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As professional show-offs with A-list ambitions, you might assume that any TV star wants to maximise their screen time – the meatier the role and the more minutes in the limelight, the better. Yet that isn’t always the case. Sometimes, actors want their scenes to be cut, either from the script or from the edit. And they can have all sorts of reasons, from personal politics to second thoughts about stripping off.
The recent Channel 4 docudrama Brian and Maggie, written by Sherwood’s James Graham, saw Dame Harriet Walter deliver a nuanced, non-cartoonish portrayal of the, let’s say, “divisive” figure of Margaret Thatcher. The lady wasn’t for turning. She was for being left on the cutting room floor, though.
In depicting the unconventional bond between the Conservative prime minister and Labour MP turned TV journalist Brian Walden, whose infamous 1989 grilling of the PM would trigger her downfall, programme-makers put their personal politics aside. The Guardian’s Lucy Mangan wrote that we are “in a bad way when Thatcher begins to look like the way and the light”. For once, the Telegraph agreed: “Channel 4 has made a sympathetic drama about Thatcher by mistake.”
“In the edit, we cut something because I thought it was a bit too kind,” Coogan told Emily Maitlis in the Radio Times. “Of course I had huge antipathy towards Thatcher. I was very anti-Thatcher. I was worried about being too compassionate because at the end, she was definitely a victim of sexism.” At a press screening, Coogan clarified that the scene in question was the awkward post-interview drinks: “It was a line where Brian said: ‘She’s worth 100 of them.’ I thought it was too syrupy for him to say that after stabbing the knife in. Raising a glass to her was sufficient. Best to be more subtle.”
Coogan has form for demanding tweaks to his TV biopics. In The Reckoning, the queasy 2023 factual drama about Jimmy Savile, he asked to change a necrophilia scene in a Leeds hospital morgue because he was “uncomfortable” performing it. “It was as disturbing as it looks,” said Coogan. “A certain shot was planned that I didn’t want to do. It was just a detail that I was uncomfortable with. I had a conversation with the director [Sandra Goldbacher] and we came to an agreement on the most appropriate way to depict it.”
Whether it’s down to professionalism, power dynamics or an ego-fuelled desire to maximise their screen time, actors asking for their own scenes to be cut is a rare occurrence on TV. The cases we know about, at least.
With depressing predictability, instances often involve female actors fending off demands to bare all. Evangeline Lilly, who played Kate in Lost, admitted that she disliked most of the character’s later storylines. She felt kick-ass Kate had been reduced to “chasing men around the island” and felt “cornered” into partially nude scenes during the third and fourth seasons. In the end, Lilly told execs she would no longer do nudity.
Not one but four Euphoria actors – Sydney Sweeney, Chloe Cherry, Martha Kelly and Minka Kelly – asked controversy-baiting creator Sam Levinson to cut “unnecessary” nude scenes from the script. Allison Williams was the only one of the four female leads in HBO’s Girls who didn’t appear naked, explaining that she “didn’t want my future children to see that”.
Male actors tend to push back over sexually predatory plotlines, rather than flesh-flashing. Penn Badgley, star of Netflix potboiler You, was “disgusted” after filming a sequence where the antihero Joe masturbates outside his lust object’s apartment. Badgley said he didn’t want to do the scene and has admitted that playing obsessive serial killer Joe takes a mental toll on him.
Joseph Fiennes refused to film a scene in The Handmaid’s Tale where villainous Commander Fred Waterford rapes his wife Serena (Yvonne Strahovski). “As abhorrent and evil as Fred is, I have to defend parts of him because he’s still human,” said Fiennes, who stood firm with “long emails, defending and pushing”. He won the argument. The assault was never filmed.
Actors also resist certain scenes for character consistency or fear of fan backlash. The breakout moment from Netflix’s teen-goth phenomenon Wednesday was nearly very different. Moody Ms Addams’ prom dance, which went viral on TikTok, was originally meant to escalate into a flash mob. Actor Jenna Ortega thought a stage musical-style number was jarring and demanded it was changed.
“Everyone was supposed to pick up on it and start dancing with her,” said Ortega. “I vetoed it because why would Wednesday be OK with that? She’d knock someone out.” Ortega also expressed disappointment that the series put Wednesday in the centre of a love triangle with fellow Nevermore students, arguing it made “no sense” for the character.
In the American version of The Office, John Krasinski wouldn’t allow Jim to cheat on wife Pam. The eighth season was supposed to see him kiss the new temp Cathy (Lindsey Broad) on a work trip. Krasinski believed this would alienate viewers, so declined to film it: “That’s the only time I remember putting my foot down. I remember saying, ‘I’m not going to shoot it. If you push the audience too far and show Jim cheating, they’ll never come back’.’”
Similarly, Matt LeBlanc initially refused to do the Friends storyline where Joey dated Rachel. NBC showrunner Kevin S Bright said: “Matt was very firmly against it, saying Joey would never steal his buddy Ross’ girlfriend.” Bright admitted it “took a lot of conversations” for LeBlanc to be persuaded.
A Friends plot twist that didn’t get past the cast was Rachel flat-sharing with Central Perk mainstay Gunther, who harboured a puppyish peroxide crush on her. A planned season six subplot had Jennifer Aniston’s character moving out of Monica’s apartment and shacking up with the lovestruck barista. Actor James Michael Tyler said: “I remember seeing the first draft of the script and thinking, ‘Oh man, they’re never going to make this work.’ It didn’t read right, even to me. I looked over at Jen and she wasn’t convinced either.” Producers soon realised it was a bad idea and spiked it.
The Sopranos’ Drea de Matteo, AKA mob moll Adriana, lobbied the show’s producers to remove a scene before she got whacked in the woods. It was a scene in which she didn’t even appear.
“In the script, Christopher went to Tony Soprano and told him I was an FBI rat,” recalls De Matteo. “So when Tony calls me and says Silvio will pick me up, the audience know I’m driving towards my death. That bothered me. The walk to her death wasn’t going to be suspenseful. It would make it kind of gratuitous. I fought for that phone call to be cut. A few other actors were onboard and helped argue my case. They took it out, thank God. They ended up using it as a flashback the following season.”
More recently, the singer turned actor Alexandra Burke asked for a particularly distressing scene to be cut from the Paramount+ dystopian drama Curfew. Burke said the content was too dark: “It was the most challenging role I’ve ever tackled but there were some things I didn’t think I could do,” she admitted. “I spoke to the producer and they agreed to take it out. I was like, ‘Thank you, because I’m not sure I could act that. And you’ve already shot scenes with me, hun, so the contract’s done!’”
Finally, for a cuter variation on the theme, Nicola Coughlan’s negotiations with Netflix and Shondaland included them producing a family-friendly edit of Bridgerton episodes – for the express purpose of showing her mother. Each instalment of the Regency romp, in which Coughlan plays Penelope Featherington, is supplied to her in an alternate cut with less sex and nudity.
“It’s literally written into my contract,” says Coughlan. “People think I’m joking but we grew up Irish Catholic. That’s just not how we vibe.” You can take the girl out of Derry …
