Booted from set! Hollywood stars fired mid-filming

In Hollywood sometimes actors get fired from movies while they are being made. This can happen for different reasons like disagreements with their director, problems with how the actor is doing their job or personal issues.

When an actor is fired mid filming it can cause changes in the movie like recasting the role or reshooting scenes.

Here is the list of Hollywood actors who got fired during filming for strange reasons.

Mariska Hargitay

Mariska Hargitay was set to play Queen Dulcea in the movie Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie in 1995 as the filming was happening in Australia but she waited around for so long that she went back to the U.S. for Christmas on December 21. When the Baywatch star tried to get back to work after the holidays Mariska found out that she had been fired.

In 2023, the ER actress told Late Night with Meters, "I call them and I’m like, ‘Okay, I’m ready!’ And they were like, ‘Sweetie, you’re good, don’t worry about it.’ They fired me because I wanted to go home for Christmas and be with my family. I watch my Ps and Qs on SVU now. And when they say, we need you,’ I say, I’m there and I’m ready!' So far, so good."

Melora Hardin

Melora Hardin was recast in a role as Jennifer Parker. This happened because she was taller than the new male lead in the movie Back to the Future.

In 2022, Melora told Page Six that some female executives "felt that it emasculated their lead character to have a taller girlfriend."

The Bold Type actress said, "There’s no doubt it was very painful...I feel like it’s an interesting sign of the times that it was the female executives that felt like they had to be protecting the masculinity of their lead character that way."

Dennis Hopper

In The Truman Show Christof was originally played by the late Dennis Hopper but he was reportedly replaced because the actor could not remember his lines.

The Speed actor told Sabotage Times, "I was on the set for, like, two days, and got fired... Scott Rudin, the producer, had made an agreement with the director [Peter Weir] 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."

Connor Ratliff

Connor Ratliff was supposed to play a minor role in Band of Brothers. The day before the actor was set to start filming his scenes, executive producer and director Tom Hanks fired him because he felt that Connor had "dead eyes."

Twenty years later, Connor set out to investigate why Tom really fired him with his podcast.

While appearing on Dead Eyes podcast in 2022, Tom said, "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."

Samantha Morton

Samantha Morton was originally the voice of Samantha in the movie Her. But when the film was being edited director Spike Jonze "realized that what the character/movie needed was different from what Samantha and had created together." Because of this changes were made.

The director told Vulture at the time, "I think, unfortunately, it's pretty normal in terms of my not-quite-painless-for-everyone-involved 'process' of discovering what the movie is. Samantha was with us on set and was amazing... I love Samantha. I've been friends with her forever and I hope we make lots of things together in the future."