The Biggest Feuds Between Movie Directors and Stars

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Biggest feuds between directors and stars — Megan Fox and Michael Bay. (Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)

Creating movie magic on the big screen often requires a lot of blood, sweat and tears behind the scenes to pull all the threads together.

While the ideal end result for a movie is an entertainment seamlessly brought to life (that also makes the people involved a lot of money in the process), sometimes things can get a little messy between the people making it along the way.

From big blow ups to lawsuits to war of words, scroll on to dive into some of the most notorious feuds between movie directors and stars – and discover how their relationships became less than harmonious.

Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively

Rumors swirled that director/actor Justin Baldoni and actress Blake Lively weren’t getting along during the promotional tour for It Ends With Us, which was released in August 2024.

The animosity between the pair was confirmed when Lively, 37, sued Baldoni, 40, in December 2024 for sexual harassment and accused the director of trying to tarnish her reputation with a smear campaign – a claim lawyers for Baldoni vehemently denied.

Olivia Wilde and Florence Pugh

In the case of 2022 release, Don’t Worry, Darling, many onlookers became more interested in the drama behind the scenes than in the film itself. The movie was directed by Olivia Wilde and starred Florence Pugh – and speculation was rife there was tension between the pair.

In the lead up to Don’t Worry, Darling’s release Pugh did limited promotion for the film, avoided being photographed next to Wilde and skipped or arrived late to press commitments. While neither confirmed the truth behind their relationship, there were whispers Pugh may have been unhappy with Wilde’s relationship costar Harry Styles.

Megan Fox and Michael Bay

During her Transformer days, Megan Fox rocked the boat with director Michael Bay when she publicly compared him to “Hitler” – which ultimately led to her getting fired from the franchise and replaced with Rosie Huntington-Whiteley.

“He’s like Napoleon and he wants to create this insane, infamous mad-man reputation. He wants to be like Hitler on his sets, and he is,” Fox, 38, told Wonderland Magazine in 2009. “So he’s a nightmare to work for but when you get him away from set, and he’s not in director mode, I kind of really enjoy his personality because he’s so awkward, so hopelessly awkward.”

While he ended up cutting her from his films, Bay told GQ Magazine in 2011 that he wasn’t particularly offended.

“I wasn’t hurt, because I know that’s just Megan. Megan loves to get a response,” Bay, 59, said. “She does it in kind of the wrong way. I’m sorry, Megan. I’m sorry I made you work 12 hours. I’m sorry that I’m making you show up on time. Movies are not always warm and fuzzy.”

Jake Gyllenhaal and David Fincher

Jake Gyllenhaal and David Fincher didn’t mince words when it came to talking about their experiences working with one another on 2007 film Zodiac.

“Fincher paints with people,” Gyllenhaal, 44, said of the director in 2007, complaining, “It’s tough to be a colour.”

Fincher later had his own take on what it was like working with Gyllenhaal – and didn’t hold back.

“Jake was in the unenviable position of being very young and having a lot of people vie for his attention, while working for someone who does not allow you to take a day off,” Fincher, 62, told The New York Times in 2020. “I think Jake’s philosophy was informed by — look, he’d made a bunch of movies, even as a child, but I don’t think he’d ever been asked to concentrate on minutiae, and I think he was very distracted.”

Katherine Heigl and Judd Apatow

Another infamous case of a movie’s star going head to head with its director was when Katherine Heigl came out swinging against the movie she was starring in, 2007’s Knocked Up.

Its director Judd Apatow was left less than impressed when she slammed Knocked Up during an interview with Vanity Fair in 2008.

“It paints the women as shrews, as humourless and uptight,” Heigl, 46, said. “It paints the men as loveable, goofy, fun-loving guys. It exaggerated the characters, and I had a hard time with it, on some days. I’m playing such a bitch; why is she being such a killjoy? Why is this how you’re portraying women? Ninety-eight per cent of the time it was an amazing experience, but it was hard for me to love the movie.”

For his part, Apatow told radio host Howard Stern in 2009 that he expected an apology from Heigl after the disparaging remarks but he never got one.

“[You’d think] at some point I’ll get a call saying ‘Sorry, I was tired …’ and then the call never comes,” Apatow, 57, said.

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