The utterly bizarre reasons these 10 movie stars were fired from major films including Ryan Gosling & Megan Fox

According to reports via Variety, Tom Hardy was "not asked to return" for season 3 of Mobland, following tensions with production. According to reports via Variety, Tom Hardy was "not asked to return"
for season 3 of Mobland, following tensions with production. The Hollywood Reporter bolstered these whispers citing reports of lateness in which Tom would refuse to leave his trailer keeping the cast, including Pierce Brosnan and Helen Mirren waiting for hours on end.

While the actor himself hasn't addressed these reports, his other co-star seemingly dismissed the reports when she told Josh Smith’s Great Chat Show podcast: "It is frustrating because [...] so much of it was just rumour and I don't know, it’s above my pay grade. I don't know what conversations happened in reality, but a lot of it was absolute rubbish."

Intimidating fictional director Christof is the brains behind The Truman Show, in-universe. But before Ed Harris donned his circular glasses and black beret, Ed Harris was cast in the part. After his departure, reports put the blame on "creative differences".

However, Ed later put his two cents in and clarified that he had been fired only days into filming. According to the actor, "Scott Rudin, the producer, had made an agreement with the director that... He didn't want me to do the part, and if he didn't like what I did after the first day's dailies then he would fire me. And they fired me."

Twilight star Kristen Stewart didn't just find fame through the '00s and 2010s, she also won plenty of public scrutiny. Reports in 2012 revealed that she wouldn't return for the sequel to Snow White and the Huntsman. While the official line was that Chris Hemsworth was being pushed to the fore as the Huntsman, it seems many doubted that was the real reason for Kristen's exit.

The actress was involved in a public scandal following her affair with director Rupert Sanders during her relationship with Twilight co-star Robert Pattinson. She stated on The Howard Stern Show, "They should've put me in that movie! Not to be a [expletive] , 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."

It might be Mark Wahlberg that cinema fans now picture as grieving father Jack Salmon in The Lovely Bones, but the role was originally given to La La Land heartthrob Ryan Gosling. The casting decision was announced in 2007 and a change of plan revealed just months later, due to supposed "creative differences". 

But years on, in 2010, Ryan revealed the truth behind his exit, telling the Hollywood Reporter: “We had a different idea of how the character should look. I really believed he should be 210 pounds." The actor admitted a lack of communication during preproduction was a "problem", looking back. "I just showed up on set, and I had gotten it wrong".

Richard Kelly's 2001 feature Donnie Darko is still a beloved film to this day, and it almost featured similarly well-regarded star Mark Wahlberg as the lead character, rather than Jake Gyllenhaal who worked alongside Drew Barrymore and his real-life sister Maggie.

Reportedly, Mark imagined the character with a lisp – a vision that director Richard Kelly seemingly couldn't get on board with. Mark was also a decade older than 20-year-old Jake so may have struggled to fulfil the brief of an awkward teenager.

Sean Young has now left Hollywood behind, but she didn't have an easy time in showbiz. She was reported to have been fired from her role as Tess Truhart in Dick Tracy because she wasn't "maternal enough" in the fresh footage. 

The actress has a different story. She has since alleged that she was in fact fired from the role because she rejected Warren Beatty's romantic advances.

Richard Gere is now a major star in his own right, with lead credits in Pretty Woman, Primal Fear and American Gigolo. But back in 1974, his celebrity weight was no match for co-star Sylvester Stallone – leading to a disappointing decision for the young Richard.

He was originally cast as Chico in 1974 film The Lords of Flatbush but didn't hit it off with Sylvester. An argument over mustard was, apparently, the final straw as it descended into a physical fight. Of course, Sylvester stayed on and Richard was fired from the project.

There's rarely a flattering reason that actor's are fired from a job, but Connor Ratliff's exit from the cast of Band of Brothers will surely have stayed with him. Director and executive producer Tom Hanks reportedly fired Connor the day before he was scheduled to shoot his scenes in a minor role because of his "dead eyes".

Two decades on, Connor's podcast Dead Eyes set out to investigate his exit from the project. Tom himself appeared on the show in 2022, explaining: "Let me first take full responsibility for doing this to you. This was without a doubt the act of the director, and that was me... [It was] one of those very, very subtle sort of decisions that aims the story in the direction you want it to go."

Megan Fox's appearance as the ultimate 'cool girl' is still the subject of many a teenage fantasy, and after the first two Transformers saw massive success, it seemed like a done deal that Megan would appear for the third movie. Dark of the Moon. But in 2010, her publicist crushed fans' hopes as she confirmed Megan wouldn't be back.

The decision came after Megan compared director Michael Bay to Hitler and said he was a "nightmare" to work with. The director later claimed producer Steven Spielberg  said: "Fire her right now." Megan has since reflected on the fallout, calling it the "low point" of her career. But she's still looking on the bright side: "Without — 'that thing,' I wouldn’t have learned as quickly as I did. All I had to do was apologize, and I refused. I was so self-righteous at 23."

Apocalypse Now is perhaps Martin Sheen's best-loved project, casting the actor as US Army Captain Benjamin Willard. But before he was cast, Harvey Keitel took on the role for a week – before director Francis Ford Coppola replaced him.

The director claimed in Coppola's Monster Film: The Making of 'Apocalypse Now' that Harvey didn't want to stay in the jungle. But the actor denies this claim, stating to Business Insider: "Well, Harvey Keitel spent three years in the United States Marines Corps in the jungle."