Random Inspiring Behind-The-Scenes Stories About Actors Helping Other Actors (12 items)

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  (#4) Keanu Reeves

  • 59

  While filming the 1992 movie Bram Stoker's Dracula, Winona Ryder had a difficult time crying during a scene in which Dracula turns into a pile of rats. Director Francis Ford Coppola wanted her to act more shocked and emotional, so he started yelling insults to make her cry.

  Coppola tried to get other cast members to join in, but Ryder was never offended to the point of tears because Keanu Reeves refused to be mean to her. Ryder explained:

  To put it in context, I’m supposed to be crying. Literally, Richard E. Grant, Anthony Hopkins, Keanu... Francis was trying to get all of them to yell things that would make me cry. But Keanu wouldn’t, Anthony wouldn’t. It just didn’t work. I was, like, really?

  If anything, this incident had the opposite effect on Ryder because she and Reeves formed a close friendship. 
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  (#5) Alan Rickman

  • Dec. at 69 (1946-2016)

  Ian McKellen recalled how Alan Rickman stood up for him during his read-through for Rasputin:

  On my first day before the camera, he didn't like the patronizing, bullying tone of a note which the director gave me. Alan, seeing I was a little crestfallen, delivered a quiet, concise resume of my career and loudly demanded that the director up his game.

  McKellen also shared a story about the "welcome dinner" Rickman arranged when McKellen showed up on set:

  When he played Rasputin, I was the Czar Nicholas. Filming had started before I arrived in St. Petersburg. Precisely as I walked into the hotel room, the phone rang. Alan [was calling] to say, "Welcome, hope the flight was tolerable," and would I like to join him and Greta Scacchi and others in the restaurant in 30 minutes? Alan, the concerned leading man.
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  (#7) Fred Astaire

  • Dec. at 88 (1899-1987)

  During production of Singin' in the Rain in the 1950s, Debbie Reynolds thought Gene Kelly, the film's star and co-director, was too hard on her. Only 19 at the time, she had no dancing experience, so it was difficult for her to keep up with the other dancers.

  Although Reynolds admitted that Kelly's harsh lessons helped her become a better performer, she was exhausted and overwhelmed, forced to dance until her feet bled and she had difficulty moving. Doctors even put her on bed rest for two days. Reynolds wrote in her memoir:

  I had three months to learn what Gene Kelly and Donald O'Connor had been doing for years. I was dancing for eight hours a day, nonstop. One day I was lying under the piano sobbing when I heard a voice ask, "Why are you crying?"

  The voice belonged to famous dancer Fred Astaire, who quickly came to the rescue. Astaire, who was in the studio to prepare for Royal Wedding, assured her that he got frustrated too at times, and invited her to watch his rehearsal to help her learn. His encouragement and advice helped her master the moves for Singin' in the Rain. 
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  (#12) Bill Murray

  • 73

  Sigourney Weaver was a well-known actor in 1984, but before Ghostbusters, she wasn't familiar with acting in comedy films. At one point, co-star Bill Murray gave Weaver some advice, she recalled in a YouTube cast interview:

  It was maybe the second scene. I was preparing, because I had been to drama school. Now, I was supposed to re-experience the terror dogs in the refrigerator. But he came over, and [she turns to speak to Murray] I don’t know if you remember this, Bill, but you went, "What are you doing?" I went, "I’m preparing." You went, "You’re what?" I said, "I’m preparing." You started to tickle and shake me, and really you can’t do comedy if you’re gonna prepare. It’s ridiculous.

  Even though the scene Weaver referred to is more serious and frightening than other parts of the movie, Murray suggested she take filming comedy less seriously as a whole.
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  (#6) Francia Raisa

  In 2017, singer and actor Selena Gomez needed a kidney transplant. She had arthritis and her kidneys were shutting down, but she didn't think it was fair to ask someone to donate a kidney to her. However, actor Francia Raisa, her best friend and roommate at the time, wanted to help. Gomez recalled:

  She lived with me in this interesting time where my kidneys were just done. That was it and I didn't want to ask a single person in my life. The thought of asking somebody to do that was really difficult for me. And she volunteered and did it... The fact that she was a match, I mean, that's unbelievable.

  Raisa said she feared for her own health at the time, and she even had to write a will in case the procedure didn't go as planned. Now, Gomez credits Raisa for saving her life, allowing her to continue her acting and singing careers.
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  (#10) Sarah Paulson

  • 48

  Sarah Paulson and Pedro Pascal met each other during the early 1990s. They developed a quick friendship and worked to make names form themselves side-by-side for years. After returning to his native Chile upon the death of his mother, Pascal made his way back to New York in 2000. 

  As Pascal auditioned, he struggled to get parts. Paulson recalled what it was like for her friend in Esquire in April 2023:

  There were times when I would give him my per diem from a job I was working on so that he could have money to feed himself.

  Paulson also marveled at Pascal's success, but also pointed out that was part of his charm, “It’s just so psychotic. Everybody wants a piece of him. You just want him to succeed… and that to me, I feel like, is the sign of a major movie star.”

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