Hollywood has too many feuds to count, but what made critically acclaimed director Steven Spielberg not want to work with Julia Roberts again?

SUMMARY

 Julia Roberts was cast as Tinker Bell after her success with Pretty Woman, but her real life break up with Keifer Sutherland caused issues on the set for Hook .
 Hook also was a different shoot for Roberts due to her role being relegated to green screen, not allowing her as much interaction with her cast mates.
 Hook was a success, but Steven Spielberg’s comments about Roberts after filming led to a rift between Spielberg and Roberts.

The number of Hollywood feuds is practically unfathomable, and it’s not always easy to keep up with the latest beef. Though problems often arise between co-stars when the cameras turn off, disagreements have been known to happen between directors and actors.

The tabloids had a field day with Julia Roberts and Kiefer Sutherland during their notorious relationship, a distraction that caused a lot of tension on Steven Spielberg’s Hook set in 1991.

Spielberg accused Roberts of poor behavior on-set, but it’s almost hard to imagine when looking back at both of their careers because neither of them seems to have endured any further instances of that nature since.

These types of feuds are notorious, however, with one of the most well-known being the heated tensions that flared between Kramer vs. Kramer costars Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep. Hoffman — a noted Method actor — verbally and physically harassed Streep, later confessing that going through an actual divorce while filming a divorce drama hit a little too close to what he was going through at home.

Oddly enough, the 1990s blowout between Julia Roberts and Steven Spielberg was the result of a similar experience, with Roberts going through a difficult breakup with her romantic partner at the time, Keifer Sutherland.

Though the origins of these issues often remain shrouded in mystery, both parties have since discussed the filming of Hook and why the complicated nature of Roberts’ personal life at the time may go some way toward explaining why they occurred. As Spielberg later noted, the timing could not have been worse.

Roberts’ Tinker Bell Casting in Hook Came After the Success of Pretty Woman

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Roberts’ breakthrough role came in the underrated 1988 film Mystic Pizza before starring in the 1990 romantic comedy Pretty Woman. The smash hit rocketed her to stardom and earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Actress.

She was even favored to win that year, though the award finally went to Kathy Bates (in a surprise upset for the Stephen King thriller Misery). A year after Pretty Woman, Roberts starred as Tinker Bell in Steven Spielberg’s Hook: a sequel to J.M.

Barrie’s 1911 book Peter and Wendy, focusing on Peter Pan’s adult life. Robin Williams played the lead role of Peter Banning, a middle-aged lawyer who had forgotten his childhood in Neverland until his old nemesis Captain Hook comes calling. Hook followed the kidnapping and rescue of Peter’s children as Banning learned to embrace the free-spirited child he once was.

Williams had previously starred in the 1987 semi-biographical film Good Morning, Vietnam and Dead Poets Society. Other dominant names in the case include Dustin Hoffman as Captain Hook and Maggie Smith as Granny Wendy. Smith is most known for her roles as Lady Violet in Downton Abbey and Professor McGonagall in the Harry Potter franchise.Hook also featured appearances from singers Phil Collins and David Crosby, as well as two unique Star Wars cameos: Carrie Fisher and George Lucas, who play a couple kissing on a bridge near London’s Big Ben. However, not every cast member was as pleasant to work with as their on-screen characters.

Julia Roberts and Kiefer Sutherland’s Relationship Caused a Tabloid Scandal

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Roberts gained the nickname “Tinker Hell” for her allegedly awful behavior on the set of Hook. She was only 23 years old at the time of filming and was engaged to another actor, Kiefer Sutherland, who was best known at the time for starring in The Lost Boys alongside Jason Patric and Corey Haim. The pair had met on the set of the 1990 thriller Flatliners — shortly after the end of Sutherland’s first marriage — and announced their engagement that August, coinciding with the film’s release. The date was set for June 14, 1991, which turned out to be at the end of Hook’s shooting schedule.

During the filming of Hook, Roberts discovered Sutherland had allegedly cheated on her before their wedding with an exotic dancer. The drama didn’t stop there because Roberts had allegedly cheated on Sutherland with Patric — then his best friend — shortly before the wedding. On the day of the wedding, Sutherland was spotted moving out of their shared home, while Roberts was in Ireland with Patric. Needless to say, it became the subject of relentless tabloid coverage, fueled by the high profile of all three participants.

Julia Roberts’ Relationship Problems Came Amid an Already Difficult Shoot

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The filming of Hook began on February 19 and finished in June: over a month behind schedule and overlapping the aborted wedding date. Spielberg had just returned from a brief directing hiatus after the release of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, and took responsibility for the delays in Joseph McBride’s 1997 book Spielberg: A Biography. That included a number of factors unconnected to Roberts.

Co-star Dustin Hoffman was a fastidious method actor, for instance, and his perfectionism often resulted in delays. Similarly, the film featured a number of child actors in the cast, who required shortened working hours in order to comply with child labor laws.

Finally, like many Spielberg films, Hook came rife with expensive sets and visual effects, which included a number of practical effects. All of that combined to delay the film considerably: with a 76-day shooting schedule expanding to 116 days and a budget that ballooned from $48 million to upwards of $80 million.

Amid it all came Roberts’ off-screen travails, and the accompanying tabloid storm: hitting a very young performer grappling with overwhelming exposure from a meteoric ascent to worldwide fame.

Furthermore, her role as Tinkerbell came with huge audience expectations — engendered in part by the memorable version in the classic Disney movie — which she needed to contend with in her own performance. More importantly, it meant that she did most of her acting against a green screen: isolated from the other actors and relying almost entirely on Spielberg for direction and interaction.

The pressures of her off-screen circumstances would have doubtless affected her ability to focus on set, leading to reported emotional chops with a cast and crew who weren’t necessarily interacting with her very often. Spielberg had to factor all of that in amid an already challenging shoot, while still directing her to a strong performance. It likely led to friction on set and the unfortunate “Tinker Hell” moniker.

After directing Hook in 1991, Steven Spielberg took two more years for his next two films, Jurassic Park and Schindler’s List in 1993.

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“It was not a great time for Julia and I to be working together.”

(When asked if he would work with her again) “This is a ’60 Minutes’ question, isn’t it?”

Despite that — and exceedingly mixed reviews from critics — Hook proved to be a box office hit: netting an impressive $300 million worldwide. Roberts’ bad manners on-set were attributed to her relationship difficulties, and even Spielberg recognized the actor’s tough situation: speaking about it during an episode of 60 Minutes.

 He called it an “unfortunate time” to work with Roberts and praised her performance (which is quite strong amid a decidedly flawed film). Even after making note of her skilled acting chops, Spielberg stated he was against the idea of ever working with her again.

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“I saw that, and my eyes popped out of my head. I couldn’t believe that this person that I knew and trusted was actually hesitating to come to my defense.

Roberts was obviously hurt by Spielberg’s comments and expressed as much in an interview with Vanity Fair.

She recalled how “difficult” it was to hear the sci-fi director say that and to film a movie while going through a life event like that. Not every person on set had negative things to say about Roberts. Dante Basco — who played Rufio, the leader of the Lost Boys — stated Roberts was “always sweet” to him.

It’s unknown if Roberts and Spielberg still hold ill feelings toward each other to this day, but it’s likely they don’t get along, considering how hurt Roberts was by Spielberg’s comments.

Both went on to enjoy thriving careers, however, which included Oscar wins for both in the decade following Hook. Amid all that, it remains a relatively isolated incident, made all the more notable for its infrequency.