Top 10 Movie Scandals You Forgot About
#10: The Dark Satire of “Heathers”
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Depending on who you ask, this high school comedy is either a brilliant underrated satire or a dated and misguided story that trivializes taboo subjects. Winona Ryder plays Veronica, a popular girl involved in the deaths of her popular classmates. Though it has plenty of prescient points about the sensationalization of school violence, many viewers and critics worried its tone could be misinterpreted. The movie’s storyline made headlines again when the controversial TV series was announced. If the lackluster, if not hostile, reception to that series is any indication, “Heathers” still has the power to get people riled up.
#9: “Aloha” Casting Controversy
This 2015 romcom is about a former US Air Force officer falling for a pilot, Captain Allison Ng. Ng was based on a real person who had Chinese and Hawaiian heritage. So, naturally, there was confusion and outright vitriol when Emma Stone was cast in the role. Writer-director Cameron Crowe insisted she was based on a real person who, despite her heritage, was redheaded like Stone. The casting reopened a larger conversation about whitewashing in Hollywood movies. Stone has since expressed regret for taking the role, quite publicly in fact. She even shouted out an impromptu apology at the 2019 Golden Globes in response to a joke made by co-host Sandra Oh.
#8: “I Heart Huckabees” Set Drama
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David O. Russell is infamous for his combative approach to filmmaking. Actors like Amy Adams and George Clooney have had run-ins with the volatile director. But Lily Tomlin went toe to toe with him right on camera. Leaked behind-the-scenes footage from the set of “I Heart Huckabees” show Tomlin and Russell in two separate, expletive-laden confrontations. Russell even begins destroying the set at one point, tossing out misogynistic names at the actress. Since the blowup, Tomlin’s insisted that she and the director are good friends. To them, it was just an extremely heated professional disagreement.
#7: The “Juno” Effect?
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This 2007 coming-of-age story about a sarcastic and effortlessly cool teenager who ends up pregnant created a stir come awards season. Outside of introducing phrases like “home skillet” into the public lexicon, according to Time Magazine, it may also have contributed to a statistical uptick in real-life teen pregnancies. When several girls became pregnant at a high school in Massachusetts, the media was quick to point the finger at movies like “Juno” that they felt made teen pregnancy trendy. This charge didn’t necessarily stand up under any scrutiny. If writer Diablo Cody expressed any regret about the movie, it’s that some took the character’s choice not to terminate the pregnancy as an anti-choice message.
#6: “Super Mario Bros.” Goes Down the Tubes
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Long before Chris Pratt voiced the beloved Nintendo character, a live-action “Super Mario Bros.” movie became notorious for its truly dazzling failure. Despite its use of innovative special effects, the movie was a huge bomb, failing to recoup its budget and topping many of 1993’s worst-of lists. Its lead actors hated working on the film, and Mario actor Bob Hoskins would go on to say it was the worst movie of his career. Nintendo would be a lot more careful with film rights to its franchises as a result. Given how horrendously received the original was, it’s a wonder the 2023 animated version was made at all.
#5: “Heaven’s Gate” Ends the New Hollywood Movement
In the Hollywood of the 1970s, the directors ruled. Visionary directors like Scoresese, Spielberg, Coppola, and others were the leaders of the New Hollywood era of filmmaking. However, their movies saw diminishing returns as the decade wore on, and Michael Cimino’s 1980 epic western put the final nail in the coffin. Cimino’s perfectionism led to numerous takes and delays, which led to a ballooned budget and a near four-hour runtime. “Heaven’s Gate” was also picketed upon release due to accusations of mistreatment of animals on set. The movie flopped hard, both critically and financially, and became symbolic of the excesses of the period. Its failure gave studios the ammunition they needed to tighten the reins, and the spending, of their creators.
#4: “The Conqueror” Films Near a Nuclear Testing Site
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A movie starring John Wayne as Mongolian emperor Genghis Khan is a terrible enough idea that could make you sick, but this notorious 1956 epic was accused of making its cast and crew literally sick. “The Conqueror” was filmed downwind from a nuclear testing site whose radioactive dirt was then shipped to Hollywood to create consistency between scenes filmed on location and studio sets. Over the next several years, a large portion of the movie’s stars and crew developed fatal cancers. Even visitors to the set would develop cases. Although there are skeptics who insist these numbers are consistent with national averages, it’s a connection that the film’s producer, Howard Hughes, felt guilty about in his later years.
#3: Depiction of Teenagers in “Thirteen”
Nikki Reed was only thirteen when she co-wrote the screenplay to this indie drama, so the fact that it was based on her life was a little disturbing for a lot of folks to handle. “Thirteen” follows two middle schoolers engaging in various illicit behaviors that parents and producers didn’t want to believe. For some screenings, director Catherine Hardwicke even had to bring in experts on juvenile delinquency to speak to audience concerns. Even Reed and her co-star, Evan Rachel Wood, felt the pressure of it all, later revealing that they didn’t speak for years after the film was completed.
#2: Deaths on the “Twilight Zone” Set
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In 1982, John Landis was filming his segment for the “Twilight Zone” anthology film with star Vic Morrow and two child actors. The scene called for Morrow’s character to rescue two children from a village during the Vietnam War, amid heavy fire and explosions. One of these explosions caused a real helicopter to crash, killing Morrow and the children. The tragedy and ensuing trial for manslaughter uncovered the shoot’s outrageous labor violations. Landis neglected to secure waivers that would allow the children to work at night, especially in a scene with explosives. The director and various crewmembers were acquitted. However, the event led to stricter guidelines for set safety, and effectively ended Landis’ friendship with Steven Spielberg, his co-producer on the film.
#1: Ingrid Bergman in Exile
In the 1940s, no Hollywood actress typified virtuous femininity like “Casablanca” star Ingrid Bergman. But in 1949, the Swedish-born screen goddess teamed up with Italian neorealist Roberto Rossellini in a role that ran counter to her established persona. And the making of “Stromboli” led to a firestorm of controversy when the married actress had an affair and became pregnant with the director’s child. She was denounced on the floor of the U.S. Senate, and right-wing gossip columnists like Hedda Hopper stoked the hate. Bergman remained in Italy. She was still hated in the U.S. when she made “Anastasia,” her first Hollywood movie in seven years. Despite winning an Oscar for that role, she wouldn’t appear publicly in Hollywood for another three years.
