1. Natalie Portman – Romeo + Juliet

Portman was the first choice to play Juliet alongside Leonardo DiCaprio in Romeo + Juliet. But the actor was 14 at the time and DiCaprio was 21, which would have been undeniably creepy given the intimate scenes between the characters. Studio executives even thought that it might literally amount to molestation. 

2. Megan Fox – Transformers

You can’t just call your boss Hitler and still stay at the job. It could be justified, in which case, you really can’t expect to stay at the job. After calling director Michael Bay a ‘nightmare who wants to be like Hitler on the sets’ and then refusing to apologise for her remarks, producer Steven Speilberg fired Fox and replaced her with Rose Huntington-Whiteley. 

3. Ryan Gosling- The Lovely Bones

Method acting is something that generally makes a movie better. In fact, actors like Christian Bale are known to have gone to extreme lengths, most notably in terms of gaining and losing weight. Here’s the kicker though, you have to inform your director before doing that. Upon being cast as Jack Salmon, Gosling drank melted ice cream for days and gained 27 kilos. But he never asked Peter Jackson about it, who had a different interpretation of the character in his mind and ended up firing Gosling. 

4. Katherine Heigl – Grey’s Anatomy

Heigl played Dr Izzie Stevens for the hit show Grey’s Anatomy for six long years. But things were going really well for her career at the time with movies like Knocked Up, 27 Dresses, and The Ugly Truth. So, on one fine day, she just didn’t show up to set. A few days later, Heigl was released from her contract. 

5. Kevin Spacey – House of Cards

After Spacey’s predatorial behaviour was made public by actor Anthony Rapp, the former’s character was killed off on the show. Actors on the show had actually reported Spacey for harassment a number of times but somehow no action had previously been taken against him. Better late than never, I guess. 

6. Aishwarya Rai – Chalte Chalte

This was during the time when Aishwarya Rai used to be in an abusive relationship with Salman Khan and the latter would show up on sets to harras her and stall production. But given that he’s Salman Khan, a privileged man and this is India, Aishwarya had to bear the brunt of it and was removed from the SRK starrer- Chalte Chalte. 

7. Giaa Manek- Saath Nibhana Saathiya

No matter how regressive the show was, it was still a hit amongst Indian audiences and the OG Gopi Bahu played a key role in it. But you know how Hindi soap opera works. Everyone is replaceable. All they need is the character to go through plastic surgery of some kind. Anyhow, Manek wasn’t even provided with that courtesy. She wanted to expand her horizon and do other shows but the channel was not okay with it. So she was shown the door. 

8. Charlie Sheen- Two and a Half Men

Sheen has always been a controversial figure. But in 2011, he made a lot of inflammatory remarks against the showrunner and Warner Bros. He also had to go into rehab for substance abuse which put the production at a halt. Later he demanded a 50% raise, despite being the highest-paid actor on TV at the time. He claimed that he was being paid peanuts compared to what the show was making. Following this, he was fired and replaced by Ashton Kutcher, who proceed to kill the show. 

9. Sushant Singh – Savdhaan India

Singh had been with Savdhaan India since 2012. But in 2019, he became actively critical of the CAA and the NRC and condemned the violence against students. Immediately after this, he was let go of the show. Was he fired? You’ll have to think for yourself here due to legal constraints. 

10. Sanjay Dutt – Hera Pheri

Did you know Sanjay Dutt was originally set to play Shyam in this cult classic? But the actor could only do night scenes as he had to attend court proceedings. So he was let go and Suniel Shetty was instead cast. Can’t complain here. It’s a pretty good film. 

Now now, no need to feel bad for any of them. They are all millionaires. They’ll be fine.