17 movie and TV lines actors refused to say on screen: ‘I’m a self-respecting human being, I can’t do this’

From Jensen Ackles discovering his red line on ‘The Boys’ to Robert Redford declining to say anything that might suggest he’s mediocre in bed, Annabel Nugent counts down 17 times actors didn’t stick to the script

Robert Downey Jr, Jenna Ortega, and Matthew Perry are among the actors to have put their foot down when it came to a particular scene or storyline (Marvel / Netflix / YouTube)

Countless lines of dialogue are uttered on screen everyday, but for every line that’s spoken, there are columns of speech left on the cutting room floor – sometimes at the behest of the actors themselves. Even the stars have a line they won’t cross.

Often it’s an offensive gag, other times it’s a corny come-on that’s just too cringey to bear. Whatever their reasons, some actors have been known to put their foot down when it comes to what they will and won’t say. But in an industry built on ego (actors’ included), rejecting even just one line can be a risky career move.

Last year Jenna Ortega very publicly derided the original script for her Netflix hit Wednesday, revealing she just “started changing lines” on set because what the writers had written “did not make sense”. Some praised her chutzpah; others called her rude and disrespectful.

From Ortega’s controversial overhaul of Wednesday to the “one-note” joke that got axed personally by Angela Kinsey in The Office, here are 17 times actors did not stick to the script.

Angela Kinsey, The Office

During a recent podcast appearance, Kinsey revealed there were just “one or two times” in which she bristled at a line written for her character. The actor recalled a season three episode that required her character – the highly strung head of accounts – to make a joke at the expense of Oscar (Oscar Nuñez), a gay character featured on the show. However, she was so vehemently against delivering it that she approached creator Greg Daniels.

The joke in question – featured in the season three episode “Gay Witch Hunt” – saw her character (a staunch Christian) invoke Jesus, which Kinsey “didn’t feel good about”.

“I just was like, ‘I don’t feel good about it; I don’t feel like that’s what Jesus represented to me,’” said Kinsey, who grew up with a “warm, meaningful relationship” to her faith.

Angela Kinsey was left uncomfortable by a joke in ‘The Office’ (NBC)

Kinsey said that Daniels understood where she was coming from. “He was like, ‘OK.’ And he heard me, and he took the joke out,” she said. “And the episode – it was ‘Gay Witch Hunt’ – had so many already. But that’s the one pivotal moment I remember being like, OK, this is feeling like a stereotype and very one-note,”  I feel like [my character] has more depth than that.”

Patrick Warburton, Family Guy

Warburton has voiced the role of policeman Joe Swanson since Family Guy came on air 25 years ago. While the animated series is very happy pushing any and all buttons, there was one joke that Warburton did not approve of.

This isn’t exactly a case of Warburton himself refusing to say the line (which was written for another character), but he did tell producers he would not take part in the episode if the dialogue remained.

"This has only happened once in 20 years of being on the show – the episode was so offensive I can’t repeat it now,” he told Digital Spy. “It had to do with Christ on the cross but there was no humor in it, and it was just so, so horribly offensive. It wasn’t a Joe line, but I said, ‘Guys, I can’t participate in this episode if that line is in it. It’s a personal thing.’” The producers respected his decision and cut the joke.

Robert Downey Jr, The Avengers

Marvel fans will recall the final moments of The Avengers in which an injured Iron Man wakes up and enquires as to whether his superhero buddies have “ever tried shawarma”. The original script for the scene, however, would’ve seen the billionaire wake up and ask: “What’s next?” According to Entertainment Weekly, Downey felt that the line wasn’t snappy or lively enough .

Writer Joss Whedon agreed and penned several new versions of the scene in a notebook on the day of shooting, including the now notorious, albeit random, crack about shawarma.

Crispin Glover, Charlie’s Angels

Anyone who watched the high-kicking 2000 film will be familiar with The Thin Man. Portrayed by renowned character actor Crispin Glover, the deadly assassin became a mainstay in the action franchise, known for his slick middle parting and angular eyebrows. He was also famously mute in all of his appearances.

In fact, the Thin Man was originally a speaking part – but Glover disliked his character’s lines and requested that not one but all of them be removed from the script. “The dialogue was just expositional,” he complained, explaining that the character was more effective because he was completely silent.

Her religion prevented Jane Fonda from delivering one line in ‘Grace and Frankie’ (Saeed Adyani/Netflix)

Jane Fonda in Grace and Frankie

Legendary star Fonda, who is a devout Christian, protested when her character in Grace and Frankie used a particular exclamation. Speaking on a panel, co-creator of the show Marta Kauffman recalled: “We’ve had little things, like Jane didn’t feel comfortable saying – honestly, it was ‘Jesus Christ.’ Jane didn’t feel comfortable saying, ‘Jesus Christ.’” Kauffman listened to Fonda’s concerns wholeheartedly, stressing that the actor was “not a diva” at all. “These four actors are the most professional, glorious people I’ve ever worked with. I love them,” she said. “So, when they have an issue, it’s not that they’re being divas. It’s not that they’re being self-important. They have a real issue.”

Jenna Ortega, Wednesday

The actor made headlines when she revealed last year the extent to which she rewrote the script for Netflix’s hit show. Among the lines that she struck from the record were: “Oh my god, I love it. Ugh, I can’t believe I’m freaking out over a dress. I literally hate myself” – intended to be said when Wednesday tries on a dress for the school dance.

“I had to go, ‘No,’” recalled Ortega. “There were times on that set where I even became almost unprofessional in a sense where I just started changing lines. The script supervisor thought I was going with something and then I had to sit down with the writers, and they’d be like, ‘Wait, what happened to the scene?’ And I’d have to go and explain why I couldn’t go do certain things.”

Her disparaging comments about the original script – which she said “made no sense” – were criticised by some fans who felt it was “rude” to the writers.

Jenna Ortega said her extensive edits to the script of ‘Wednesday’ were ‘almost unprofessional’ (Netflix)

Robert Redford, The Way We Were

Starring Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford, The Way We Were enchanted audiences when it was released in 1973. Sydney Pollack’s romantic drama features a number of sex scenes between its stars – and it was during the first of these intimate moments that Redford protested against a line in the script.

In his book The Way We Were: How Epic Battles and Bruised Egos Brought a Classic Hollywood Love Story to the Screen, author Robert Hoefler writes that Redford refused to tell Streisand’s character “it’ll be better this time” before going a second round in bed. To hear Hoefler tell it, Redford (a heartthrob in the industry) disputed the line because he was never bad in bed, so it didn’t make sense that his character would ever be.

Jensen Ackles in The Boys

Anyone who has watched a single episode of The Boys will know the superhero show is not for the fainthearted, rife as it is with violence, sex, and very graphic scenes. By the time Ackles joined the cast in season three, the series’ reputation for breezing past the line was solidified – and yet there was still one scripted moment that had the Supernatural star shaking his head. Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Ackles said he told showrunner Eric Kripke: “As a father of three, and a son and a husband and a self-respecting human being, I can’t do this. I didn’t know where my line was, but you found it.”

Kripke understood where Ackles was coming from, and the pair came to an agreement. “We worked out a compromise where I got what I needed without him destroying his soul,” said Ackles. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending how you look at it) the line of dialogue that tipped him over the edge has never seen the light of day.

Jensen Ackles told ‘The Boys’ creator Eric Kripke: ‘I didn’t know where my line was, but you found it’ (Prime Video)

James Cagney, Sinners’ Holiday

Before Cagney cultivated a reputation for playing tough guys, the actor starred in the 1930 romance film Sinners’ Holiday. It was his first film but that didn’t stop him from disagreeing with director John G Adolfi over a line of dialogue.

Cagney recalled the on-set argument in his biography. “There was a line in the show where I was supposed to be crying on my mother’s breast,” he wrote. “[Warner Brothers executive Darryl] Zanuck had written the line, and I was expected to say it. It was, ‘I’m your baby, ain’t I?’ I refused to say it. Adolfi said, ‘Well, I’m going to tell Zanuck.’” In the end, they bent to Cagney’s demands and took the line out.

Harrison Ford, The Empire Strikes Back

Every Star Wars fan can recall the iconic moment when Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) tells Han Solo (Ford) that she loves him, to which he answers not “I love you, too” but:  “I know.” The pithy response was famously ad-libbed by Ford on the spot.

What some people might not know, though, is that there was an entirely different scene written for the pair. As detailed in The Making of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, Laia was supposed to tell Han: “I love you. I couldn’t tell you before, but it’s true.” And Solo was supposed to have cooly said: “Just remember that, because I’ll be back.”  While shooting the film, director Irvin Kerschner agreed with Ford was not quite right, and so Ford rewrote the scene then and there – giving rise to one of the most famous moments in the franchise.

Christopher Lee’s iconic silent portrayal of Dracula in the 1958 film was not always the plan (Hammer/Warner Bros/Kobal/Shutterstock)

Christopher Lee, Dracula

Before Christopher Lee was Saruman in The Lord of the Rings and Count Dooku in Star Wars, he was Count Dracula in the 1958 film Dracula. The film proved Lee’s ability to strike fear into an audience’s hearts without saying a single word – his muteness, however, was not always part of the plan.

Lee did not mince his words when later recalling his hatred of the original script. “People all over the world who have seen that film have asked me why I didn’t speak,” he said. “ The answer is very simple: I hated the script. And the lines were literally unsayable.” He continued, “Somebody used to write up lines like, ‘I am the apocalypse.’ Urgh… beyond belief.” Lee suggested to director Hammer Horror that the writers instead lift dialogue from Bram Stoker’s original novel, on which the film was based. “This was a great fight I used to have over the years with Hammer – I kept on saying, ‘Why don’t you use Stoker’s words?’” he recalled. In the end, though, they nixed the vampire’s dialogue altogether.

Tessa Thompson, Men in Black: International

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Thompson was asked whether or not she would reiterate Will Smith’s famous line in the original Men in Black film: “I make this look good.” The actor responded: “I wouldn’t have said it. In fact, I think someone did ask me to – just as an option – and I said no.” Thompson went on to explain her decision, saying: “M is just different from that character. Yeah, I was really conscious of too much nostalgia.” The actor did, however, concede that callbacks were to be expected in reboots such as this: “Inside of that, there were moments when I thought, ‘Let’s lean in.’”

The film’s omission of the N-word was partly down to Oscar-winner Hattie McDaniel (Selznick/Mgm/Kobal/Shutterstock)

Hattie McDaniel, Gone With the Wind

The 1939 film has been the subject of controversy in recent years over its sanitised version of slavery in the Antebellum South. In 2020, HBO Max added a disclaimer to the movie, highlighting how the film ignores “the horrors of slavery, as well as its legacies of racial inequality”.

Gone With the Wind starred Vivien Leigh, Clark Gable, and Hattie McDaniel – whose performance as the house servant Mammy was feted with an Oscar, making her the first Black actor to win the award. Although the N-word frequently appears in the book by Margaret Mitchell on which Gone With The Wind is based, it never appears in the film. Writing for The Atlantic in 1999, Leonard J Leff said that part of the reason for the slur’s omission in the film was down to McDaniel, who refused to say it or have it said to her. In a 1947 article published, in which McDaniel addressed criticism that she perpetuated Black stereotypes, she referenced this, writing: “Several times I have persuaded the directors to omit dialect from modern pictures. They readily agreed to the suggestion.”

Ian Wright in Ted Lasso

Granted, Ian Wright is not exactly an actor, but the star footballer agreed to a cameo in the hit Apple TV+ series Ted Lasso – albeit on one condition. During an appearance on the Dish from Waitrose podcast in 2022, Jaime actor Phil Dunster revealed that Wright – who formerly played for Crystal Palace and Arsenal – refused to praise Tottenham on air.

“It was in the script that he says, ‘You know, it’s gonna be a tough game for Richmond because Tottenham are a great side,’” Dunster said. “And he was like, ‘I can’t say it. I’m just not going to say it. I’m sorry.’” The actor emphasised that Wright was polite in his refusal, adding: “He was just like, ‘You’re going to have to change it because I can’t say that. I can’t go back to north London if I said that.’”

Across 10 seasons, Chandler does plenty of wacky things – but there was one storyline Matthew Perry dispited ( Warner Bros. Television/Getty Images)

Matthew Perry in Friends

To many people, Chandler Bing was the best part of Friends – his sardonic, dry humour earning laughs from living rooms across the world. And it’s hard to imagine anyone playing the role except for the late actor Matthew Perry, who knew just how to deliver his lines perfectly. Crucially, Perry also knew when not to deliver them at all.

Interviewed by Andy Cohen on Watch What Happens: Live in 2018, the actor recalled one scene he refused to do. “There was a storyline on Friends where Chandler went to a male strip joint cause he really liked the sandwiches, and I called up and I said, ‘Let’s not do this one,’” he said.

Robert Reed, The Brady Bunch

For some actors, verisimilitude is everything – which is why Reed refused to remark on the pleasant aromas of strawberry jam. In a season four episode of the hit sitcom, Carol, Brady, and Alice are in the kitchen whipping up a batch of the fruit-based condiment when Reed’s character, Mike, enters and says: “It smells like strawberry heaven in here.” Well, that’s what was supposed to happen.

According to The New York Post, however, the actor declined to deliver the line because he had read somewhere that berries do not give off a scent when cooked. He was not placated by series creator Sherwood Schwartz’s attempts to persuade him otherwise, even after Schwartz cooked a batch of berries to prove that they do, in fact, give off a scent. In the end, Reed said: “It looks like strawberry heaven in here.”

John Krasinski can only remember one time that he put his foot down when it came to ‘The Office’ (Netflix)

John Krasinski in The Office

Admittedly, this is less of a line that Krasinski refused to say than it is a storyline he refused to partake in. In the script for season eight of the hit series, Krasinski’s character Jim was supposed to cheat on his wife Pam (Jenna Fischer) by kissing the new office administrator on a business trip.

Krasinski said that this was “the only time I remember putting my foot down”, adding: “I remember saying thing that I never thought I’d say before, like, I’m not going to shoot it.”

Will Smith in Bad Boys

According to Bang Showbiz, Will Smith locked horns with Michael Bay on the set of the 1995 buddy cop comedy Bad Boys. The actor reportedly refused to say “I love you” to his police partner and best friend played by Martin Lawrence. As the sun began to set, Bay allegedly snapped: “That’s nature, and she’s not waiting for us!” Smith’s apprehension over the dialogue faded with time, and he did utter the words (“I love you, man”) 25 years later in 2020’s Bad Boys For Life.