Rebecca Ferguson Says She Asked For “Idiot” Co-Star To Be Replaced With A Tennis Ball After They “Screamed” Abuse & Reduced Her To Tears
Rebecca Ferguson has revealed how she confronted an unnamed co-star and demanded that they be removed from a film after the individual “screamed” at her.
In an interview with the Reign with Josh Smith podcast, the Dune: Part Two actress recalled how she found her voice in challenging her “absolute idiot” co-star and has not been bullied since.
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Ferguson did not reveal the identity of the actor, nor did she gender the individual. She did confirm, however, that it was not Hugh Jackman or Tom Cruise, who she starred alongside in The Greatest Showman and Mission Impossible respectively.
Dwayne Johnson has also ruled himself out of online speculation, posting about his support for Ferguson on Twitter, now X. “Hate seeing this but love seeing her stand up to bullshit,” he wrote.
Ferguson said: “I remember there was a moment and this human being was being so insecure and angry because this person couldn’t get the scenes out.
“And I think I was so vulnerable and uncomfortable that I got screamed at. But because this person was number one on a call sheet, there was no safety net for me. So no one had my back. And I would cry walking off set.”
Ferguson recalled how the person would say things to her like, “You call yourself an actor?” and “This is what I have to work with?”, in front of the film’s crew. “I stood there just breaking,” she remembered.
Ferguson said she resolved to challenge her co-star the next day, telling the individual to “get off my set.” She recalled being “so scared” of the confrontation.
“I looked at this person and I said, ‘You can F off. I’m gonna work towards a tennis ball. I never want to see you again.’ And then I remember the producers came up and said, ‘You can’t do this to number one. We have to let this person be on set.'”
Ferguson said she requested to act to the back of her co-star’s head. “And I did,” she said. “I thought it shouldn’t have to be that way. And I remember going to the director afterward and saying, ‘What is happening?’
“The director said, ‘You’re right. I am not taking care of everyone else. I’m trying to fluff this person because it’s so unstable.’ And it was great from that moment but it took so long for me to get to that.”
You can watch the interview below:
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