew more prominent for a solo Black Widow movie, but it was far too late when Marvel eventually made it happen, as it came after the character was killed in Avengers: Endgame.
Despite being scheduled to open in May of 2020, the film was pushed back a year because of Covid-19, and Disney ended up doing a simultaneous release in theatres and as a premium purchase on Disney+, but Johansson was denied the extra profits that would occur purely based on the theatrical performance. Given that this violated her contract and didn’t account for the streaming value, she took out a lawsuit against Disney and Marvel.
Gerard Butler – ‘Olympus Has Fallen’ (2013)
Gerard Butler launched his own Die Hard-style action film in 2013 with Olympus Has Fallen, a film in which he has to protect the US president, played by Aaron Eckhart, from terrorists attacking the White House.
Ironically, that was the same premise of another film, White House Down, that was released the same year, and starred Channing Tatum and Jamie Foxx, and while Olympus Has Fallen was the more successful of the two, and even ended up starting a franchise, it was shortly after Johansson’s lawsuit against Disney that Butler was incentivised to take out his own case against Millenium Films, claiming that they had denied him over $10million in profits. It was enough to stall processes on the series, and although the third entry in the franchise, Angel Has Fallen, was warmly received in the summer of 2019, there has yet to be another film since.
Bruce Willis – ‘Tears of the Sun’ (2003)
Bruce Willis has been one of the most recognisable action stars in the world since Die Hard launched the modern version of the genre back in 1988, but he never faced a physical challenge that prepared him for the production of Tears of the Sun. The gritty war drama from director Antoine Fuqua, best known for Training Day, put Willis through the wringer and led him to cite it as the most challenging film of his entire career.
Due to the grounded approach, in which the actors did their own stunts and training, Willis sustained multiple injuries on set, and later sued because of the significant damage to his body. Sadly, Tears of the Sun is one of Willis’ last truly great films, as he began appearing in a series of flops before officially retiring due to his diagnosis with aphasia.
Sylvester Stallone – ‘Demolition Man’ (1993)
Sylvester Stallone is a polarising Hollywood figure, as he has both created all-time great characters and developed a reputation for being very difficult to work with. While Stallone faced a downward spiral later on in the ‘90s, the science fiction adventure film Demolition Man helped him save face, especially in the aftermath of how poorly Rocky V was received.
Stallone would wait many years until pulling out a lawsuit against Warner Bros for denying him the percentage of profit participation he was guaranteed for the film, which included revenue after its release. He had clearly become aware that Demolition Man had turned into a bit of a cult classic, as the film’s ridiculous predictions about the future (which included an absurd amount of product placement for Taco Bell) had made it a very enjoyable one to watch and make fun of all at the same time.
Mel Gibson – ‘The Professor and the Madman’ (2019)
Mel Gibson has been involved in a number of Hollywood controversies, but he was ironically fairly justified in suing Voltage Pictures for fraud involved in the production of the film The Professor and the Madman. Gibson and his production company were passionate about the historical drama in which he co-starred with Sean Penn, but only learned once shooting began that Voltage had not provided the proper budget.
Although he tried to personally acquire the rights to the film, Voltage ended up releasing a slapdash, lazily thrown-together version of the film in theatres, and it was barely seen, which may explain why Gibson has become so hesitant to work with major studios in the aftermath of the controversy, as he is independently financing his highly-anticipated follow-up to The Passion of the Christ, which is set to be released in 2027.
Blake Lively – ‘It Ends With Us’ (2024)
Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni have been at each other’s throats ever since the controversial Colleen Hoover adaptation It Ends With Us debuted in theatres in the summer of 2024. Although the film was a box office breakout, Lively sued Baldoni for both harassing her on set and launching a ‘smear campaign’ to discredit her leading up to its release. Conversely, Baldoni launched his own lawsuit, claiming that Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, had bullied their way into the production, usurping his authority as a director.
It Ends With Us had already been hotly debated because of the film’s advertising campaign, which seemed to frame it as a romantic-comedy, despite the fact that it included brutal scenes of domestic abuse. Lively and Baldoni seem to be locked in a feud that seems destined to go on for many more years, as there’s been no indication that the case will be wrapped up anytime soon.
Justin Seay and Christopher Rotunda – ‘Borat! (2006)
Sacha Baron Cohen has never been afraid to offend people, and Borat! Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan remains his boldest and most audacious work to date, which was a massive hit and earned him an Academy Award nomination, but he also earned several lawsuits against him from those involved.
Justin Seay and Christopher Rotunda are credited as actors in Borat because they were actual fraternity members who were interviewed by Cohen, who was in-character the entire time, but the pair claimed that they had been defamed and manipulated, as Borat had exposed the toxic culture behind college campuses. One of the most brilliant moves on Cohen’s part is to get the actors involved in the Borat films to sign contracts that they don’t often read, which made it hard for them to launch lawsuits that ended up making a difference.
Heather Donahue, Michael Williams, Joshua Leonard – ‘The Blair Witch Project’ (1999)
The Blair Witch Project is one of the most profitable films ever made because it was shot on a shoestring budget and ended up becoming a phenomenon, thanks to much of the marketing that tried to present the film as a legitimate documentary, which only heightened curiosity. However, the film ended up being so profitable because the stars Heather Donahue, Michael Williams, and Joshua Leonard were only paid the bare minimum, and did not see any profit for participation in the film’s success, or from that of the franchise that it spawned.
They sued the producers and later put out a statement claiming that they had been manipulated, and that the film’s success did not end up benefiting them in the slightest. It’s a sad case of actors being in the right place to be involved with a future classic, but getting screwed over from being a part of its legacy.
Tom Hanks – ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding’ (2002)
Tom Hanks did not act in My Big Fat Greek Wedding, but he did produce the film alongside his wife, Rita Wilson, and was responsible for helping transform it into one of the most unusual box office success stories of all time. While it was initially perceived as only a moderate success, the film ended up sticking around in theatres for months, slowly becoming a box office phenomenon (and future Academy Award nominee for ‘Best Original Screenplay’).
It was clear that My Big Fat Greek Wedding had vastly overperformed any existing expectations, and Hanks and his wife joined the film’s screenwriters in suing over not being given profit participation. Although Hanks has appeared in some of the most successful films of the ‘90s and early 21st century, it’s ironic that one of his biggest hits is a film that he doesn’t even turn up in.
