20 celebrities who were fired from TV and movies, and the surprising reasons why

Gosling was originally cast to play the father in the movie adaptation of the best-selling novel "The Lovely Bones." But the film's director, Peter Jackson, let Gosling go just before the movie went into production in 2007.

"We had a different idea of how the character should look," Gosling told The Hollywood Reporter in 2010. "I really believed he should be 210 pounds. We didn't talk very much during the pre-production process, which was the problem. It was a huge movie, and there's so many things to deal with, and he couldn't deal with the actors individually. I just showed up on set, and I had gotten it wrong. Then I was fat and unemployed."

On the other hand, Jackson's partner, Fran Walsh, said they let Gosling go because he was uncomfortable playing the role. She told The Hollywood Reporter that the actor came to Jackson "two or three times and said, 'I'm not the right person for this role. I'm too young.'" Because of that, she said they decided to recast him, giving the role to Mark Wahlberg.

The late actor shared the story of his firing during a commencement speech at his alma mater, Howard University, in 2018. While he didn't name the soap opera at the time, he later spoke to The Wrap about the short-lived role, which was on "All My Children." In what was Boseman's first credited on-screen role, he played Reggie Porter Montgomery, a gang member, for a few episodes. He was later replaced by "Black Panther" co-star Michael B. Jordan.

During the speech, Boseman explained that he questioned why his character didn't have a father, and why his mother was unable to care for her children. The executives explained, and he responded with, "If we're out here assuming that the Black characters in the show are criminals on drugs and deadbeat parents, then that would probably be stereotypical, wouldn't it?"

He said he was let go from the soap the next day.

In 2009, Fox told Wonderland that "Transformers" director Michael Bay was "like Hitler on his sets." She went on to say that he's "a nightmare to work for." Subsequently, Fox was fired from "Transformers: Dark of the Moon."

Eight years later, Fox told Cosmopolitan UK that moment was "absolutely the low point of my career."

"But without — 'that thing,' I wouldn't have learned as quickly as I did," she said. "All I had to do was apologize — and I refused. I was so self-righteous at 23, I couldn't see [that] it was for the greater good. I really thought I was Joan of Arc."

Bay and Fox have since buried the hatchet and worked together on the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" films.

Portman was just 13 years old when she was cast in 1996's "Romeo + Juliet," and while that's canonically how old Juliet is supposed to be, it was too weird to see her play an on-screen love interest to 21-year-old Leonardo DiCaprio.

"Fox said it looked like Leonardo DiCaprio was molesting me when we kissed," Portman said in a New York Times interview at the time.

While it's been said it was a mutual decision, Portman has expressed feelings of sadness that she couldn't participate in the project.

"It was a complicated situation and ... at the time I was 13 and Leonardo was 21 and it wasn't appropriate in the eyes of the film company or the director, Baz. It was kind of a mutual decision too that it just wasn't going to be right at the time," she said in a later interview. "It was really disappointing, but I wouldn't have wanted to be in the movie and have it look wrong."

She was replaced with a 17-year-old Claire Danes.

Tori Spelling claimed Doherty and Jennie Garth got into a physical altercation on set.

"I remember … I could hear the door fly open and everyone screaming and crying," Spelling said on "Tori Spelling: Celebrity Lie Detector" in 2015. "That's when I was told the boys just had to break up Jennie and Shannen. It was like a fistfight."

In response, Spelling called her father, who was the producer and creator of the series, and demanded Doherty be fired.

"I felt like I was a part of something, a movement, that cost someone their livelihood," Spelling said. "Was she a horrible person? No. She was one of the best friends I ever had."

In 2015, Moore said in an interview that she was originally cast to play Lee Israel, a woman who forged literary documents, in "Can You Ever Forgive Me?" But she said she eventually left the film due to "creative differences" with writer Nicole Holofcener, Variety reported.

In 2019, during an interview with Andy Cohen on "Watch What Happens Live," Moore went into more detail, explaining she was fired from the project.

"I didn't leave that movie, I was fired," Moore told Cohen. "Nicole fired me. So yeah, that's the truth. I think she didn't like what I was doing. I think that her idea of where the character was, was different than where my idea of where the character was, and so she fired me."

Melissa McCarthy was cast in her place and was nominated for an Oscar for the role.

Gere was all set to star in 1974's "The Lords of Flatbush" opposite Sylvester Stallone before tensions between him and Stallone forced him off the set.

"He would strut around in his oversized motorcycle jacket like he was the baddest knight at the round table. One day, during an improv, he grabbed me (we were simulating a fight scene) and got a little carried away. I told him in a gentle fashion to lighten up, but he was completely in character and impossible to deal with," Stallone said in an interview. Stallone also remembered how Gere ate chicken with mustard that dripped on his pants.

"He proceeds to bite into the chicken and a small, greasy river of mustard lands on my thigh. I elbowed him in the side of the head and basically pushed him out of the car. The director had to make a choice: one of us had to go, one of us had to stay. Richard was given his walking papers and to this day seriously dislikes me," he continued.

Sheridan played Edie, a fan-favorite character on the ABC prime-time soap "Desperate Housewives," for five years before she was fired from the show to "cut costs," according to the show's creator, Marc Cherry.

Sheridan, on the other hand, believed she was fired for personal reasons, and sued the network for wrongful termination. Deadline reported that Sheridan alleged Cherry had "intentionally struck her on set in 2008" while they were disagreeing, and that her decision to tell network executives about the incident led to her firing. Cherry disputed this, and the case was eventually thrown out in 2017.

Though it's almost impossible to imagine now, we were very close to having a "Back to the Future" starring Eric Stoltz, not Michael J. Fox, who was originally busy starring on "Family Ties."

But director Robert Zemeckis and writer Bob Gale weren't thrilled with the more serious energy they were getting from Stoltz — he was method, only answered to "Marty" on set, and was generally not comedic enough — and realized they need someone more "screwball," as Vulture reported.

So they proposed that they fire Stoltz and hire Fox, as they had always wanted to. The arrangement worked, and the rest is history.

In 2010, it emerged that the CW was putting Momsen on hiatus after she launched into "expletive-laced tirades" against other actors, Deadline reported. The actress also reportedly angered guest star Tim Gunn with her behavior.

"What a diva," the "Project Runway" host told E! News at the time. "She was pathetic, she couldn't remember her lines, and she didn't even have that many. I thought to myself, 'Why are we being held hostage by this brat?'"

In 2011, it was reported that she would not be returning as a series regular.

Washington played Dr. Preston Burke on ABC's "Grey's Anatomy" until he called his co-star, T.R. Knight, a homophobic slur behind the scenes. He used the word again at the Golden Globes in front of reporters, which led to his direct removal from the medical drama in 2007.

"I'm saddened by the outcome," Washington told Entertainment Weekly in 2007. "I did everything that the producers and the network asked me to do. I came back under great duress and stress, and thought I was doing the job I was hired to do. I thought that was going to speak for my future at 'Grey's,' but apparently that wasn't the same vision that the network and studio had for me."

In 2014, however, Washington returned to the series for an episode, sparking controversy online, according to The Washington Post.

In 2008, Norton played Bruce Banner — aka The Hulk — in a standalone film titled "The Incredible Hulk." IndieWire reported that Norton was "uptight" on set when things didn't go his way. As a result, when Marvel was casting for "The Avengers" franchise, the company decided to give the role to someone else.

"Our decision is definitely not one based on monetary factors, but instead rooted in the need for an actor who embodies the creativity and collaborative spirit of our other talented cast members," Kevin Feige, Marvel's president, said in a statement.

Norton responded in 2019, telling The New York Times, "Yeah, [that] was cheap. It was brand defensiveness or something."

In the end, the role went to Mark Ruffalo.

In 2011, Warner Bros. lawyer John Spiegel sent an 11-page letter to Sheen's lawyer, detailing all the reasons why the actor had been let go from the CBS sitcom.

"At the outset, let us state the obvious: Your client has been engaged in dangerously self-destructive behavior and appears to be very ill," the letter reads. "Regrettably, Mr. Sheen failed to continue with his rehabilitation program. The result has been a series of well-chronicled and increasingly erratic outbursts that have culminated with Mr. Sheen's public tirades of the last few weeks."

The letter also reads that Sheen made "inflammatory comments" on set and refused to go to rehab, according to People.

Remar was originally cast as Corporal Hicks in "Aliens," the male lead of the film — it would've skyrocketed his career. However, he was cut from the movie due to what he said were "urgent matters at home" at the time.

But years later, Remar opened up to a podcast about what actually happened, Indiewire reported.

"I had a terrible drug problem, but I got through it," he told the podcast, Sidebar. "I had a great career and personal life, and messed it up with a terrible drug habit … I was initially cast as Corporal Hicks, and I was fired after a couple weeks of filming because I got busted for possession of drugs, and Michael Biehn replaced me."

Blair played Sheen's love interest on "Anger Management" for two seasons before she openly complained about the actor's work ethic in 2013. The Daily Mail reported that Blair complained that the crew had to wait several hours for Sheen to learn his lines. When Sheen learned about Blair's complaint, he fired her from the show and reportedly sent her a single text that read, "c---," according to The Hollywood Reporter.

In response, Blair threatened Sheen with a $1.2 million lawsuit, demanding the money she would have earned if she had not been wrongfully terminated.

Sheen went on "The Tonight Show" and said Blair was not fired because of a fight.

"One of our primary characters, Selma Blair, who played Kate, was written out because [the show] was not about our relationship, and the problem was too many people were still excited about the 'Two and a Half [Men]' character and thought the 'Anger Management' character was a little dull," Sheen told Jay Leno in 2013. "So, um, that is not the case anymore."

Howard played Iron Man's friend/sidekick Colonel James Rhodes, also known as Iron Patriot or War Machine in the first "Iron Man" movie, which kicked off the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe. At the end of the film, Rhodes even looks at another Iron Man suit and coyly says to himself "Next time, baby" implying that he'd be back in a potential sequel.

However, that would never come to pass. Howard was replaced by Don Cheadle in all future MCU films. During a 2013 appearance on "Watch What Happens Live," Howard explained that he had signed a three-movie deal, but when it came time for a second film, the studio proposed paying him much less than the first film. Where'd the money go? According to Howard, to Iron Man himself.

"It turns out that the person I helped become Iron Man ... when it was time to re-up for the second one, [he] took the money that was supposed to go to me and pushed me out," Howard said.

The comments didn't go down well, according to the Associated Press, but Howard later said he and Downey Jr. decided to put it behind them. "We just realized that life is too short. We both realized. Life's too short. Everybody is making money now," he said.

Whoever thought that "Kevin Can Wait" would fare better without Hayes severely miscalculated. The show killed Hayes off after one season, with the star tweeting, "True, I've been let go from the show. Very sad, I had a great experience season 1. Thank you for all the support from our wonderful fans."

She was eventually replaced with Leah Remini, who had already played Kevin James' wife in "The King of Queens." The show was subsequently canceled after season two.

Of the move to kill-off Hayes, Kevin James told the New York Daily News, "I get that people are like 'Whoa, why would you do this?' But it really felt like a thing like this was needed for this show to drive forward."

The show's cavalier treatment of the death of Hayes' character was panned by critics and fans alike, and even inspired a new Rashida Jones-produced dark comedy called "Kevin Can F--- Himself." Recent Emmy winner Annie Murphy was cast in the lead role in February.

During her very first appearance on the show, Slate accidentally dropped an F-bomb on live television — a very big no-no on "Saturday Night Live." Though she told Glamour that creator Lorne Michaels checked in on her right after the incident, she was still let go at the end of the season.

"Lorne and I never talked when I was fired at the end of the season; I got the news online. I've still never watched the clip of my f--- up. That'd be like watching yourself fall down the aisle at your wedding! I feel like it happened to somebody else, and I want to tell her, 'Oh, girl. I'm so sorry, but you need to move on,'" she said.

Crawford played Martin Riggs in the Fox small-screen adaptation of "Lethal Weapon," the character originated by Mel Gibson. But in May 2018, before season three could be renewed, the network made the decision to kill off Riggs and fire Crawford following multiple allegations regarding Crawford's behavior on set.

His co-star Damon Wayans shared photos from set of an injury he sustained during an episode that Crawford directed and implied that Crawford was at fault, the LA Times reported. He also shared a photo of a sticker that someone posted on set calling Crawford an "emotional terrorist."

For his part, in April 2018, Crawford acknowledged the behavior and issued an apology on Instagram, explaining he had been reprimanded for his outbursts and had completed therapy.

"I absolutely love, respect and care for my crew and cast, and would never intentionally jeopardize so many jobs," he wrote. "... I apologize to all the crew and cast for any negative attention Lethal Weapon is receiving because of these incidents."

After he was removed from the show, he disputed some of the claims about his behavior.

Somers was on the second-highest-rated show in the country, "Three's Company," so she asked for a pay bump from $30,000 to $150,000 an episode in 1980 — the pay increase would be equal to her male costar's salary and equal to actors in other shows that were rated more poorly.

Instead, ABC gave Somers a $5,000 increase, so she decided to boycott. Eventually, the network fired her.

"Life isn't fair," Somers told The Hollywood Reporter in 2015. "Getting fired for asking for a raise wasn't fair, but I landed on my feet and I've done OK."

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