Actors Who Had Gross On-Set Habits
Some actors are notoriously difficult to work with. Personalities clash, and productions become mired in on-set drama. Still, sometimes friction between co-stars begins with gross on-set habits rather than personality clashes. This can make working on a film or television set stressful and unpleasant for everyone involved, causing strife amongst co-stars who actually might like one another if they didn't work in such close quarters, and for such concentrated periods of time.
When you work as intimately with others as many actors do, there are some best practices you should follow when it comes to your behavior, hygiene, and on-set meals. Keeping it clean and inoffensive is the key to happy sets and happy co-stars. But not everyone can agree on standards of cleanliness and what is acceptable on-set behavior. Some actors need to engage in certain rituals to get into character, leading to unhappy co-stars and rumors. From method acting madness to poor food choices and poor hygiene, we've got a list of actors who had gross on-set habits.
Robert Pattinson
When Robert Pattinson landed the role of Edward Cullen in the "Twilight" franchise, he entered the realm of sudden superstardom. He also developed a reputation for having poor hygiene. A source on the set of "New Moon" told E! News, "He stinks. I mean, it's awful. He never showers, and it drives people on the set crazy. [...] He completely reeks." Not everyone associated with "Twilight" complained about Pattinson's smell. Kristen Stewart told People, "He smells great. [...] It's kind of an animalist thing that goes on. It went along with the movie, so it was perfect."
When asked about not washing his hair for six weeks, Pattinson admitted to Extra, "Probably. I don't know. I don't really see the point in washing your hair." The star then asked, "If you don't care if your hair is clean or not, then why would you wash it?" This stance on washing his hair must have frustrated everyone in the makeup department because they are the ones who must contend with his unruly hair.
Not to worry — becoming a model for Dior helped Pattinson clean up his act. "I was a brush-your-teeth-and-have-a-shower kind of guy," Pattinson told The Wall Street Journal in 2014. "I can't tell if it's because of my association with Dior or because I'm older, but I've started moisturizing," he said. He added with sarcasm, "It's been a quite profound change in my life." His co-stars must appreciate him arriving on set fresh and clean.
Brad Pitt
Brad Pitt has long been a sex symbol. He's even been crowned people's Sexiest Man Alive twice. The star is also famous for something less desirable: having poor hygiene. In 2009, we learned Pitt readily admits to not showering regularly but insists baby wipes keep him fresh. His "Inglourious Basterds" co-star, Eli Roth, told People that Pitt shared the tip while filming the Tarantino film. "After a scene, Brad had to get next to me for a close-up shot, and he said, 'Damn, you're ripe,'" Roth told People. "I said, 'I didn't have time to shower.' He said, 'Baby wipes, man, baby wipes.'"
Brad Pitt not only showers infrequently; he has also stopped using soap and antiperspirant because of concerns for the environment and the toxins these products contain, opting for a homemade concoction. Not everyone was as impressed as Roth was with Pitt's hygiene hack. Pitt's former bodyguard reportedly complained about the actor's body odor. Even Pitt's children have staged a mutiny over his insufficient bathing habits. If his family is complaining, can you imagine what his co-stars have to say?
Pitt isn't alone in his aversion to soap, bathing, and deodorant. Many stars have come out in recent years as being infrequent bathers. Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher talked about their relaxed approach to bathing with Dax Shepard on the Armchair Expert podcast. Jake Gyllenhaal told Vanity Fair, "More and more I find bathing to be less necessary."
Shia LaBeouf
Shia LaBeouf is known for embracing method acting, although he doesn't claim to be a method actor, telling Bishop Robert Barron on YouTube, "I think people put that on me." He said method actors are more intellectual than he is. He called himself a big feeler rather than thinker, saying, "I don't identify with that school of thought, really. [...] I don't know if I'm a method guy. And I think some of that stuff's ridiculous." While filming the war epic "Fury," the cast and crew were troubled by the extreme methods LaBeouf used to get into character.
LaBeouf told Dazed Digital that after landing the role he trained with the 41st Infantry of the US National Guard, and during filming, "I pulled my tooth out, knifed my face up, and spent days watching horses die. I didn't bathe for four months." He said that all of this prep was to get into the mind of a soldier who's part of a tank crew. While LaBeouf might be regarded as one of the best actors of his generation, his reputation is problematic.
During the filming of "Fury," a source told The Daily Mail, "Shia was warned about his behavior by several people on set, including Brad Pitt and director David Ayer." You read that right, even Pitt was offended by LaBeouf's poor hygiene and self-mutilation. The source told The Daily Mail, "Shia drove everyone mad on set trying to prove that he was the most dedicated star." According to The Daily Mail, he even wound up staying in a different lodging than the rest of the cast and crew because of his poor hygiene and troubling behavior.
Jim Carrey
Jim Carrey's bizarre and annoying antics on the set of "Man on the Moon" were so strange, Universal didn't want any behind-the-scenes footage released. In Chris Smith's Netflix documentary "Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond," audiences saw this footage for the first time. Carrey said the studio was worried that the footage would reflect poorly on Carrey and that people might think he looked "like an a**hole." While making Miloš Forman's biopic about the eccentric comedian Andy Kaufman, Carrey got lost in the role, staying in character on set for four months of filming.
In the documentary, Carrey says that when he got the role, Kaufman's spirit tapped him on the shoulder and took over. Carrey says in the film, "What happened afterwards was out of my control." Watching both the film and documentary, Carrey certainly seems possessed by something, and it wasn't always fun for the cast and crew. Carrey made everyone on set call him Andy — or Tony, when Carrey inhabited Kaufman's belligerent alter ego, Tony Clifton.
Carrey was combative and rude, especially with Jerry Lawler, the professional wrestler who plays himself in the film. The actor antagonized Lawler into an on-set altercation after spitting in Lawler's face. Carrey's method acting resulted in an incredible performance that won Carrey a Golden Globe and allowed for a beautiful but strange quasi-reunion between Carrey's Andy and the real-life daughter Kaufman never met; but for the cast and crew, Carrey's method acting was unprofessional and disruptive to the production.
Matthew McConaughey
In 2005, when Matthew McConaughey was named People's Sexiest Man Alive, he told the world, "I haven't worn deodorant in 20 years." McConaughey isn't alone in this. Stars like Cameron Diaz skip antiperspirants because, as she told E! News, "I don't believe in antiperspirant. [...] It's really bad for you. I haven't used it for almost 20 years." McConaughey's stance doesn't seem to be over health concerns; the actor just seems to not think it's necessary. Reportedly in a 2008 interview with Playboy, McConaughey said, "The women in my life, including my mother, have all said, 'Hey, your natural smell smells, one, like a man, and, two, smells like you.'"
That is, until he worked with Kate Hudson, who begged him to use her natural deodorant while filming "Fool's Gold." McConaughey reportedly told Playboy, "Kate Hudson can't stand it. She always brings a salt rock, which is some natural deodorant, and says, 'Would you please put this on?'" Apparently, others have worked with McConaughey and found absolutely nothing offensive about his smell. Yvette Nicole Brown, who worked with the actor on "Tropic Thunder," told "The Jess Cagle Show," "He smells like granola and good living."
It must have been extra hot in Australia while filming "Fool's Gold," or maybe McConaughey started taking multiple showers every day because of Hudson's complaints about his body odor. Either way, the two actors have made a couple of films together, and they had great screen chemistry — even if she thought he smelled bad.
Kate Hudson
Kate Hudson has also been accused of being smelly. Not for having offensive body odor and poor hygiene, but for making poor food choices on-set that resulted in foul breath. Dane Cook told Andy Cohen that Hudson was his worst on-screen kiss. According to ABC News, Cook said that while making "My Best Friend's Girl" Hudson "purposely ate like a feast of onions before our scene," adding, "I had to burn her on that one!"
Hudson's reaction when her "Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery" co-star Janelle Monáe threw Cook into a kissing contest between Husdon's former leading men, Matthew McConaughey and Billy Crudup to discover who was the best kisser, revealed Hudson hadn't been feeling it when she kissed Cook either. Hudson's response to Vanity Fair's Lie Detector Test was a grimace accompanied by the words, "No. No. Canceled," before laughing playfully.
Hudson's response could have simply been regarding Cook's kissing skills or because his previous comments embarrassed her. After all, no one enjoys being called out for having bad breath or being called someone's worst on-screen kiss ever. When you're an actor who does a lot of kissing scenes, bad breath is a common complaint, so it's best to keep things fresh and minty.
Shailene Woodley
Shailene Woodley is known for being health-conscious and into natural healing and natural beauty products, but one of her co-stars did not appreciate this proclivity toward herbalism. Miles Teller said he hated kissing her while filming "The Spectacular Now" because her numerous herbal tinctures tasted bad. Teller told Vulture, "She would take these herbal supplements, these Chinese herbal supplements, and they tasted like crap. And she would always eat them right before we had a kissing scene!"
Woodley didn't enjoy shooting their kissing scenes either. Reportedly she took issue with Teller's beverage of choice — Gatorade. Woodley told Vulture, "We'd have to kiss in a scene, and he'd be like, 'Shay, you just ate dirt.' And I'd be like, 'Miles, you just ate licorice.' It was just this ongoing back-and-forth." This might surprise fans who have seen Woodley and Teller in four films together. But don't worry, this popular film duo are friends despite their complaints about each other's on-set habits.
Woodley might not like Gatorade, but she loved Teller's recent work in "Top Gun: Maverick," telling People that Teller is, a "wildly talented actor." Although Teller appreciated the praise, he told the publication, "She certainly didn't have to do anything publicly for me to know that she supports me and that we are really good friends. ... We've been very close for a long time." Maybe next time they meet up to star as romantic leads, they can just agree on breath mints or a universally inoffensive glass of water before kissing scenes.
Jennifer Lawrence
Word is Jennifer Lawrence "tortured" her "Hunger Games" leading men by eating stinky food before her kissing scenes with both Liam Hemsworth and Josh Hutcherson and she didn't feel bad about it one bit. Lawrence confirmed this on "The Graham Norton Show," joking, "Whenever I had to kiss Josh and Liam for 'The Hunger Games,' who cares. I'd eat like mustard and tuna — like who cares?" Lawrence said that when she starred in "American Hustle" with Christian Bale, she cleaned her act up.
Hemsworth had his chance to complain about Lawrence's gross on-set food choices to Jimmy Fallon. Hemsworth told Fallon, "Anytime I had to kiss Jennifer was pretty uncomfortable. Pretty awkward." When Fallon was baffled by this declaration, Hemsworth explained, "She's one of my best friends. I love her. But if we had a kissing scene, she would make a point of eating garlic or tuna fish." Not to worry — these two are clearly friends who enjoy giving each other a hard time.
From stories that surfaced about the practical jokes and pranks pulled during the production of the "Hunger Games" movies, it seems like Lawrence's food choices were more of a joke than poor hygiene or a deliberate tactic to torment her leading men. And the men occasionally fought back — Hutcherson once scared Lawrence so badly that she peed her pants when he put a mutilated dummy in the bathroom of her trailer. If you're going to dish it out, you'd better learn to take a joke, right, guys?
Jason Segel
Jason Segel was a smoker when he landed a starring role on the hit series "How I Met Your Mother." Reportedly, his co-star and on-screen wifey, Alyson Hannigan, told him she wouldn't do any kissing scenes with him because of his smoker's breath. Hannigan told Digital Spy, "I cannot stand cigarette smoke. It's like kissing an ashtray and he's trying to be polite by having gum or mints, but it doesn't help." She continued, "When we started the pilot he was like, 'Get me to stop smoking, I'll be your best friend.'" They agreed on a fine system, and he owed hundreds on the first day, so Segal just quit.
Hannigan said, "He quit cold turkey for about a year. It was fantastic, but then ... he got stressed out and he started smoking again." Despite being grossed out by his smoking, Hannigan said she loved working with Segal on the series. She broke down crying while trying to explain why she would miss him during a cast reunion on "The Talk." The feelings were obviously mutual, when Segal told the hosts on "The Talk," "Aly taught me a lot about how to be a man, I gotta say. I was 25 when I took the show, and I think we've all been through a lot personally." This just goes to show, just because an actor has a gross on-set habit, doesn't mean their co-stars won't grow to love them.
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Allegedly, Arnold Schwarzenegger, intentionally farted in the face of one of his co-stars. Miriam Margolyes is probably best known for her "Harry Potter" role and for playing Juliet's nurse in Baz Luhrmann's iconic film "Romeo + Juliet." Her hilarious and brutally honest answers to interview questions have made her a popular and entertaining talk show guest.
The British actor told "I've Got News For You" that she didn't enjoy meeting Schwarzenegger while filming the horror movie "End of Days," and she hasn't gotten over it. "He's a bit too full of himself, and I don't care for him at all," she said. "He's a Republican, which I don't like. He was actually quite rude. He farted in my face. Now, I fart. Of course I do — but I don't fart in people's faces. He did it deliberately, right in my face."
Not only was this on-set behavior gross, but Margolyes also found it offensive, saying, "I was playing Satan's sister, and he was killing me, so he had me in a position where I couldn't escape and lying on the floor. And he just farted." Margolyes continued: "It wasn't on film, it was in one of the pauses, but I haven't forgiven him for it." Because of the hilarious and gross nature of Margolyes' accusation, many entertainment sites picked up the story. Despite Variety reaching out to Schwarzenegger's representatives for comment, it appears the actor never commented on her accusation.
Johnny Galecki
Johnny Galecki's unhygienic habit of disposing of his gum on the set of "The Big Bang Theory" was so gross one of his co-stars couldn't resist talking about it. If you are familiar with the comedy series, you know the elevator in the apartment building where Sheldon (Jim Parsons), Leonard (Galecki), and Penny (Kaley Cuoco) lived remained out of order for years on end. Kunal Nayyar, who played Raj Koothrappali on the series, revealed to Daily Express, the stairs on-set led to nowhere, saying, "Down there is nothing, there's a wall there where Johnny Galecki, for 12 years, would stick his chewing gum on," adding, "I'm not joking; there's a wall of 3,000 dried chewing gum from Johnny Galecki."
This is a totally gross on-set habit, but do you know what is even more disgusting? Some fans would probably spend a pretty penny to buy that wall of chewing gum as a weird piece of celebrity memorabilia.