Three seasons into the hit TV show, Grey’s Anatomy, and Isaiah Washington (who played Preston Burke) was loving life. Then a behind-the-scenes argument that he wasn’t even involved in started a series of events that would lead to his eventual dismissal from the show. Okay, so T.R. Knight (who played George O’Malley) got into a pretty heated bickering match with Patrick Dempsey (who played Derek Shepherd). The fight was leaked and reported in the tabloids and, in its wake, Knight got proactive, went to the press, and, amidst all the furor, came out as gay.
This is where Isaiah Washington comes into it. He really shouldn’t come into it, but apparently, he does. In an epic example of what not to do when a colleague comes out as gay, Washington allegedly repeated a homophobic joke he’d directed at Knight when the fight was in full flight. That’s right, he didn’t just say it that one time on set, he repeated it—while he was backstage at the Golden Globe Awards. Well, it seems he certainly made himself heard because his character was immediately written out of Grey’s Anatomy.
Julianna Margulies vs. Archie Panjabi
Here’s an interesting case of life imitating art. Stars of The Good Wife, Archie Panjabi, and Julianna Margulies, play the best of friends in the show. Until the end of season two that is. Spoiler alert: season two ends with the revelation that Kalinda Sharma (played by Panjabi) slept with the husband of her best friend, Alicia Florrick (played by Margulies). This betrayal, understandably, rocks the friendship to its core. Now here’s the interesting part: as this storyline developed, Panjabi and Margulies began to avoid each other. It got to the point where their scenes were being shot separately with a phone connecting them or a third party reading the lines. How bizarre is that?
Even when the pair supposedly reunited for the show’s finale, it turns out the scene the appeared in “together” was actually shot separately. Each woman appeared in front of a green screen and their portions of the scene were later edited together. The crazy thing is, while they can’t deny this intense level of separation, both Punjabi and Margulies claim there was never any bad blood between them. So was this a case of extreme method acting? Or is there something they’re not willing to own up to?
George Clooney vs. Russell Crowe and Leonardo DiCaprio
Clooney’s flare-up with Russell Crowe and Leonardo DiCaprio actually didn’t arise on the set of any film. In fact, his shots were all fired during an interview he gave to Esquire in December of 2013. Clooney was already bristling at Crowe who had accused him of being a sellout. When asked how he felt about Crowe’s comments, Clooney replied: “the truth is that [Russel] did send me a book of poems to apologize for insulting the s**t out of me, which he did.” You can feel some tension in there but it’s not so bad, right? Well, Clooney wasn’t done. He went on to call Crowe a “Frank Sinatra wannabe.”
When we say “Clooney wasn’t done,” we really mean it. When he’d settled down on Crowe, he shifted targets, this time aiming his withering gaze at Leonardo DiCaprio and his basketball skills (of all things). Apparently, Clooney was not impressed with Leo or his friends: “the discrepancy between their game and how they talked about their game made me think of how important it is to have someone in your life to tell you what’s what. I’m not sure if Leo has someone like that.” Well, he does now George, he does now.
Julia Roberts vs. Nick Nolte
Here’s another case of stars filming their shared scenes separately. While you can kind of see it working with characters who are friends, it’s stunning to imagine two actors in a romantic comedy not ever actually filming a scene together. Yet that is apparently exactly what happened in the 1994 film, I Love Trouble. It was reported that co-stars, Nick Nolte and Julia Roberts hated each other with such intensity that they couldn’t even film many of their scenes together. Body doubles were used to create the on-screen chemistry you see in the film.
After filming was finished, you’d think the pair would be able to just forget about each other and move on. However, it seems the two were unable to let it go. In an interview with The New York Times, Roberts sunk a double-edged word-sword into Nolte’s personality, saying that while he could be “charming and nice, he’s also completely disgusting.” Nolte wasted no time taking an equally nasty dig back at Roberts, saying no nice person would call someone “disgusting” and then following that up with: “but she’s not a nice person. Everyone knows that.” Ouch!
Debra Winger vs. Shirley MacLaine
While Shirley MacLaine and Debra Winger played a loving mother and daughter in the 1983 film, Terms of Endearment, their real-life relationship couldn’t have been further removed from what we saw on-screen. MacLaine apparently grew rapidly tired of Winger’s antics. The young actress just wasn’t up to MacLaine’s standards of professionalism. In fact, it was rumoured Winger even lifted her dress directed an epic fart in MacLaine’s direction. Which is disrespectful, sure… but seriously, would you not laugh?
Failed fart jokes aside, their relationship had already turned almost completely to ice when the pair were both nominated for the Best Actress award at the Oscars. Placing them in competition like that sealed the deal on their shared loathing for each other. In the end, it was MacLaine who won. Her reaction was a shout “I deserve this!” Pretty sure we know who that was directed at.