15 Weird, Awkward, And Unhinged Celebrity Moments From Movie Press Tours That’ll Make You Say “OMG, I Can’t Believe That Happened”

THE DEETS: I had to start with this one. In case you’ve been living under a rock, this press cycle has sparked a TON of dram, starting with the initial backlash against Blake Lively and discussion around the movie’s depiction of abuse. 

And of course, The New York Times recently revealed that Blake is suing It Ends With Us costar and director Justin Baldoni for alleged sexual harassment. So that whole situation definitely provides colour as to why the press tour was so tension-filled.

THE DEETS: Between the “did Harry Styles spit on Chris Pine” debate (which still keeps me up at night), to the Olivia Wilde-Florence Pugh drama…there’s just too much to cover here. All I’ll tell you is, this one is complicated and messy AF.

It’s a shame there was so much drama, because can I just say it? I LOVED this movie. And I feel like people don’t remember the movie enough. Like, I kind of agree with Harry when he said his favourite thing about DWD is that it “feels like a movie.” Which is another iconic moment from the press tour.

THE DEETS: Yes, there was a handful of social media drama that came from this movie’s press cycle. That includes the controversy surrounding that one fan-made Wicked poster, amid other interesting moments from interviews. And don’t forget about all the tears between Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo throughout the press tour, which sparked controversy, too.

There have also been so many memes just from this one tour that, TBH, live rent-free in my brain even more than the movie itself. The “you have been the light of the day” clip is my fave, amid other countless viral, memeable moments from interviews. So let’s all *hold space* for this one.

THE DEETS: This one is probably the least unhinged out of this bunch — it was only unhinged in that it was just so different from what we’re used to seeing. 

Because of the SAG-AFTRA strike, director Martin Scorsese decided to promote the movie by posting Letterboxd reviews and appearing in his daughter’s TikToks. Which is actually really adorable, TBH.

THE DEETS: This one also involves Dakota Johnson, who starred in the Fifty Shades trilogy (duh). The low-down on this one is that people started noticing Dakota appeared “notably disinterested and dismissive” during the movie’s press tour, including admitting she hadn’t seen the movie yet. The movie ended up “tank[ing] at the box office.” 

Not to mention, an earthquake hit in the middle of one of these interviews. That’s pretty unhinged, if you ask me.

THE DEETS: Let’s talk about my girl, Renée Rapp. This press tour was dubbed “unhinged” because of her blunt comments throughout the interviews. It’s through these interviews that many of us discovered Renée’s openness and honesty in her interviews, which the internet had mixed opinions on. 

For example, there’s one moment where Renée calls herself “ageist” in an interview with Andy Cohen, which spun into an online debate.

THE DEETS: Hugh Grant was super open on this press tour, particularly about his feelings toward the movie — and “hat[red]” for his role as an Oompa Loompa. 

“I couldn’t have hated the whole thing more,” he said in regards to the movie. “I slightly hate making films, but I have lots of children and need money.” These comments, of course, turned lots of heads.

THE DEETS: This one happened 20 years ago (!!!), and mainly involves some unhinged Tom Cruise moments. Like, you probably remember that one viral moment where Tom jumps up on the couch during an interview with Oprah…that was during this press tour. 

We also saw him get into a widely-discussed “quarrel with Matt Lauer,” which happened around this movie’s release, too.

THE DEETS: Let’s just say Joaquin Phoenix — who stars in the movie alongside Gwyneth Paltrow — got people talking, and had interviews that went on to become “infamous.” 

Why? He said that he was retiring from acting. He also was visibly “unkempt.” But there’s an easy explanation for this one: it turns out this act was a “performance art” for his role in another movie, I’m Still Here.

THE DEETS: This one is…very messy. At the time, Kristen Stewart — who starred in this movie — was dating Robert Pattinson. 

But people were shocked when Us Weekly revealed, about a month after the film released, that Kristen had cheated on Robert with the director of the movie, Rupert Sanders, who was married at the time. DUN DUN DUNNNN. This obviously took off and set the internet ablaze.

THE DEETS: I had to mention the press tour that started the Sad Affleck meme — AKA *that* photo of Ben Affleck looking super sad in a press junket. 

I’ll explain: the movie had just come out, and critic reviews were pretty low. In one interview in particular, when asked about the movie’s ratings, fans noticed how, uh, SAD Ben looked. This became a meme. 

So I guess you could say this was just one important interview MOMENT rather than the whole press tour, but like, that meme definitely stole my heart.

THE DEETS: Throughout the press tour, the cast (including Will Smith and Margot Robbie) discussed the intense ways in which Jared Leto, who played the Joker, stayed *in character* on set. These comments raised some eyebrows. 

This includes giving costars “disturbing gifts” like an actual rat and Playboy magazines. Leto later clarified these gifts were just a “jest.” So who knows what actually happened? All we know for sure is that the whole thing became “infamous,” and those anecdotes made some people cringe.