During a recent appearance on The Drew Barrymore Show, Olivia Munn discussed her commitment to playing strong, independent women throughout her career. And it prompted her to share a pretty bizarre story about a former costar.
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“There have been a few times where I’ve been filming something, and my character was either, like, CIA, or a cop, or something, and there’s been scenes where my character has been the one to save the other character,” she said, before specifically recalling a past project featuring a scene where she and a male costar were fighting side by side in a bunker.
“If you read the script, it was that he was guarding his side, I was guarding my side, then we switch sides, and then there’s a guy that was coming for him who was gonna shoot him in the back, so I shoot him,” she explained.
Olivia didn’t name the project or reveal the actor’s identity. Although she said her costar was apparently appalled by the prospect of being saved by a female character and got “combative with the director” over the matter.
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“We’re about to shoot and, somehow, I guess he didn’t read the script, and in that moment, he realized, ‘Wait, wait, wait. Hold on. She can’t save me. No, no. She can’t save me,’” Olivia remembered. "Everything stops down, and there was no insecurity about being obnoxious and everyone hearing this and [him] being like, ‘She can’t save me! We’re not doing this.’”
After about "45 minutes" of loud deliberation, Olivia said she proposed an idea that might make him more comfortable. "I said, ‘OK, how about instead of my character saving you, it’s just that we switch because it’s time for us to switch, and so this is my guy to get,’” she said.
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The mystery costar agreed, and they went on to shoot the scene. But, hilariously, Olivia said nothing actually changed in terms of the action; the suggestion merely altered the way her male costar interpreted the scene in his mind. "It's just what he thought!" she recalled. "I was doing the exact same thing!"
As we said, Olivia didn't give any obvious hints about which specific project she was working on or who the obnoxious actor was. But, knowing the power of the internet, I wouldn't be surprised if people come up with some good guesses... LMK your thoughts in the comments.