Whether it's through completely changing their character arc, offering new lines and perspectives, or full-on ghost-directing a show, actors have way more of a say on how a TV show shapes up than many of us realise. Here are 23 examples:
3.Prince loved New Girl so much he reached out to request a cameo, but on one condition; no Kardashians. Trouble was, the producers had already booked them for a party scene in his in-show home.
5.Although Warren Beatty wasn't actually in Misery,his criticism of a scene in its early stages changed the film.
6.Russell Crowe co-wrote Gladiator's script because it was so far from ready when he first saw it. "It had 21 pages when we started shooting,” Crowe said. "Your average script is about 110."
9.Jenna Ortega chose not to say a lot of scripted lines, including "oh my God, I'm freaking out over a dress, I literally hate myself," in Wednesday.
10.Crispin Glover is the reason The Thin Man is silet in Charlie's Angels.
11.When she first read the Cruel Intentions script, Reese Witherspoon thought Annette Hargrove, her character, was "too demure and too much of a woman influenced by a guy's manipulations." She then rewrote the character's dialogue with writer and director Roger Kumble.
12.Jeff Bridges reportedly "basically rewrote the script" of Iron Man with Robert Downey Jr. (and director Jon Favreau) during rehearsal.
15.Meryl Streep thought Joanna's depiction in the novel of Kramer vs. Kramer (which was deliberately anti-feminist) sucked, and refused to take the part unless directors made her more rounded, complex, and interesting.
16.Mahershala Ali reportedly hated the upcoming Blade script after Bassam Tariq left the project — so much so that he helped to write a new one.
17.When The Mummy (2017) was in production, Tom Cruise reportedly had script approval and helped to rewrite almost the entire screenplay.
18.Marlon Brandon reportedly refused to read the lines director Francis Ford Coppola wrote for his character Colonel Walter Kurtz in Apocalypse Now, and just went with his own vision instead.
19.Edward Norton allegedly only agreed to star in The Incredible Hulk if he could rewrite the script.
20.Meryl Streep's iconic line, "Everybody wants to be us" was originally "Everybody wants to be me" in The Devil Wears Prada, but she changed it.
21.Alan Rickman edited the script of Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves to avoid reading its "terrible" lines.
22.Anna Kendrick refused to let her character, Beca, kiss Theo, a music exec in Pitch Perfect 3 because she wanted to keep their relationship professional.
23.Michelle Rodriguez didn't let her character Letty cheat on Dominic (Vin Diesel) in The Fast And The Furious.
Can you think of any other examples? Let us know in the comments below!