"El Cid" resentments
Lou Lumenick's 1.27.08 review of the recently-released El Cid DVD doesn't mention a tidbit included in one of the making-of docs, which is that Charlton Heston didn't have much affection for Sophia Loren during filming (and vice versa), and that one result of this discomfort (according to a female eyewitness who was around during the shoot) is that Heston avoided eye contact with Loren during their scenes together.
Once you've heard this, the watching of El Cid takes on an extra layer of humor and intrigue. Heston does look away from her a lot.
Why the animus? Heston tended to be "a little rough" on his female costars at the time, but he also (a) resented Loren's pizza breath (i.e., her eating Italian dishes between takes + not enough subsequent tooth-brushing and mouthwashing) and (b) the fact that Loren was paid the then-astronomical sum of $1 million by El Cid producer Samuel Bronston.
Which other famed costars in big, well-known movies didn't get along? Or in any memorable film at all, for that matter? I vaguely recall reading somewhere that Vivien Leigh didn't much care for Clark Gable during the shooting of Gone With The Wind, again over bad-breath concerns.
)
Posted by Jeffrey Wells on January 27, 2008 at 2:19 PM
comment #1
Rich S.
says ...
I love this kind of stuff. I remember seeing a documentary about Bette Davis where they talked about how much she hated Errol Flynn while they were working together on Elizabeth and Essex. Apparently, in the scene where she slaps him, she really hauls off and belts him. The surprise on his face is very real.
Posted by Rich S.
at January 27, 2008 3:09 PM
comment #2
berg
says ...
I am watching this DVD right now with the commentary on and they never mention that, but they do mention that Heston wrote well about Loren in one of his biographies? Also the featurette on Mann has some great interview clips of him from 50s/60s TV ...
Posted by berg
at January 27, 2008 3:14 PM
comment #3
gruver1
says ...
Wells to Berg: The Heston-didn't-like-Loren info is on one of the DVD's docs, trust me -- I didn't make it up.
Posted by gruver1
at January 27, 2008 3:17 PM
comment #4
scooterzz
says ...
bette davis also beat the crap (for real) out of miriam hopkins in 'old acquaintance' and joan crawford in 'whatever happened to baby jane'...
she didn't like many actresses...
Posted by scooterzz
at January 27, 2008 3:40 PM
comment #5
berg
says ...
your point is well taken ... I am now into the second half and the commentators have brought up Heston being miffed that Loren used her clout to avoid age make-up after ten years have passed and El Cid has returned with a scar and grey beard
Posted by berg
at January 27, 2008 4:02 PM
comment #6
T. S. Idiot
says ...
I remember Doris Day pushing her autobiography on The Today Show and being asked about Kirk Douglas. When she replied with the usual pleasant banalities, the interviewer pointed out that her book said they hated each other during the making of Young Man with a Horn. To which she replied, "Oh, is that in the book?"
Posted by T. S. Idiot
at January 27, 2008 4:36 PM
comment #7
The Pope
says ...
Never rated either of them as actors. Heston's performances were oak personified. Loren... well, limited but at least she had a bit of range. She could do comedy and her turn in Two Women was very fine... and I don't care if people say she was just playing what she had lived through in real life war time Italy. She conveyed it on screen.
Personally, I always thought the ending of El Cid matched Heston's performances all the way through his career... he went around in an emotional, self-righteous brace the whole time.
Posted by The Pope
at January 27, 2008 4:48 PM
comment #8
cinefan
says ...
Speaking of Vivien Leigh, I read somewhere that Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon didn't get along well at all during the making of Wuthering Heights. They had worked together before and gotten along but apparently he was mad that Leigh wasn't cast as the female lead in the film and he took it out on Oberon...
Posted by cinefan
at January 27, 2008 5:02 PM
comment #9
Josh Massey
says ...
It's been well documented how much Debra Winger and Richard Gere hated each other, so much so she claims her tears in their Officer and a Gentleman love scene were real.
Posted by Josh Massey
at January 27, 2008 5:15 PM
comment #10
Thrudvangar
says ...
Julia Roberts turned against Nick Nolte while filming I Love Trouble. He couldn't figure out what he had done.
Posted by Thrudvangar
at January 27, 2008 5:27 PM
comment #11
Walter Sobchak
says ...
James Cagney HATED Horst Buchholz during the filming of Billy Wilder's "One, Two, Three".
That and having to deal with the manic pacing and machine gun line delivery wore him out and helped lead to his decision to retire from film.
I would like to have seen the old guy kick the shit out of Buchholz, which despite his age I'm sure he could've done.
Posted by Walter Sobchak
at January 27, 2008 6:19 PM
comment #12
Walter Sobchak
says ...
I hated Paris Hilton before, during and after the filming of "The Hottie and the Nottie". My animosity continues to this day. I shant ever wish to work with her.
Posted by Walter Sobchak
at January 27, 2008 6:22 PM
comment #13
ZacharyTF
says ...
It's well documented that Harrison Ford and Sean Young didn't get along on the set of Blade Runner.
Posted by ZacharyTF
at January 27, 2008 6:25 PM
comment #14
Undercover Brother
says ...
Marlon Brando was apparently so discontent working on "The Freshman" that he tried to kill and eat Matthew Broderick.
Posted by Undercover Brother
at January 27, 2008 6:39 PM
comment #15
bryce_david
says ...
It's well known that Sophia Loren didn't get along at all with Stephen Boyd in The Fall of the Roman Empire. And it shows in the film. They had zero chemistry.
Posted by bryce_david
at January 27, 2008 6:51 PM
comment #16
Spacelamb
says ...
You're right, Rich S., Errol Flynn talks about the Davis incident in his autobiography. Flynn was as tough as nails, so he wasn't really concerned about Bette being bitchy and difficult (she didn't feel his acting was good enough and wanted a more talented co-star). He didn't take her complaints seriously and in the first slapping take he said she hit him with the force of a drunken sailor (or words to that effect, can't remember). Flynn was amazed at her strength and warned her that for the second take, if she behaved like a man then he would treat her like one and thump her right back. The second slap was as light as could be, and they still hated each other, but they had both made their respective points. The book is worth a read, if only because Flynn honestly didn't give a toss what people thought. He writes openly about his days in PNG, where he was basically a slave-trader.
Posted by Spacelamb
at January 27, 2008 7:41 PM
comment #17
thatmovieguy
says ...
Spacelamb: The director must have used the first take, because when Davis smacks Flynn, his entire face rocks, his eyes open wide in alarm and he looks like he's been hit by an invisible train. It sounds as if it's "live" sound, too. Great scene.
Posted by thatmovieguy
at January 27, 2008 8:08 PM
comment #18
christian
says ...
Apparently Rosalind Cash and Heston didn't jive well on THE OMEGA MAN. And they had a naked sex scene.
Posted by christian
at January 27, 2008 8:13 PM
comment #19
Terry McCarty
says ...
Re Charlton Heston: It's worth looking for a copy of Heston's diaries THE ACTOR'S LIFE 1956-76, because the book also mentions his dislike of Ava Gardner on another Samuel Bronston epic, 55 DAYS AT PEKING.
Posted by Terry McCarty
at January 27, 2008 10:33 PM
comment #20
Pablo Villaca
says ...
The Davis-Flynn "incident": http://br.youtube.com/watch?v=OuM6dmONQ-4
Notice how there's a cut as soon as she slaps him and he looks furiously at her. :)
Posted by Pablo Villaca
at January 27, 2008 10:39 PM
comment #21
SeattleTheater
says ...
You get co-stars that dig each other, DESPITE the pizza breath, in this live Rock-Opera version of El Cid.
http://www.seattleweekly.com/listings/schools/395766
This weekend ONLY in Seattle. Jan 30th - Feb 2nd. FREE.
Posted by SeattleTheater
at January 27, 2008 10:52 PM
comment #22
Edward
says ...
Thanks for the link Pablo. It's been ages since I've seen this. Great scene, well directed and acted.
Posted by Edward
at January 28, 2008 9:17 AM
comment #23
moviemaniac2002
says ...
Speaking of actor animosity, check out
Kathleen Turner's rants against Nicolas Cage
during "Peggy Sue Got Married" and Burt Reynolds
in "Switching Channels". Priceless...she claims
Cage's goofy performance was all about defying
uncle Francis Ford Coppola...and that he stole a dog while at a supermarket or something.
I'm willing to give Cage and Reynolds the benefit of the doubt here....I'm still remembering a couple of years ago, when Turner
started affecting a British accent even worse
than Britney Spears...(insert Theramin sound effects here....)
Posted by moviemaniac2002
at January 28, 2008 6:32 PM
comment #24
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says ...
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at March 26, 2010 12:04 AM
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