Watch: Alec Baldwin Shares Important Message He’s Instilling in 8 Children
Stephen Baldwin needed to pivot after this awkward encounter.
The Usual Suspects actor said he was fired from the 1998 movie The Object of My Affection after a producer on the film told him he was giving a funnier performance than his costar Jennifer Aniston.
“After like the second day of shooting, after lunch, this producer comes to my trailer and goes, ‘There’s a problem,’” Baldwin said on the June 14 episode of his One Bad Movie podcast. “I go, ‘What’s up?’ He goes, ‘You can’t be funnier than Jennifer.’”
The 60-year-old said he responded, “‘Is this a joke? This is a comedy movie! Am I about to get punked? What do you even mean by that?’”
But while Baldwin admitted he wasn’t a stranger to being let go from movies in the past—namely 1989’s Casualties of War starring Sean Penn and Michael J. Fox—he noted his experience on the Aniston flick was different.
“They didn’t say it’s not working first,” he explained. “They just went, ‘There’s a problem. Can you just say the words [and] use your instinct for your responses that you’ve come up with?’ And I’m now like, ‘You’ve just mauled my face like a f–king wolverine asking me to just numb myself.’”
Indeed, Baldwin—dad to daughters Alaia Baldwin, 33, and Hailey Bieber, 29, with wife Kennya Baldwin—described feeling “castrated comedically” and confused in the moment.
Andrew Toth/Getty Images; Steve Granitz/FilmMagic
“I was wondering was it really about my good looks and was I fat?” he added. “I was freaking out.”
Ultimately, Baldwin said he tried to take the producer’s notes, saying, “I get back in there and I try not to be me.”
However, he said, “They let me go. They told me I could go home and that was all cool. But that’s just awkward.”
In the end, Baldwin—who was replaced by Paul Rudd in the film—emphasized that he wasn’t sure if the initial note came from the movie’s director, producers or Aniston herself, but noted it didn’t matter.
“This isn’t to shred anybody,” he concluded. “This is just to simply say Hollywood is Hollywood.”
To learn more about Baldwin and his extensive family tree, keep reading…
William Baldwin, Stephen Baldwin, Alec Baldwin, Daniel Baldwin (Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic)
Daniel, Stephen, Carol, Beth, Alec, William, Jane Baldwin (Kevin Mazur/Wire Image)
Robin Platzer/Twin Images/Getty Images
Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images
Rachel Luna/WireImage
Sonia Moskowitz/Getty Images
Kahlea Baldwin/Instagram
Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images
David Livingston/Getty Images
Jeff Vespa/WireImage
Donald Kravitz/Getty Images
Daniel Baldwin/Instagram
Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic
SGranitz/WireImage
Billy Baldwin/Instagram
Billy Baldwin/Instagram
Billy Baldwin/Instagram
Michael Loccisano/FilmMagic
Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic
Raymond Hall/GC Images
Instagram/Justin Bieber
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