Actor Quaid screams on set
A video made the round of Dennis Quaid melting down on an unnamed set, and it purported to be the real thing. Was it? We weren’t sure. Hard to trust nowadays. Here’s how his on-set screaming went:
“I can’t even get a line out until dopey the dick starts whispering in your ear,” Quaid tells someone, likely the director. “You’re not even watching anymore.”
Someone, again likely the director, tries to calm Quaid down, repeating “Dennis” several times, soothingly. It didn’t work so good.
“Don’t f—ing Dennis me,” Quaid screams. “I am doing my job here. I am a pro. This is the most unprofessional set I have ever been on. This is horseshit. I have these f—ing zombies over here that I have to look at. I have a bunch of pussies staring at me and this f—ing baby!
“This is garbage!”
The camera is pointed down by this point as the irate actor heads for the door, only before exiting stage left he fires one last salvo at the director and crew. “Blow me,” he shouts. DOOR SLAM HERE.
PR stunt or meltdown?
Some wondered if it was a PR stunt, maybe something for Jimmy Kimmel’s show, becoming known for prank videos. Being unsure if viral videos are real is now par for the course, given the amount that have been staged. It is reminiscent of the infamous Christian Bale explosion on the set of Terminator Salvation in 2012, which was on audio only.
And, unlike this one, that one was real.
Whacky explosions by lead actors are not uncommon on sets, even from nice guys, as tensions can mount between stars and others, and all the time the star is facing the camera and trying to stay focused. This reporter was an actor on the briefly-lived series Peacemaker in 2003 and witnessed a wonderful explosion from the great Tom Berenger.
Berenger had it out with a producer on the Western outdoor set of the show in Maple Ridge, over the show’s cancellation. The (unfilmed) expletive-laden rant went on for five minutes – the crew tried to melt into the scenery – and Berenger got within an inch of the man’s face, like former Baltimore Oriole manager Earl Weaver screaming at an umpire.
It was highly emotive but when it ended, as Berenger sat next to me in his chair, waiting for our scene to begin shooting again, he gave a quick wink. He was, incidentally, a great person to work with and well-liked on set.
But unlike the Quaid meltdown, the Bale and Berenger ones were for real. Funny or Die released a video today claiming responsibility for the Quaid video. See it here.
It’s really funny and no one dies.
