It's kinda wild that "difficult to work with" in Hollywood encompasses both "re-writes their lines if they don't think the script is good enough, wins awards for the final movie" and "shows up drunk, throws things"
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From a producer/studio standpoint, those are all varying degrees of headache, and a guy who drunkenly abuses people is prob both way commoner and (from their flawed perspective) way easier to tolerate than an actor who usurps the writer and director 🤔
Sure, Ed Norton sounds a touch exhausting to work with, maybe it's possible to care too much, but, you know, I don't know if he should be on Top Five Bad Boy Actors lists next to dudes who throw things.
I'm imaging this type of variance in a "difficult to work with" IT professional.
"Difficult to work with- uses T568A instead of T568B for ethernet"
"Difficult to work with- damaged mounting rack and broke credit card processing company-wide"
The cheat sheet on a Klein crimping tool puts T568B above A because they know that's the correct way to do it, they just need to include A on the off chance you need a crossover for some reason.
Recently had to mentally separate Ed Norton as a “controlling perfectionist” from the “literal monster to work with category” since that image was shaped at a young age when he was replaced as Hulk with no further context
I've been told I'm "difficult to live with" and now based on this I'm going to assume they all meant "tries too hard to get things right" rather than "a human lament configuration".
It's telling that 'difficult' often punishes the passionate and creative while enabling destructive behavior. True artistry should be celebrated, not stifled; we need to differentiate between bold vision and chaos.
Christopher Eccleston was blacklisted from the BBC because he was concerned about the working conditions on the set of Doctor Who. They made up a quote about him being "exhausted" when he resigned and it cost him many roles.
Isn't it also gendered? Women are difficult when they rewrite lines or speak up against hostile work environments where they feel unsafe. Male actors are difficult when they demand an ice bucket on their head, an ear piece to get lines fed to them, and the ending rewritten to make them a dolphin.
Is he 'won't take the makeup off and shoots bottle rockets at the director's trailer weird' or is he 'won't stop trying to fuck the catering staff weird'???
Demanded to wear the same costumes as his actors while directing, brought his disruptive little dogs to set every day and demanded their own rented trailer, destroyed the house production rented for him
It also encompasses both "hurls antisemitic slurs at the key grip" and "refused to have sex with a producer." The phrase is just about meaningless at this point. :/
As a (very, very technically) professional actor, I did this a fair bit, but only in consultation with the creators. “Hey, saying ____ feels a little more natural,” or “I was think we could refer back to ______,” or even “______ is really hard for me to say, can we tweak it?”
There are absolutely top of the list actors on both ends and encompassing both.
DDL is method enough to be both, he’s just going to be in character doing the former, and if the character is a drunk who throws things also the latter.
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"Difficult to work with- uses T568A instead of T568B for ethernet"
"Difficult to work with- damaged mounting rack and broke credit card processing company-wide"
We shouldn’t allow people in power to make these kinds of statements that are so vague.
"He's difficult to work with": throws stuff and is a menace to other people on set.
"She's difficult to work with": doesn't want to get sexually assaulted.
DDL is method enough to be both, he’s just going to be in character doing the former, and if the character is a drunk who throws things also the latter.