6 TV stars reveal the one thing they hated most about their shows
We can all agree that being an actor on one TV's biggest shows is a privilege and – presumably – a pleasure, but even the best job in the world has its downsides, as the following six stars can all attest to.
From dodgy barnets to celebrity cameos, these are the creative details that just didn't sit well with some of your favourite leading ladies and gents.
1. Lena Headey (Game of Thrones) – the wig
We all have to do things that we don't really want to do in this life, and for Game of Thrones' Lena Headey, it was the wearing of one particular piece of costume which she wasn't especially fond of.
Appearing on This Morning to promote her new film Fighting with My Family, presenters Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby naturally asked her about GOT, and the 45-year-old enthused about no longer having to wear that choppy blonde wig.
"Joy!" she beamed.
During a previous interview with The Daily Beast, the actor discussed how its mere presence on her head really helped her to channel Cersei Lannister: "[It] helps when they put [the wig] on at 6 am and I’m like, 'F**k.'
"I do this thing before a take where I just have to have a little minute of getting to the place where I’m immersed in it myself, and I believe everything I’m about to say, because there’s nothing I find more uncomfortable as an audience than, 'I don’t believe you.' I have to buy into who she is, and that takes a little minute of reassessing everything and blocking out everything else."
Well, it certainly works for us.
2. Cillian Murphy (Peaky Blinders) – the undercut
You might think Tommy Shelby's haircut is the coolest thing on the planet, but Cillian Murphy doesn't, not one little bit.
Speaking to Shortlist a year ago about his hair on the show, he said: "People like the undercut thing; people go to the barber and ask for a ‘Peaky cut’. It’s crazy that people like it, it’s not grown on me in four years now. I normally keep my hair long.”
When the journalist notes that it's "very East London", Murphy replies: "But do they realise the people in turtlenecks in Hackney with this haircut, do they realise it was styled this way to prevent lice? Tell ’em they’ve got the lice cut, see what they say then."
3. Chris Noth (Sex and the City) – 'the cornball shit'
Some actors will never say a bad word against the shows in which they starred, but Chris Noth is not one of those people.
The 64-year-old appeared on Sex and the City as Mr. Big for a whopping 41 episodes, as well as appearing in both of the SATC films, but it sounds like he was highly irritated the entire time.
"I really hate corny stuff and it could be because I’m a little bit of a cynic," he said on James Andrew Miller’s Origins podcast. "Like, the whole thing at the end of the movie in the shoe closet - hated it. Hated the thing at the end of the movie after I felt she deceived me and then I say, "Well, it’s time I give you a bigger diamond ring." Hated it.
"I just hate the cornball shit and I thought it was just really sentimental and overly romantic without any feet in realism."
And that "cornball shit" certainly wasn't limited to the movies – there was that moment between Carrie and Big on the bridge in Paris, Big eventually heading back to New York after selling his Napa estate, followed by that final voiceover by Carrie: "The most exciting, challenging and significant relationship of all is the one you have with yourself. And if you find someone to love the you you love, well, that's just fabulous."
Well someone didn't love it…
4. Kristian Nairn (Game of Thrones) – all the celebrities
Kristian Nairn, who played the loveable Hodor in GOT, wants you to know that he doesn't have anything at all against Ed Sheeran.
"Ed Sheeran’s great. He’s a great guy, great musician," he told Huffington Post.
"But why is he in Game of Thrones?" he asked. "I’m not a fan of the cameos in Game of Thrones. I don’t like them. I think it’s stupid. I don’t mind going on the record on that. I just think it takes you right out of the world."
He's got a point.
He continued: "I’m not saying I’m not a fan of Ed Sheeran. I’m being tactful here, but just not a fan of the cameo. I think most people would agree with me there. It was a big snap to reality. It’s like, ‘What? What?’’
"It’s a fantasy show. We’re all caught in this amazing world and spend so much time and money and talent to create, and all of a sudden there’s a pop star? What?"
So, let's clear this up once and for all, folks...
5. Jennifer Aniston (Friends) – the feem toon
The Friends opening credits are not just one of the sitcom's best-loved bits, but one of pop culture's most treasured moments. But while they have become a firm fan favourite, not everyone is particularly fond of the song, or the routine.
During an appearance on The One Show, Jennifer Aniston revealed that herself and the rest of the cast really rather disliked the entire shebang.
"No one was really a big fan of that theme song," she said. We felt it was a little...I don't know.
"Dancing in a pond? A fountain felt sort of odd."
If you want to take yourselves off for a little cry, we'll understand.
6. Allison Williams (Girls) – sex with Booth Jonathan
If actors only agreed to play characters whose decisions they supported, both TV and film would be a hell of a lot less interesting – so it's a good thing that the thespians of the world are up for the challenge of morphing into people that they don't like or agree with.
One such role which really tested the creative limits of Allison Williams was Girls Marnie Michaels.
Speaking to BuzzFeed back in 2014, she said: "Marnie would drive me crazy if we were friends in real life. But I have to put that out of my head in order to play her. Like, sleeping with Elijah (Andrew Rannells) is crazy, sleeping with Ray (Alex Karpovsky) is crazy, furiously hitting on Desi (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) when he mentions his girlfriend in their first conversation is crazy.
"But I have to be on the couch with her and Elijah hoping they f**k, I have to be in that apartment with Ray kinda wanting it to happen, and I have to support her quest for Desi."
And it was Marnie's decision to have sex with Booth Jonathan (Jorma Taccone) in season two that really didn't sit well with Williams.
"I was fighting that the whole time as Allison," she said. "I did not want her to go down that road. I thought Marnie was better than that, but she wasn't, so I had to be OK with it too.
"I had to believe Booth was a genius when I walked out of that TV tower, whereas I, as Allison, couldn't stop thinking, 'It puts the lotion on its skin."
Nobody said the life of an actor was easy.
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