The Biggest Commitments Between Film Directors and Stars

Creating movie magic on the big screen often requires a lot of blood, sweat and tears behind the scenes to pull all the threads together.

While the ideal end result for a movie is entertainment that seamlessly comes to life (which also makes the people involved a lot of money in the process), sometimes things can get a little messy between the people who make it along the way.

From blockbusters to lawsuits to war of words, scroll on to dive into some of the most notorious feuds between film directors and stars – and find out how their relationships turned out to be less than harmonious.

Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively

Rumors were swirling that director/actor Justin Baldoni and an actress Blake Lively not getting along during the promotional tour for It Ends With Usreleased in August 2024.

The animosity between the couple was confirmed when Lively, 37, sued Baldoni, 40, in December 2024 for sexual harassment and accused the director of trying to tarnish her reputation with a smear campaign – a claim Baldoni’s lawyers vehemently denied.

Olivia Wilde and Florence Pugh

In the case of the 2022 release, Don’t worry, Darling, many viewers became more interested in the drama behind the scenes than in the film itself. The film was directed by Olivia Wilde and starred Florence Pugh – and speculation was rife tension between the pair.

In the period before Don’t worry, DarlingRelease Pugh did very little promotion for the film, avoiding being photographed next to Wilde and skipping or arriving late to press engagements. Although neither has confirmed the truth behind their relationship, there were rumors that Pugh may be unhappy with costar Wilde’s relationship Harry Styles.

Megan Fox and Michael Bay

During his Transformer days, Megan Fox rock the boat with the director Michael Bay when she publicly compared him to “Hitler” – which ultimately led to her being fired from the franchise and replaced by Rosie Huntington-Whiteley.

“He’s like Napoleon and he wants to create this crazy, infamous bad guy name. He wants to be like Hitler on his sets, and he is,” Fox, 38, said Wonderland Magazine in 2009. “So he’s a nightmare to work for but when you take him away from the set, and he’s not in director mode, I really enjoy his personality because he’s so awkward, so hopelessly awkward.”

While he ended up cutting her from his films, Bay said GQ Magazine in 2011 who was not particularly offended.

“I wasn’t hurt, because I know that’s just Megan. Megan loves getting a response,” Bay, 59, said. “She’s doing it the wrong way. I’m sorry, Megan. I’m sorry I made you work 12 hours. I’m sorry I made you show up on time. Movies aren’t always warm and fuzzy.”

Jake Gyllenhaal and David Fincher

Jake Gyllenhaal a David Fincher didn’t mince words when it came to talking about their experiences working together on the 2007 film zodiac sign

“Fincher paints with people,” Gyllenhaal, 44, said of the director in 2007, complaining, “It’s hard to be a color.”

Fincher later had his own take on what it was like to work with Gyllenhaal – and he didn’t hold back.

“Jake was in the unpleasant position of being very young and having a lot of people competing for his attention, working for someone who doesn’t allow you to take a day off,” Fincher, 62, told The New York Times in 2020. “I think Jake’s philosophy was informed by — look, he had made a bunch of movies, even as a kid, but I don’t think he was ever asked to focus on minutiae, and I think that it draws a lot of attention.”

Katherine Heigl and Judd Apatow

Another infamous case of a movie star going head to head with her director was when Katherine Heigl he came out swinging against the film he starred in, 2007’s Knocked Up.

Its director Judd Apatow left less than an impression when she slammed Beat Up during an interview with Vanity fair in 2008.

“He paints the women as bugs, so humorless and straightforward,” said Heigl, 46. “He paints the men as lovable, goofy, fun-loving men. He exaggerated the characters, and I had a hard time with him, on some days. I play such a whore; why is she such a killjoy? Why is this how you portray women? Ninety-eight percent of the time it was an amazing experience, but it was hard for me to love the movie.”

For his part, Apatow told the radio host Howard Stern in 2009 that he expected an apology from Heigl after the disparaging comments but he didn’t get one.

“(You’d think) at some point I’ll get a call saying ‘Sorry, I was tired …’ and then the call never comes,” Apatow, 57, said.