Rebecca Ferguson Recalls Refusing to Work with a Big-Name ‘Idiot of a Co-star’ After an On-Set Meltdown

Rebecca Ferguson has been busy headlining hits like ‘Dune: Part Two’ and the series ‘Silo’, but lately fans have been talking about something else. The star opened up about finding her voice on set and how one tough experience helped her draw a line in the sand.

She first reflected on the moment during a candid podcast chat and then revisited it on a radio appearance, saying it marked a turning point in how she handles pressure at work. After her comments spread, she said, “I got phone calls from amazing costars who I’ve worked with going, ‘You understand what you’ve done, right?’” She added, “my story is my story, and if you’re a good person, then don’t worry about it.”

What happened was simple and messy. Ferguson says she refused to work again with a big name costar who screamed at her during a shoot and left her in tears. She remembered the person belittling her with “You call yourself an actor?” and “This is what I have to work with?” and admitted there were days when “I would cry walking off set.”

The next day she decided she would not take it anymore. “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,’” she recalled. Producers stepped in and reminded her that this person was number one on the call sheet, so Ferguson finished scenes facing the back of the actor’s head. Later, she went to the director and asked what was going on. “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.’” Things improved from there, but she says it took far too long to get support.

Ferguson never identified the person and she has tried to steer attention away from the guessing game. She did make one thing clear. “It’s not Hugh. Not Tom Cruise,” she said, referencing her work with Hugh Jackman in ‘The Greatest Showman’ and with Tom Cruise across multiple ‘Mission: Impossible’ films. After the story spread, her ‘Hercules’ colleague Dwayne Johnson praised her for speaking up and signaled his support.

For Ferguson, the real takeaway is the boundary she set and kept. She described feeling isolated because the other actor’s status meant there was “no safety net” and “no one had my back.” Still, standing up for herself changed the atmosphere and changed her approach going forward. As she put it, “From that moment, I have never let myself get to a point where I’ve got home and gone, ‘Why did that happen?’”

Her account resonates in an industry that keeps reassessing what respectful behavior looks like on set. Ferguson is keeping the focus on the b