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‘I didn’t understand it at all’: Nine actors who had no idea what they were filming

Director Wes Anderson recently revealed that the late Gene Hackman didn’t fully understand his character in ‘The Royal Tenenbaums.’ But he’s far from the only one — plenty of actors have delivered memorable performances without having a clue about what they were doing

Eva Güimil

Jun 08, 2025 - 06:00CEST

Gene Hackman / 'The Royal Tenenbaums' – As Wes Anderson revealed during the promotion of his latest film, 'The Phoenician Scheme,' Gene Hackman — the star of 'The Conversation' and 'Mississippi Burning' — didn’t know what he was doing in 'The Royal Tenenbaums.' Hackman had already voiced disagreement with some of Anderson’s core filmmaking principles, such as the equal-pay policy, which meant all actors — rising stars and seasoned veterans alike — earned the same salary. While fellow cast member Bill Murray had embraced this approach from their first collaboration, for Hackman it posed a serious issue — so much so that he even considered walking away from the project. In the end, he reluctantly agreed to stay, but his attitude made for a tense shoot, something Murray has also acknowledged. However, the conflict wasn’t just about money: Hackman simply didn’t understand the film — its tone or its plot — something he made clear to Anderson after filming had wrapped. “He liked [the film],” Anderson said recently, “But he told me he didn’t understand it when we were shooting. I wish I’d shown him 10 minutes, early on. Then, maybe, he would have said, ‘OK, I get it.'” He wasn’t the only actor to star in a film they didn’t fully grasp at the time — and still deliver a brilliant performance. There are many similar cases. ©Buena Vista Pictures/courtesy E / Cordon Press

Anthony Hopkins / 'The Elephant Man' – The star of 'The Silence of the Lambs' went through something similar to what Hackman experienced. A seasoned actor, trained on the English stage, found himself working with a young American whose only credential was a strange feature film called 'Eraserhead' that no one had seen. A young man who, despite his lack of experience, was determined to control even the smallest detail of the production — he even insisted on designing the prosthetic mask that the lead character would wear himself. That this young director would helm a film about the real-life story of John Merrick was the doing of Mel Brooks, the talented comedian who, through his production company Brooksfilms, aimed to support bold projects far removed from the slapstick cinema he was known for. Brooks saw Lynch’s sensitivity and entrusted him with what would become his first commercial film. But Brooks’s confidence didn’t extend to the whole crew. Anthony Hopkins, who took on a role originally intended for Alan Bates, didn’t understand what the director was doing. He believed Lynch truly had no idea what he was doing — that he was just a kid — and that the strange black-and-white film would be a disaster and a stain on his career. Even though his performance as Dr. Frederick Treves in the film is flawless, Hopkins spent a lot of energy expressing his disdain toward Lynch. According to the director’s book 'Room to Dream,' Hopkins even insulted him on set and tried to convince the producer to fire him. Fortunately, Brooks didn’t. The film became a commercial success, earned eight Oscar nominations, and is now considered a classic — one of David Lynch’s best. It took the actor nearly 30 years, but in the end, he acknowledged the greatness of the film and apologized to the director. “I wrote him a letter to apologize for my bad behavior on that film,” Hopkins revealed. ©Paramount/Courtesy Everett Collection (©Paramount/Courtesy Everett Collection / Cordon Press)

Sean Penn / 'The Tree of Life' – Some directors only needed one film to earn a place in the cinematic pantheon. That was the case for Terrence Malick with the mesmerizing 'Badlands,' and he proved it wasn’t a fluke with the hypnotic 'Days of Heaven.' His stories were never mainstream favorites, but actors were willing to do anything to work with him — a prestige that allowed him to assemble a stunning cast for 'The Thin Red Line,' his adaptation of James Jones’s autobiographical novel. The result was a film of extraordinary beauty, though many actors came away burned after seeing their roles drastically reduced or entirely cut in the final edit. Sean Penn wasn’t among them. He reunited with the enigmatic director in 'The Tree of Life,' starring alongside Brad Pitt and Jessica Chastain. The plot, as is often the case with Malick’s work, was vague — almost anecdotal: the origin and meaning of life told through the childhood memories of a middle-aged man. So vague, in fact, that Penn didn’t really know what he was supposed to be portraying. “Frankly, I'm still trying to figure out what I'm doing there and what I was supposed to add in that context,” he admitted years later in 'The Guardian.' “What's more, Terry himself never managed to explain it to me clearly.” The actor acknowledged that the issue wasn’t with the script — “the most magnificent one that I’ve ever read” — but with how it translated onto the screen. “A clearer and more conventional narrative would have helped the film without, in my opinion, lessening its beauty and its impact,” he said. Even so, he maintains the film is worth seeing, “provided one goes in without preconceptions.”Cottonwood Pictures (ZUMAPRESS.com / Cordon Press)

Tom Berenger / 'Inception' – Though he’s spent years away from the spotlight, Tom Berenger has a career filled with compelling titles and has worked with a number of acclaimed directors — Costa-Gavras, who directed him in 'Betrayed;' Ridley Scott, with whom he filmed 'Someone to Watch Over Me;' and Oliver Stone, who directed him in 'Platoon,' a role that earned him an Oscar nomination. But nothing quite prepares an actor for the world of Christopher Nolan, arguably the most enigmatic director currently working in mainstream cinema. Berenger found himself in one of Nolan’s most complex films: the futuristic thriller 'Inception,' a multilayered story about a group of thieves capable of infiltrating people’s dreams. Many viewers didn’t fully grasp the film’s core plot — despite enjoying it — and Berenger himself was no exception. “If anybody had interrogated me under torture to tell them what exactly the plot was, I'd be hard put,” he told 'The Wall Street Journal.' According to the actor, no one really understood what they were doing during the shoot. “One time I started laughing on set.," he continued, explaining how Elliot Page asked him "'Wait a minute, is this a dream within a dream?' I went, 'oh, yeah, good question.' I kind of lost it. I talked to one of the other actors and he said, 'I've seen it three times and it takes a couple of times for you to nail it.'” Even Leonardo DiCaprio, the lead, didn’t seem to fully understand it either.Stephen Vaughan (©Warner Bros/courtesy Everett Co /Cordon Press)

Robert Pattinson / 'Tenet' – Berenger and DiCaprio weren’t the only ones who struggled to navigate Christopher Nolan’s intricate cinematic universe. After the relatively conventional 'Dunkirk,' Nolan once again demanded extra mental effort from his audience with the cryptic 'Tenet.' "It’s an incredibly complicated movie, like all of Chris’ movies,” said one of its stars, Robert Pattinson. “I mean, you have to watch them when they’re completely finished and edited three or four times to understand what the true meaning is,” he admitted in 'Esquire'. The 'Twilight' and 'The Lighthouse' star (the latter another complex story he found hard to grasp) said that same sense of confusion was also present on set. "There were months at a time where I’m like, ‘Am I . . . I actually, honestly, have no idea if I’m even vaguely understanding what’s happening.’ And yeah, I would definitely say that to John David. On the last day, I asked him a question about what was happening in a scene, and it was just so profoundly the wrong take on the character. And it was like, ‘Have you been thinking this the entire time?'"

Mark Wahlberg / 'The Happening' – Mark Wahlberg is usually associated with action films, his past as an underwear model, and even rap, but his filmography also includes a fair share of bold choices under the direction of cult filmmakers — 'Boogie Nights' and 'The Departed,' for example. These are complex films that require some effort from the audience, although none proved as inaccessible as 'The Happening,' M. Night Shyamalan’s film in which Wahlberg starred alongside Zooey Deschanel and John Leguizamo. On paper, it seemed like a safe bet — everything bearing the seal of the 'Sixth Sense' director, with whom Wahlberg’s brother Donnie had worked, usually was. But what looked like a potential box office hit turned into a flop and a meme factory, sweeping nominations at the infamous Razzie Awards, where Wahlberg earned a nod for Worst Actor. The story of a science teacher from Philadelphia trying to protect his family from inexplicable events remains a sore subject Wahlberg generally avoids discussing. When he does, however, he makes his feelings perfectly clear. During a promotional interview with Amy Adams for 'The Fighter,' he recalled they had nearly worked together on another film. “We had actually had the luxury of having lunch before to talk about another movie, and it was a really bad movie that I did. She dodged the bullet,” he said. “I don’t want to tell you what movie…all right, 'The Happening.' Fuck it. It is what it is. Fucking trees, man. The plants. Fuck it. You can’t blame me for not wanting to try to play a science teacher. At least I wasn’t playing a cop or a crook." It wasn’t the only time the former rapper didn’t understand a script. He turned down a role in J.J. Abrams’ 'Star Trek' reboot because, as he told 'Total Film'.magazine, he couldn’t make sense of the script: “I tried to read the script, but I couldn’t even — I didn’t understand the words or dialogue or anything," he said. "Then I saw the movie and I was like, ‘Holy shit, he did a great job.”MPTV.net

Alec Guinness / 'Star Wars' – Few names command as much reverence among the passionate 'Star Wars' fandom as that of Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi, portrayed by the esteemed British actor Alec Guinness, known for classics like 'Lawrence of Arabia' and 'The Bridge on the River Kwai.' However, the love was far from mutual. For the man who played Luke Skywalker’s mentor, George Lucas’s film was little more than a blemish on his career — albeit a highly profitable one. He also had little understanding of what the young director surrounded by models and special effects was actually trying to do. “Can't say I'm enjoying the film — new rubbish dialogue reaches me every other day on wages of pink paper — and none of it makes my character clear or even bearable,” he wrote to a friend during filming. That wasn’t the only jab he took at one of the most influential sagas in cinematic history. In another letter, published in his autobiography, he admitted he didn’t understand “a single word” of what his character said on screen. Despite his skepticism about the project and his dim view of Lucas — he once claimed the director “had no idea how to direct actors” — Guinness was shrewd enough to negotiate a small percentage of the box office profits. That “ridiculous” film ended up making him more money than any of the cinematic masterpieces he starred in.Photo: MPTV.net

Jennifer Lawrence / 'Mother!' – Darren Aronofsky’s film, starring Javier Bardem, Michelle Pfeiffer, Ed Harris, and Jennifer Lawrence, was already raising eyebrows during production for its strangeness — something fully confirmed after its premiere at the Venice Film Festival, where it received both applause and boos. A biblical allegory to some, an incoherent mess to others, the film sparked fierce criticism. “I hesitate to label it the ‘Worst movie of the year’ when ‘Worst movie of the century’ fits it even better,” wrote critic Rex Reed. Aronofsky had already directed complex films like 'Pi,' 'Requiem for a Dream,' and 'The Fountain,' but 'Mother!' proved to be unintelligible even for its star, Jennifer Lawrence — who was in a romantic relationship with the director at the time. After the premiere, during an appearance on 'Watch What Happens Live,' host Andy Cohen asked her to rate her understanding of the film’s plot on a scale from one to 10. Lawrence replied: "Five? Or a four." And that’s despite having “CliffNotes.” As she put it: “I’m going to be honest. Well, I was sleeping with the director, so I had CliffsNotes."Stephane Cardinale - Corbis (Corbis via Getty Images)

Jamie Lee Curtis / 'Everything Everywhere All at Once' – Sausage fingers, talking rocks, a bagel that contains the universe… Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert’s unglamorous multiverse film, following their bizarre debut 'Swiss Army Man' (in which Daniel Radcliffe played a flatulent corpse), shook up the cinematic landscape in 2022 and won over much of the critical establishment. But not all of it. “An incomprehensible mess — foolishly imaginative, exhausting to watch and listen to,” said Spanish critic Carlos Boyero. The Academy, however, was won over: the film earned seven Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director. Jamie Lee Curtis also took home Best Supporting Actress, beating out favorite Angela Bassett, who was backed by the full Marvel machine with 'Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.' After more than 40 years in the industry, Curtis accepted the award overjoyed — but just minutes earlier, on the red carpet, she had admitted she didn’t understand the film she starred in. “I didn't understand it at all, I understood her and that was my job — they were asking me to be her. And so because I understood that, I said yes,” she explained. She added that it wasn’t until watching a few key moments that the movie’s message clicked. “I didn't understand the movie until two things — I saw the sequence at the laundromat being filmed where the husband and the wife reunified and the mother and the daughter reunified, and I went, 'Oh, this a movie about love.' And then I saw it at South [SXSW] the first time on the screen and I thought, 'What a masterpiece, this is a movie that's going to change cinema.’”Courtesy Everett Collection / Cordon Press