Top 10 Actors Who HATED Working For Disney
Top 10 Actors Who HATED Working For Disney
Welcome to WatchMojo, and today, were counting down our picks for the Top 10 actors who absolutely could not stand working for the Walt Disney Company.
#10: Dylan & Cole Sprouse
One of the biggest open secrets about working with Disney is how the company keeps a tight leash on just about every project theyre involved in and want to maintain control of. The Sprouse twins, Dylan and Cole, experienced this firsthand as they have come forward about why they stopped working with the conglomerate. According to Dylan in 2013, he and his brother wanted to continue The Suite Life of Zack & Cody and The Suite Life on Deck with more spin-offs. They also wanted credits as producers and to be involved in the writing process. Dylan and Cole were given a firm no before Disney pitched them an eerily similar spin-off idea that sounded like the twins pitch a year later. Dylan and Cole gave them a firm no, and neither twin has looked back since.
#9: Demi Lovato
Another open secret about working for Disney is the great mental toll they can sometimes inflict on their stars, especially the younger ones. Demi Lovato of As the Bell Rings and Camp Rock Disney fame has been somewhat vocal about this since her departure. Across a multitude of videos and interviews, Lovato has opened up about how her work on the Disney Channel affected her mental health, causing her to develop an eating disorder while under the pressure of perfection. It had become so severe that she barely remembers most of her Disney Channel days. In 2021, Lovato also revealed that she had been assaulted by someone she had to see all the time during her tenure at Disney. This person has yet to be identified at the time of this video.
#8: Kirk Douglas
Two years after portraying Captain Nemo in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Walt Disney invited Douglas and his kids to visit his home where he had his own miniature railway ride. Unbeknownst to Douglas, he and his kids were being filmed for use of promotional material, specifically the behind-the-scenes Disney show Where Do the Stories Come From. Douglas wrote a letter, Disney apologized, and all was well until the footage was still included in a rerun of the episode. Douglas was furious and threatened to sue Disneyuntil he suddenly dropped the case. The two had supposedly resolved their differences outside of court with Douglas stating, You cant sue God. A joke, yes, but eerie given Disneys near spotless record in winning lawsuits today.
#7: Johnny Depp
Long before severing ties with Disney over his dispute with Amber Heard, Johnny Depp had already experienced a rocky relationship with the Walt Disney Company. Going all the way back to production of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Disney executives werent exactly thrilled with Depps unique walk for Jack Sparrow. According to Depp, the walk was too much for the executives, and he was almost replaced. Depp doubled down on his performance, though, and it became a key part in Jack Sparrows character.
#6: Raven-Symoné Even the most successful Disney Channel shows were subject to micromanagement under the weight of The House of Mouse, such as the case with the star of "That's So Raven". A few years after Raven-Symoné had revealed her sexuality, in 2016 she appeared in the short documentary series called "It Got Better. Here, she opened up about some of her experiences working with Disney, including having her likeness being criticized and pressured to conform to branding standards by fifteen different people.
#5: Bella Thorne
Much like Raven-Symoné and Demi Lovato, Bella Thorne was also the victim of intense scrutiny of her public image when working with Disney on Shake It Up. When appearing on the podcast High Low with EmRata, Thorne recalled a time where Disney had almost fired her for wearing a bikini. At the time, Thorne was a minor and was spending the day at the beach with a stylist. In the same episode, Thorne talked about a time where a casting director thought she was trying to flirt with him. Whether this incident occurred during a Disney-related audition had not been clarified.
#4: Miley & Billy Ray Cyrus
While her on-screen character was relishing in the best of both worlds, the real Miley was in turmoil about her identity and her relationship with her family. In 2021, Miley Cyrus spoke with USA Today about her experience. To her, the life of Hannah Montana felt too familiar as she felt like nobody cared about her until she put the wig on. Her father, Billy Ray Cyrus, has also gone on record to say that Hannah Montana, the show, had destroyed our family.
#2: Scarlett Johansson
The actress behind Black Widow, across several cinematic Marvel entries, had her own falling out with Disney during production of her character's titular movie. Prior to Black Widows production, Johansson and Disney settled on a contract with a stipulation that Black Widow be released exclusively in theaters where Johansson would earn a percentage of the box office revenue. Disney walked back on the agreement and proceeded to release the movie on their streaming service, Disney+, the same day it was theatrically released. Johansson filed a lawsuit shortly after the films release before the two parties settled outside of court for an undisclosed amount. And would you believe this was not the first time Disney went back on agreements with one of their biggest stars?
#1: Robin Williams
When the legendary comedian agreed to voice Genie in 1992s Aladdin, he only asked that he and the character not be a massive part of the marketing campaign. Disney notoriously went behind Williamss back and did so anyways for years. Though the two would make amends a few years later, Disney did Williams dirty again during the production of 1999s Bicentennial Man. The House of Mouse had severely cut the movies budget and gave the film little to no marketing despite co-financing the movie with competitor Sony via Columbia Pictures. Sure enough, the movie was a complete failure critically and commercially. Williams never worked on another Disney project ever again while Bicentennial Man would later become known as a misunderstood classic among film buffs, writers, and visual effects artists.
Which of these stories shocked you the most? Let us know down in the comments.
