Blind item: Who is the ‘absolute idiot’ A-lister who screamed at Rebecca Ferguson?

Rebecca Ferguson is currently promoting Dune 2, and she recently sat down for an extended interview with the Reign with Josh Smith podcast. The podcast format being what it is, this gave Ferguson a chance to get comfortable enough to spill some interesting tea. Keep in mind, over the past decade, Ferguson has become an undercover “movie star,” and part of two major franchises, Dune and Mission: Impossible. She has that Cate Blanchett chameleon quality, where she can really look radically different and play very different roles. All of that means that she’s worked with a lot of people and one of them – an A-lister, she says – screamed at her and upset her so much that she refused to work with him or her.

Rebecca Ferguson is revealing she refused to work with a big name costar after the person screamed at her. Speaking on the Reign with Josh Smith podcast, the actress, 40, recalled the moment she had to deal with an “absolute idiot of a costar.”

“I remember there was a moment and this human being was being so insecure and angry because this person couldn’t get the scenes out,” she said while not disclosing the person’s identity. Meanwhile, she confirmed that it was not Hugh Jackman, who she acted with in the 2021 movie Reminiscence, or Tom Cruise, who she costarred with in Mission: Impossible.

“And I think I was so vulnerable and uncomfortable that I got screamed at,” Ferguson added. “But because this person was number one on a call sheet, there was no safety net for me. So no one had my back. And I would cry walking off set.”

The Dune: Part Two star revealed that the person would say things like, “You call yourself an actor?” and “This is what I have to work with?”

“I stood there just breaking,” Ferguson said. However, the Mission: Impossible actress confronted the individual despite being “so scared.”

“I looked at this person and I said, ‘You can eff off. I’m gonna work towards a tennis ball. I never want to see you again,’” Ferguson recalled. “And then I remember the producers came up and said, ‘You can’t do this to number one. We have to let this person be on set.’”

Ferguson explained that she requested to act to the back of her costar’s head. “And I did,” she said. “I thought it shouldn’t have to be that way. And I remember going to the director afterward and saying, ‘What is happening?’ The director said, ‘You’re right. I am not taking care of everyone else. I’m trying to fluff this person because it’s so unstable,’ ” she added. “And it was great from that moment but it took so long for me to get to that.”

The incident also served as a turning point for the Silo actress. “From that moment, I have never let myself get to a point where I’ve got home and gone, ‘Why did that happen?’ “

[From People]

So, this is the blind item – she says it wasn’t Tom Cruise or Hugh Jackman, which I believe (Jackman and Cruise’s costars always sing their praises). I also believe it was not Timothee Chalamet – they seem completely fine with each other. She was in Doctor Sleep with Ewan McGregor (which I never saw) but Ewan doesn’t seem like the type to behave like this (once again, all of his costars sing his praises). She was in The Snowman with Michael Fassbender, Life with Jake Gyllenhaal and The Girl on the Train with Emily Blunt. And she worked with Hugh Grant & Meryl Streep on Florence Foster Jenkins (and Hugh, ever grumpy, even sang her praises in interviews). Yeah… my guess is Jake, but who knows.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images, Avalon Red.

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93 Responses to “Blind item: Who is the ‘absolute idiot’ A-lister who screamed at Rebecca Ferguson?”

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  1. Whatever says:

    Jake, Jake, a million times, Jake.

    • Jais says:

      Yeah, I guess jake.

    • Geegee says:

      Yes I have heard jake has insecurities and needs to be fluffed up.

    • snappyfish says:

      Jake. Please never forget the ONLY reason he is an actor is because his parents are in the industry. Daddy a director & Mommy a screenwriter & producer. Would explain why he needs his ego fluffed.. Knows he didn’t get there on his acting abilities

      • pyritedigger says:

        Jake was great in his breakout role, Donnie Darko. We all know how he behaves though, so he is a good guess. But it’s not like he doesn’t have any talent.

      • Anonymous says:

        I hate to say it, but Jake can act. Nightcrawler was amazing but maybe that was because he played the creepiest grossest creep I’ve ever seen in a film and so he decided to just be himself

    • Kt says:

      Agree100%

    • AlpineWitch says:

      She says in the last 10-12 years…so A-listers, male or female, without considering the 4 times she worked with Hugh Jackman or Tom Cruise (excluding Dune too) it leaves:

      Chris Hemsworth (MIB International)
      Ewan McGregor (Dr Sleep)
      Hugh Grant and Meryl Streep (Florence Jenkins)
      Ryan Reynolds and Jake Gyllenhaal (Life)
      Michael Fassbender (The Snowman)
      Dwayne Johnson (Hercules)
      Emily Blunt (Girl on a train)

      ETA: In other shows or films, she doesn’t seem to have any A-list co-star.

      • BeanieBean says:

        I’d go with: Jake, Hugh, Emily.

      • Veronica S. says:

        My money would be on Reynolds, Gyllenhaal, or Fassbender. It could possibly be Blunt, but I haven’t heard much negativity around her. Those three, on the other hand, have had some rumors come up about them.

      • Bean says:

        The Rock and Emily have both come out in full support of her statement.

      • Wind says:

        I’ll check on Reddit; there will be someone or someone who knew someone on that set, whichever it was, who posts.

        I’ll report back.

        My bet is on Hugh G, then Jake G.

      • JM says:

        No way on ryan reynolds.

    • Pinkosaurus says:

      I think High Grant. Very well acknowledged temperamental a**hole and self acknowledged that many of his female costars do not like him.

      • Megan says:

        Meryl Streep would have been the number one on that set. I think Jake is the most likely person.

      • Jenn says:

        The commenters on RevealMoi are pretty unified in suspecting HG for this (with JG in a distant second). Their reasoning is her statement “number one on the call sheet” — in one-on-one scenes (without Meryl), Grant would’ve had top billing on the call sheet. FWIW.

      • Deering24 says:

        Has Grant (or any tea-spilling folks) ever explained what his problem is with women? Eheheh–over on the Brit detective show Endeavor a while back, the hero explained irritably that most upper-crust British men are so used to women as mothers, nannies, or prep-school nurses that they can’t perceive/understand them any other way. He sounds dead-on to me. 🙄

    • Kirsten says:

      Yeah I think definitely JG.

      • Wind says:

        There are pics of her very at ease and with big grins with Jake’s arm around her.

        It’s Hugh G, is my bet. I’ll check on Reddit and report back.

    • Polly says:

      Isn’t fassbender a known wife beater? He seems like such an asshole and a self serious one. I could see it go either way between him and Jake.

  2. JayBlue says:

    Out of that list, absolutely jake gyllenhall! He’s known for being a childish prat, and selective with which women he’s nice to.

  3. Arizona says:

    seems pretty obvious it’s Jake. The Rock has removed his name from consideration lol.

    • Sasha says:

      Lol. I would never have imagined it would be him but I guess he wanted his name kept out of speculation.

      It’s got to be Jake.

  4. Kokiri says:

    My guess is Jake.

    It sounds horrible for her.

    • MrsEdge says:

      Fassbender. There was low key speculation for years about the way he treated women.

      • kif says:

        No. Not Fassbender. Also lots of photos and videos of them on promos and premiers (i have trouble attaching links) being chummy together. Just google their name together and these photos and videos will come up.

      • Wind says:

        Yep, too many pics of her looking happy with Fass whilst doing press. She’s still furious at that person today so no way that was Fass. Most probably Hugh G.

      • Deering24 says:

        Hmm, but has there ever been anything about Fassbender being awful on-set? (Though The Snowman was so awful, I’m surprised all the actors didn’t rebel. 🤮) Gyllenhall I can definitely believe–he apparently doesn’t think much of women–and he’s the kind of “I”m an ARTISTE!” type who would pull this kind of mess.

    • Wind says:

      My first guess was Jake but she was relatively more established. Now I think it was Hugh Grant; that was very early on in her career. Could have been a woman though. Can’t see Meryl Streep doing that and definitely not Ewen McG who’s probably more likely to organise a set orgy (LOL) of hippy love than to be even slightly abusive like that.

  5. Amyb says:

    She has had three high profile movies – The Greatest Showman, Mission Impossible and Dr. Sleep. She states that the co-stars of the first two are not who she is talking about so my assumption is the co-star of the third – Ewan McGregor.

    • seaflower says:

      I was think McGregor too, he’s more A list than Gyllenhaal.

      • kif says:

        It’s not Ewan. There are lots of videos of them in youtube promoting together. They seem good friends. Easy to look it up. It’s fairly obvious that they still had a good relationship after filming to promote together.

    • Kirsten says:

      I’ve never heard a bad thing about McGregor — people love working with him.

    • Veronica S. says:

      McGregor’s been active in the industry for decades, though, and there haven’t been many rumors about him beyond the affair he had that broke up his marriage. I’d have thought something would’ve come out about him already, especially during his Star Wars years when he was enjoying a lot of big name recognition.

  6. Bad Janet says:

    I am definitely thinking Gyllenhaal.

  7. Marie says:

    My favorite part of this is The Rock and Emily Blunt posting immediately on socmed so they won’t get accused. My guess is either Jake or Hugh.

    • Talia says:

      Hugh Grant has a reputation of being a complainer but I’ve never heard he’s the ‘screaming abuse’ type who needs coddling in the way described. Also, frankly, he’s not a big enough star to get away with it. If he acted like this, he’s replaceable. Since he’s still getting work, I don’t think it’s him.

      Jake on the other hand has *exactly* this sort of reputation and was / is a big enough star for his female costars to be expected to put up with it.

      • Marie says:

        Sidenote on Jake, I recently watched his Hot Ones episode. He has crazy eyes, like there is an intensity there that’s dialed to a 100 either on romance or rage.

      • Raven says:

        @TALIA

        As i said below, Hugh Grant has made his co-stars cry, and Staff remembers on set . He has gotten away with it plenty of times.

      • Innie says:

        I can’t believe it’s Hugh, not because I don’t think he’s capable of it (he absolutely is) but Hugh Grant is never no. 1 on a call sheet any more. Especially in a film with Meryl Streep.

  8. ML says:

    I don’t know why, but it bothers me that she didn’t attach the gender of the actor to her blind item. It’s awful that she was treated like that and the a-hole was too big a name to be fired. I’m glad she’s come up for herself and created healthy boundaries on sets.

    • AlpineWitch says:

      True, but she hasn’t acted with many female A-listers, only Meryl Streep and Emily Blunt.

      I could see Charlotte Rampling creating issues (on Dune) but it seems too recent and Rebecca would be already too famous for a situation like that to happen.

      • ML says:

        Yeah, this is why I don’t like it. Tons of men who fit the profile, men get away with method acting…it wouldn’t have seemed as odd to say “him.” I truly hope it wasn’t Meryl Streep!

      • JP says:

        Charlotte Rampling would have certainly been below Ferguson on the call sheet for Dune.

  9. Jas says:

    I’d guess Jake. There was that article a few years ago written by a young woman who got entangled with him on a movie shoot. He was apparently manipulative, inappropriate, and unpleasant. I haven’t been able to look at him the same way since I read it. Hugh Grant is a curmudgeon, but is he insecure enough to be a screamer? I’m not so sure.

    • Noo says:

      @jas TY for bringing that forward. However, I don’t think entanglement is the right word the woman was sexually harassed by Jake in her workplace and people in leadership positions pushed her to continue the relationship to prop up his fragile ego. Until he grew tired of her and moved on.

      Jakey J is a sexual harraser in the workplace.

      • Jas says:

        Yep, he was beyond inappropriate and the harassment was enabled by a whole lot of people who should have known better. I certainly didn’t mean to imply that it was in any way that it was her fault. Just that she had the misfortune to be in the wrong place and the wrong time and was the victim of his creepiness.

    • Jayna says:

      It wasn’t Jake. She did press with him, and they genuinely seemed to get along. Plus, she mentioned the lightness on set because of the humor with Jake and Ryan.

      Jake and Rebecca in an interview together

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83RlgOys9U4&ab_channel=CanYouHandleTheTruth

  10. Hannah says:

    I’m definitely going to be in the minority here. I think she should just name the person

    But then again, that could open her up to an ugly libel/defamation/slander/character defamation law suit

    The language she uses to describe the incidents makes me think Hugh Grant or Ewan McGregor

    • Sandra says:

      I think Fassbender. He has a history of DV/anger, he would be top of a call list but not necessarily as prolific as the others to risk alienating the person or causing backlash, and he has had a lot of strange buffer from his behavior being top line.

      • Embee says:

        I agree: Fassbender, and for the reasons you gave. I can also see his being threatened by her superior talent but inferior status.

      • Fina says:

        Nah not Fassbender, they were absolutely lovely together during promotion of that movie, laughing and teasing a lot. She would not fake that after such a horrific experience

  11. Olivia says:

    100% Jake. In the revelations of Domenica Feraud, Taylor Swift and the little Reece has implied about him, he comes across as extremely fragile, needy, volatile, domineering, ENTITLED, and prone to coercive control.

    He seems to get so insecure about his ability during filming or theatre rehearsals that he distracts the issue (and sabotages the production) by tearing everyone else down AND occasionally clinging onto someone to love bomb the discard when he gets his confidence back.

    I feel sorry for his gf. She’s younger, is not in the biz, and is a foreigner (easier to isolate from friends and fam). These dynamics and power imbalance is a recipe for domestic violence.

  12. theoriginalrose says:

    I reckon it’s Ewan, he’s had quite a big life change ‘recently’ -within the last 10 years i think, i haven’t kept track- divorce and his daughter publicly shaming him iirc then getting remarried, so it could have been around that time. Also that Dr Sleep film was SO awful, maybe he knew it while he was in it. I could easily imagine it being Jake but Ewan is more famous than him i would say…

    • nb says:

      I actually really liked Dr. Sleep, and I’m saying that as a big fan of The Shining book and movie. I thought it was well acted and it wasn’t scary per se but had more of an ominous feeling throughout like Kubrick’s. The ending is just a little weak and obvious.

  13. JW says:

    My guess is Fassbender. He has a DV background, so we know he has rage issues coupled with his “I am a serious actor” mien. Otherwise, Hugh Grant, who is an enormous ego on legs. I’m no JG defender, but the way this is described doesn’t scream his particular brand of crap to me.

  14. shayni says:

    She had the guts to stand up for herslf, bravo!
    What does “I’m gonna work towards a tennis ball.” mean?
    Is this a new phase I should be using?!

  15. JP says:

    My vote’s for Hugh Grant on the basis that she said she’d only do the scene towards the back of the actor’s head, and there’s a scene they have together in FloFo where he’s making a drink with his back turned to her.

    • Glamarazzi says:

      Ooh, nice detective work!

      • JP says:

        It’s pure speculation, I have no idea. I found the scene on YouTube and rewatched it. There are parts where the editing seems a bit choppy and weird, but it’s not exactly a smoking gun.

  16. Sally says:

    She did NOT say it was an “a-lister” she merely said “first on the call sheet” which means lead in a movie/show. Its most likely gustaf skarsgard. They were in a movie in 2013 and he’s known for being extremely pretentious.

    • JP says:

      That is a good thought. It also sounds like it was earlier in her career, before she was in large budget Hollywood movies.

    • AlpineWitch says:

      It cannot be as in the original interview she says 10 years or whereabouts… I’d say she refers to an actual A-lister in Hollywood.

  17. K.T says:

    Yeah, I think it could be a not that well known (compared to cruise or Jackman) and it could have been pre-Hollywood. Otherwise. It’s probably high grant because there is a brief scene where he was pouring a drink & she talked a bit to his back. Jon Stewart said he was worst guest at one time and ‘was giving everyone shit’ – definitely can be him in a rotten mood!

  18. pamela says:

    Well she refers to the director in the feminine. So which film had a female director?

  19. Raven says:

    I think people “forget” that Hugh Grant has screamed at people on set and has been verbally abusive to the point that the target of his verbal attack has been reduced tears. Not to mention, all of the people Hugh Grant has verbally assaulted have been women, and people, especially on here, still give him a pass .

    • Kitten says:

      My first thought was Hugh. Jake isn’t known for being blunt and confrontational but Hugh is. I could also see it being a lesser known actor.

  20. Erin says:

    I think it’s Fassbender or Jake.

  21. JMom says:

    My bet is on Jake. Tracks with how he behaved on Broadway and how the producers had to fluff his ego there, too.

    Read here:
    https://medium.com/@domenicamferaud/the-movie-star-and-me-5d711ee661e3

  22. Sue says:

    Not Jake. Tons of interviews and videos online of them having a blast together. And she is very deliberately using non-gendered pronouns so it may not even be a male co-star. Perhaps Streep? I could see that.

    • Jayna says:

      Agreed. I posted a clip of them together several posts back. It definitely isn’t Jake.

    • Normades says:

      Jeez no not Streep I hope. She has been in HWood forever and there has never been any stories about diva-ish behaviour. She seems universally loved by her peers.

  23. Becks1 says:

    I don’t think its Jake just because I don’t think he’s that A-list that the director is going to bend over backwards for him. Like he’s a big celebrity and has been in some big movies but I feel like if he refused to do a movie and walked away, you could easily replace him. But maybe that plays a role in his insecurities, because I can see him being an ahole on set.

    the lack of gender stood out to me and made me think she was referring to a female but didn’t want to say that because it would make it too obvious.

    • Dara says:

      It depends on how far into filming they were. It would be too expensive to film all his scenes again, so everyone walks on eggshells just to get the thing shot and be done with it.

  24. Spike says:

    It’s Tom Cruise. She ruled out Tom Cruise because he is a powerhouse. She absolutely positively could not afford to alienate him. It’s not like we haven’t heard his rants before. Look at the subterfuge Katie Holme had to take to escape him. This guessing game is a smokescreen.

    • TQ says:

      Yeah I was thinking exactly this @Spike. Cruise is an asshole but has so much pull in the industry.

  25. Normades says:

    While Jake is all kinds of problematic my bet is on Grant who even admits what an ahole he is. I wouldn’t be surprised if he just outright outs himself as the person in the future cause Hugh dgaf.

    • Jais says:

      So I could believe it’s hugh. But, like you, I could see him just publicly admitting it was him. He’s already said himself he was terrible.

  26. Grant says:

    As soon as I read this article, I pulled up Rebecca’s filmography. I didn’t notice Jake Gyllenhaal at first. The name that jumped out at me, given Rebecca’s representation that this was within the past 10 years (approx.), was The Rock from their film, Hercules. But looking back that doesn’t really make much sense — I don’t think Dwayne Johnson considers himself to be a serious actor so I can’t imagine him dressing the fantastic Rebecca Ferguson down either.

    This could totally be Jake Gyllenhaal. I know that Tom Holland spoke highly of him, but that may be because Tom is a man. Or it could be Tom Cruise and Rebecca doesn’t want to alienate herself — it would also make sense given how unceremoniously her character was treated in the most recent Mission Impossible movie.

    As an aside, I think the Cate Blanchett comparisons are spot-on. Rebecca is so great in everything she does. We just finished watching Silo and she was captivating every moment she’s on screen. She’s a great action heroine to boot! And I LOVED that goth-glam look from the Dune 2 NY premiere.

  27. Stef says:

    She is one of my favourite actors, kinda fell for her when she did The White Queen and blew me away.

    Twitter (I refuse to call it X) seems to believe it’s Skarsgard or Gyllenhaal. Regardless, it shows how insecure some other actors can be and I definitely think it was a man.

  28. Renee' says:

    It’s Hugh Grant

  29. Dara says:

    If it’s a dude, my money is totally on Jake. That movie was a hot mess with lots of effects and technical shots, and the condescending crack about her acting sounds exactly like someone who considers themselves a serious ACT-OR but is stuck working on a sci-fi blockbuster.

    For the ladies, it could be Emily Blunt. Girl on a Train was supposed to be her Oscar bait movie and it sounds like she was on the edge emotionally when they were filming. Plus, I think Rebecca followed The Rock on IG after all this started, and he worked with Blunt on Jungle Cruise, so maybe they were comparing notes in DM’s.

    My last, and probably longest shot might be Thandiwe Newton from Reminisce. Some of the pieces don’t fit, but I caught the livestream of the premiere and at one point Rebecca and Thandiwe were caught telling each other to f*ck off in front of reporters before the red carpet interviews, and Thandiwe has had some serious on-set conflicts before. It would be a bummer because I really like her acting and know she’s been the victim of some really bad work behavior herself.

  30. Justjj says:

    I immediately thought this was Jake G or Hugh Grant.

  31. jo says:

    Super surprised at all of the comments that mention happy press videos/photos as “evidence” that it’s not so-and-so. Ferguson is an actor. The yeller is an actor. I don’t think happy-seeming media should count at all in the thinking; it’s too close to “why were you friendly to [your abuser]?” What is she supposed to do while she’s contractually obligated to promote films — stab the person on the red carpet?

  32. KAISER – you’ve got to see Dr. Sleep! It’s a really good movie. If you’re like me, (when it’s getting a bit heavy) stop, walk away and do something else for a while. Then return to the movie.