Though the finished product may be pure movie magic, the process of making some films has been downright disenchanting.
Films such as Justice League, Blade: Trinity, Don’t Worry Darling and, most recently, It Ends with Us have had so much on-set chaos that the twists and turns of the interpersonal drama becomes more riveting to fans than the film itself.
From creative differences to costars suing each other to marital affairs, check out these eight movies that made major headlines for their behind-the-scenes drama.
‘It Ends with Us’
It Ends With Us movie poster.
Sony Pictures
Rumors of behind-the-scenes drama on It Ends with Us first surfaced when Justin Baldoni, the film’s director and one of the main actors, wasn’t present for most of the grouped promotional stops.
Buzz about a possible rift with the film’s star Blake Lively reached a fever pitch when Lively appeared to pose alongside all of her main costars, including Brandon Sklenar and Jenny Slate, while Baldoni walked the red carpet with his wife Emily and his family at the New York premiere on Aug. 6.
In December 2024, Lively sued Baldoni for sexual harassment and spearheading a smear campaign against her that caused her to experience “grief, fear, trauma, and extreme anxiety.”
The suit, which PEOPLE obtained, mentioned a meeting that was held to address “the hostile work environment that had nearly derailed production” of It Ends With Us, which included a list of demands made of Baldoni going forward, including “no more showing nude videos or images of women … to [Lively] and/or her employees,” and “no more mention by [Baldoni] of him ‘speaking to’ [Lively’s] dead father.”
On Dec. 31, Baldoni filed his own lawsuit, suing the New York Times after they reported that he and his public relations team had worked to undermine Lively’s public reputation.
In the 87-page complaint, which was obtained by PEOPLE, Baldoni and a group of nine other plaintiffs, including his production company Wayfarer Studios, business partners and public relations team, are suing the Times for $250 million. They allege libel, false light invasion of privacy, promissory fraud and breach of implied-in-fact contract.
And in January, he filed a $400 million suit against Lively, Ryan Reynolds, their publicist Leslie Sloane and Sloane’s PR firm Vision PR, Inc., claiming extortion and defamation, among other things; his lawyer said, in part “This lawsuit is a legal action based on an overwhelming amount of untampered evidence detailing Blake Lively and her team’s duplicitous attempt to destroy Justin Baldoni.”
Lively’s team responded that the suit was “another chapter in the abuser playbook” and said it would “fail.”
Read even more about the lawsuits and all the key players here.
‘Mr. and Mrs. Smith’
Mr. & Mrs. Smith.
The set of Mr. and Mrs. Smith gave way to one of the most controversial meet-cutes in Hollywood history. Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s onscreen chemistry was undeniable and apparently, it carried off-screen.
The problem, however, was that Pitt was married to Jennifer Aniston before the costars met on the set of the film in 2004.
Aniston later filed for divorce in March 2005 and it was finalized that same year. Speaking to Vanity Fair in August 2005, Aniston said, “The world was shocked, and I was shocked … I’d be a robot if I said I didn’t feel moments of anger, of hurt, of embarrassment.” She also added that Pitt said he had remained faithful to her during filming, but ultimately, “I just don’t know what happened. There’s a lot I don’t understand, a lot I don’t know, and probably never will know, really … At this point, I wouldn’t be surprised by anything, but I would much rather choose to believe him.”
Pitt moved on with Jolie and adopted her children Maddox and Zahara in 2006. They welcomed four more children together before marrying in 2014; Jolie filed for divorce in 2016. They finalized their divorce this past December.
‘Fast and Furious’
The Fate of the Furious.
On paper, bringing Dwayne Johnson and Vin Diesel together seemed like a natural progression in the franchise. They were both bald, commanding box office magnets, whose chiseled statuesque builds also reflected their equally big hearts.
In practice, however, bringing the two larger-than-life action stars together caused friction rather than friendship. Though neither party ever said outright what their feud was about, the pair exchanged fairly direct and outright targeted comments on social media and in interviews.
In a June 2021 interview with Men’s Health, Diesel admitted to using “tough love” on set when it came to Johnson’s portrayal of his Fate of the Furious character, agent Luke Hobbs. In his own interview with Vanity Fair that same year, Johnson would dismiss Diesel’s comments, saying, “there’s no way I would dignify any of that bull—- with an answer” before adding that he “just laughed” when he saw what his former costar had to say.
The gentlemen would go back and forth a few more times before The Rock made his way back to the franchise, making a cameo appearance in a post-credits scene in 2023’s Fast X.
In 2023, it was announced Johnson will officially make a comeback to the franchise with spinoff films about his character.
“Despite us having our differences, me and Vin, we’ve been like brothers for years, and despite our differences, when you lead with — number one, resolve — but also you think about the future and plans that are much bigger than ourselves,” he said in an Instagram video.
At the 2025 Golden Globe Awards, Diesel gave Johnson a pointed shout-out as he presented the award for film cinematic and box office achievement. “Hi Dwayne,” Diesel said, to which the former WWE star simply smiled and nodded.
‘Fifty Shades of Grey’
FIFTY SHADES OF GREY POSTER.
For a film franchise that was all about being sexy, bringing the Fifty Shades of Grey movies to life was anything but.
In an interview with Vanity Fair, Dakota Johnson, who played Anastasia Steele, revealed that shooting the movie was made a little complicated because E.L. James, who wrote the 50 Shades books, was heavily involved with the script.
“I signed up to do a very different version of the film we ended up making,” she told the magazine in 2022.
“She had a lot of creative control, all day, every day, and she just demanded that certain things happen. There were parts of the books that just wouldn’t work in a movie, like the inner monologue, which was at times incredibly cheesy. It wouldn’t work to say out loud. It was always a battle. Always,” she revealed.
In the same interview, the actress did clarify that any awkwardness on set was not between her and Jamie Dornan, who played Christian Grey.
“There was never a time when we didn’t get along. I know it’s weird, but he’s like a brother to me. I love him so, so, so much. And we were really there for each other. We had to really trust each other and protect each other,” she said. “We were doing the weirdest things for years, and we needed to be a team: ‘We’re not doing that,’ or ‘You can’t do that camera angle.’”
Director Sam Taylor-Johnson shared similar sentiments with Johnson about the on-set battles over certain scenes.
“This was [James’] book and she had a very particular vision of how she wanted to see this film. And I had a diametrically opposed vision,” Taylor-Johnson told The Hollywood Reporter. “Where we got to is where we got to. The success of it was great, but the experience of it was tough.”
She had previously told The Sunday Times, “With the benefit of hindsight, would I go through Fifty Shades of Grey again? Of course I wouldn’t. I’d be mad.”
In 2023, James briefly commented on the on-set drama to HuffPost, saying she’d learned from it if another book of hers were to be adapted. “What it taught me is, you don’t sweat the small stuff. Whew! And just be sure that all the creative team have read and liked the book … for the sake of the millions of fans of the books. And that’s all I’ll say on that, for now.”
‘Terminator Salvation’
Terminator Salvation.
Back in 2009, a shocking audio tape of Christian Bale screaming at cinematographer Shane Hurlburt on the set of Terminator Salvation leaked and immediately went viral.
According to Screen Rant, Hurlburt had walked on set to inspect a light while Bale was in the middle of filming a scene. The Dark Knight Rises actor then launched into a four-minute verbal rant that contained 36 f-bombs.
Following the mixed response from fans after the clip went viral, Bale publicly apologized for his behavior and assured everyone he and Hurlburt had settled their differences the day of the incident. They continued working together on the project.
‘Justice League’
Justice League Poster.
With a star-studded cast, noted director and eager fans, it seemed 2017’s Justice League would be a sure hit at the box office. However, a series of unfortunate events saw the film open up to lackluster reception and fans campaigning to get a different version of the film.
Zack Snyder, who had previously directed Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice had signed onto the project in 2014, but in 2017, he stepped away from filming following the death of his daughter. While Snyder maintained he left of his own volition, fans speculated that some restructuring at the studio may have played a part.
After Snyder’s departure, Joss Whedon (who had been hired to do re-writes on the film during Snyder’s tenure) moved into the director’s chair. His version of the film came out in November of the same year and was subject to backlash from Snyder fans, who launched a campaign asking Warner Bros. to release the #SnyderCut.
The campaign would go on for two years; even Justice League stars Ben Affleck, Ray Fisher and Gal Gadot — as well as Snyder himself — took to social media to lobby for the release of a #SnyderCut.
In 2020, Fisher spoke out to Forbes about the many issues on Whedon’s set, saying “race was just one of the issues with the reshoot process … there were massive blowups, threats, coercion, taunting, unsafe work conditions, belittling and gaslighting like you wouldn’t believe.”
In March 2021, Zack Snyder’s Justice League was released on HBO Max.
The following year, New York Magazine released a profile of Whedon that included the director’s response to allegations of misconduct on his sets. Specifically addressing Fisher’s claims, he said none of them were “either true or merited discussing” and described Fisher’s actions as “a malevolent force … We’re talking about a bad actor in both senses.”
‘Blade: Trinity’
Blade Trinity Poster.
Following the successes of Blade and Blade II, Blade: Trinity was expected to be smooth sailing to success. Tensions behind the scenes prevented that from happening, however.
Not only were there some creative differences between the film’s director and writer, David Goyer and New Line Cinema, but there were also some tensions on set.
In a 2012 interview with the AV Club, Patton Oswalt, who played Hedges, alleged that Wesley Snipes strangled the director at one point. Snipes vehemently refuted the accusation, telling The Guardian, “Let me tell you one thing. If I had tried to strangle David Goyer, you probably wouldn’t be talking to me now,” he told the outlet.
“A Black guy with muscles strangling the director of a movie is going to jail, I guarantee you,” he added. Snipes wound up suing the production for $5 million.
Asked about the incident and the production as a whole, Goyer told The Hollywood Reporter, “Let’s just say I have tremendous respect for Wesley as an actor. He used to be a friend. We’re not friends anymore. I am friends with Patton and I’ve worked with Patton since, so … ”
“I don’t think anyone involved in that film had a good experience on that film, certainly I didn’t,” he continued. “I don’t think anybody involved with that film is happy with the results. It was a very tortured production.”
‘Snow White and the Huntsman’
Snow White and the Huntsman Poster.
Kristen Stewart’s role as Snow White in Snow White and the Huntsman was meant to be the beginning of a franchise, but scandal cut that short.
In 2012, the Twilight alum (then dating Robert Pattinson) was photographed by paparazzi kissing the film’s (married) director, Rupert Sanders. The photos went viral, and subsequently Stewart and Sanders were dropped from the second film, The Huntsman: Winter’s War.
Looking back at the backlash, Stewart told Howard Stern, “We lived in a different time then, you know what I mean? I feel like the slut-shaming that went down was so absurd.”
“And they should’ve put me in that movie! It would’ve been better. Not to be a d—, but… they didn’t put me in that movie because I went through such a highly publicized scandal, and so they were like scared of touching that.”
She later added, “That was a really hard period of my life, I was really young, I didn’t really know how to deal with that. I made some mistakes. And honestly, it’s no one’s business.”
