13 Actors Who Publicly Called Out Their Former Male Costars (And Why)

This post contains mention of sexual assault.

Many actors find lifelong friends, true love, and even chosen family on set. However, not every set of costars has a good working relationship, and sometimes they feel it's important to speak out about their experiences with a certain costar.

Here are 13 actors who have called out their male costars:

1. In a 2024 Instagram story post, Rebel Wilson alleged that a male celebrity was "trying to threaten" her over a chapter in her upcoming memoir, Rebel Rising, that she reportedly wrote about him. Calling him an "asshole," she said that he "hired a crisis PR manager and lawyers." A day later, she revealed the actor in question was her The Brothers Grimsby costar Sacha Baron Cohen, whose representatives denied the allegations Rebel reportedly makes in her book.

Back in 2014, Rebel told The Kyle & Jackie O Show, "Sacha is so outrageous. Every single day, he's like, 'Rebel, can you just go naked in this scene?' And I'm like, 'No!' Sacha and I have the same agent in America, and I'm like, 'Sacha, I'm going to call our agent Sharon and tell her how much you are harassing me.' Every day, he's like, 'Just go naked, it will be funny. Remember in Borat when I did that naked scene? It was hilarious.' On the last day, I thought I'd obviously won the argument, and he got a body double to do the naked scene. Then in the last scene ... he was like, 'Rebel, can you just stick your finger up my butt?' And I went, 'What do you mean, Sacha? That's not in the script.' And he's like, 'Look, I'll just pull down my pants, you just stick your finger up my butt, it'll be a really funny bit.' ... You don't wanna be a diva, so I ... said, 'I'll slap you once on the butt, and that’s it.'"

Ten years later, Sacha's reps told Variety, "While we appreciate the importance of speaking out, these demonstrably false claims are directly contradicted by extensive detailed evidence, including contemporaneous documents, film footage, and eyewitness accounts from those present before, during, and after the production of The Brothers Grimsby."

2. A 2021 New Yorker profile revealed that Jeremy Strong is essentially a Method actor (though he wouldn't describe himself that way) — much to the chagrin of some of his Succession costars.

Kiernan Culkin said, "It's hard for me to actually describe his process because I don't really see it. He puts himself in a bubble. [...] [His self-isolation] might be something that helps him. I can tell you that it doesn't help me."

Brian Cox said, "The result that Jeremy gets is always pretty tremendous. I just worry about what he does to himself. I worry about the crises he puts himself through in order to prepare. [...] Actors are funny creatures. I've worked with intense actors before. It's a particularly American disease, I think, this inability to separate yourself off while you're doing the job."

Two years later, however, Brian told Town & Country that being around an actor who's constantly in character is "fucking annoying." He said, "Don't get me going on it."

Around the same time, Jeremy referred to the viral New Yorker piece as his "15 minutes of shame, with a long tail." He told GQ, "I hadn't felt judged like that in a very long time. [...] I was less bothered by other actors having feelings or opinions about the way I work. Really, it was just feeling exposed."

3. On a 2023 episode of her Bitch Sesh podcast, Casey Wilson said that her The Santa Clauses costar Tim Allen was "such a bitch" when they worked together. She said, "Worst, truly single worst experience I've ever had with a costar ever."

She said, "[In the scene,] I'm supposed to throw things at him. He's coming down the chimney, obviously as Santa. And I am woken up thinking there's an intruder — basically like a home invasion scene. I basically hear him — he goes, 'You gotta tell her to stop stepping on my lines.' The producer turns to me with horror on his face and has to walk one foot to me and he goes, 'Tim would ask that you stopped stepping on his lines.'"

She also alleged that he was "so fucking rude" and "never made eye contact, never said anything" to her.

4. In her memoir, Love, Pamela, Pamela Anderson alleged that Tim, her costar in Home Improvement, flashed her to get "even" because he'd seen the former Playboy model naked before. Tim denied her claims.

Pamela wrote, "On the first day of filming, I walked out of my dressing room, and Tim was in the hallway in his robe. He opened his robe and flashed me quickly — completely naked underneath."

Tim told Variety, "No, it never happened. I would never do such a thing."

5. Viola Davis called out the way Jared Leto decided to get in character for Suicide Squad. She told Vanity Fair, "He did some bad things, Jared Leto did. He gave some really horrific gifts. He had a henchman who would come into the rehearsal room. And the henchman came in with a dead pig and plopped it on the table, and then he walked out. And that was our introduction into Jared Leto."

She continued, "Now, I'm terrified just as a person ... But the second part was, 'Oh shit, I've got to have my stuff together.' You talk about commitment. And then he sends Margot Robbie a black rat — it was still alive — in a box. She screamed, and then she kept it."

6. In 2021, a resurfaced story about Lucy Liu standing up to Bill Murray on the Charlie's Angels set went viral. She told the Los Angeles Times' Asian Enough podcast, "As we're doing the scene, Bill starts to sort of hurl insults, and I won't get into the specifics, but it kept going on and on. I was like, 'Wow, he seems like he's looking straight at me.' I couldn't believe that [the comments] could be towards me, because what do I have to do with anything majorly important at that time? I literally do the look-around-my-shoulder thing, like, who is he talking to behind me? I say, 'I'm so sorry. Are you talking to me?' And clearly he was, because then it started to become a one-on-one communication."

She continued, "Some of the language was inexcusable and unacceptable, and I was not going to just sit there and take it. So, yes, I stood up for myself, and I don’t regret it. Because no matter how low on the totem pole you may be or wherever you came from, there’s no need to condescend or to put other people down. And I would not stand down, and nor should I have."

The impact of that moment carried on years down the line. She continued, "I remember years later, maybe even decades later, some crew members that I didn’t even know at the time came up to me on other sets and told me that they were there at the time and they were really grateful that I did that. I have nothing against Bill Murray at all. I’ve seen him since then at a SNL reunion, and he came up to me and was perfectly nice. But I’m not going to sit there and be attacked."

7. In her memoir, Unsinkable, Debbie Reynolds alleged that Gene Kelly, her Singin' in the Rain costar, made unwelcome advances toward her during a kissing scene. She wrote, "The camera closed in. Gene took me tightly in his arms...and shoved his tongue down my throat. 'Eeew! What was that?' I screeched, breaking free of his grasp and spitting. I ran around frantic, yelling for some Coca-Cola to cleanse my mouth. It was the early 1950s, and I was an innocent kid who had never been French-kissed."

She continued, "It felt like an assault. I was stunned that this thirty-nine-year-old man would do this to me."

8. Meryl Streep called out her Kramer vs. Kramer costar Dustin Hoffman for slapping her mid-take without permission. In 2018, she told the New York Times, "It was overstepping. But I think those things are being corrected in this moment. And they're not politically corrected; they're fixed. They will be fixed because people won't accept it anymore. So that's a good thing."

She also said, "This is tricky because when you're an actor, you're in a scene, you have to feel free. I'm sure that I have inadvertently hurt people in physical scenes. But there's a certain amount of forgiveness in that. But this was my first movie, and it was my first take in my first movie, and he just slapped me. And you see it in the movie."

9. Donald Glover's Community costar Chevy Chase reportedly made insensitive racial jokes between takes in an attempt to throw him off. In 2018, Donald told the New Yorker, "I just saw Chevy as fighting time — a true artist has to be OK with his reign being over. I can't help him if he's thrashing in the water. But I know there's a human in there somewhere — he's almost too human."

In the same interview, Chevy said, "I am saddened to hear that Donald perceived me in that light."

10. In a 2018 tweet, Alice Wetterlund described her experiences working with T.J. Miller on Silicon Valley. She said, "I'm pretty open about this, and I don’t know if other women on the show had a different experience than me, but it was kind of a nightmare."

She also called him "a bully and petulant brat" and called out other unnamed men on set who "enabled" his "unprofessionalism."

On the Jim Norton & Sam Roberts show, T.J. said, "She may have had that experience, but it’s people trying to enter the headlines and get into the media cycle. It was not my experience that anyone was bullying her or being mean to her."

In a statement, an HBO spokesperson said, "While this is the first time we have heard Alice Wetterlund comment on her experiences on Silicon Valley, we are disappointed to learn of her concerns. HBO and the producers have always taken very seriously our responsibility to create a welcoming and congenial environment for everyone who works on the show."

11. In 1993, Julia Roberts told the New York Times that her I Love Trouble costar Nick Nolte was "completely disgusting." She said, "He's going to hate me for saying this, but he seems [to] go out of his way to repel people. He's a kick."

She also said, "From the moment I met him, we sort of gave each other a hard time, and naturally, we get on each other's nerves."

12. Tyrese Gibson had a challenging time working with James Franco on Annapolis because of the latter's decision to employ Method acting strategies. In 2007, Tyrese told Elle, "James Franco is a Method actor. I respect Method actors, but he never snapped out of character. Whenever we'd have to get in the ring for boxing scenes, and even during practice, the dude was full-on hitting me. I was always like, 'James, lighten up, man. We're just practicing.' He never lightened up."

The following year, James told GQ, "I take full blame for any problems on that film. If he had a bad experience working with me, I was probably a jerk. I was not purposely cruel to him, but I was probably so wrapped up in my performance that I was not as friendly as I could have been. This is such a stupid issue, I can't believe I'm still talking about it. But when I'm asked about it in the press, it makes it seem as if it's still an issue. I think Tyrese is a sweet guy with a good heart. I wish him all the best."

13. And finally, Freddie Prinze Jr. "hated every moment" of doing 24. He called his costar Kiefer Sutherland "the most unprofessional dude in the world."

He told ABC News, "That's not me talking trash. I'd say it to his face — I think everyone that's worked with him has said that."

In a statement to CBS News, Kiefer's reps said, "Kiefer worked with Freddie Prinze Jr. more than five years ago, and this is the first he has heard of Freddie's grievances. Kiefer enjoyed working with Freddie and wishes him the best."

If you or someone you know has experienced sexual assault, you can call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE, which routes the caller to their nearest sexual assault service provider. You can also search for your local center here.