- Rider Strong said Donald Sutherland had a rule that "nobody" on set could make eye contact with him.
- Strong played Sutherland's grandson in the 1993 film "Benefit of the Doubt."
On Monday's episode of "Pod Meets World," Rider Strong said that his former costar Donald Sutherland has a rule that "nobody can make eye contact with him" on set unless an actor is in a scene with him.
Strong was talking with his cohosts Danielle Fishel and Will Friedle and their guest Darlene Vogel, who played Mr. Turner's girlfriend, social studies teacher Kat Tompkins, on four episodes of "Boy Meets World," about how some guest stars can be treated by series regular actors on sets. At about the 33-minute mark of the podcast, he recalled Sutherland's alleged demand.
"I did a movie with Donald Sutherland and he has an eye contact rule," Strong said. "Nobody can make eye contact with him."
Strong was referring to the 1993 film "Benefit of the Doubt" in which Sutherland played his grandfather, Frank, a man released from prison 20 years after being convicted of killing his wife. Frank's daughter Karen (Amy Irving) testified against him in the trial, helping to convict him. Upon his release, Frank sought to reconnect with Karen, who was raising Strong's character Pete, on her own.
The "Boy Meets World" star went on to clarify that if you were in a scene with Sutherland, "you could make eye contact with him" but otherwise, "every crew member has to look away, nobody can make eye contact with him."
Strong then recalled Sutherland pausing a monologue in the middle of a scene shot on a houseboat to announce: "There's a man outside that window looking at me."
A member of the public was peeking into the boat, the former child actor remembered. He said that Sutherland's announcement "threw the whole take" and forced crew members to go outside and kick the man off of the set.
A representative for Sutherland didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
Strong eventually backpedaled on his comment a little bit, saying that when shooting single-camera scenes (scenes shot with one camera on set as opposed to in front of a studio audience) if an actor sees someone looking at them, they sometimes inadvertently lock eyes with the person, which can be distracting.
"It can be a problem if you have too many looky-loos all around the lens," he admitted, but he didn't clarify that "The Hunger Games" star's request was limited to when he was filming a scene.
New episodes of "Pod Meets World" are available to stream weekly.