A member of the crew recalls: The director, Ridley Scott, was pragmatic. He just said, Well wait until shes ready. At the end of the day, she is Whitney Houston and there is a limit to what you can do. Coca-Cola dealt with the Pepsi problem, which was basically a contract protest, while we all just sat around for a few hours on overtime.
There isnt just bad behaviour in front of the cameras. The same crew member recalls, There are lots of prima donna directors too, ordering enormous bottles of champagne and acting outrageously particularly in the hedonistic days of the 1980s but no one dealt with it. No one really manages it. Although today with jobs in the film industry tight, people are more aware of their own mortality and possess a little more humility, which is a good thing. It makes it a more pleasant atmosphere to work in, he says.
This sort of attitude seems to have bypassed Jennifer Lopez, who demanded that 10 of Elstrees changing rooms be redecorated in white linen and silk, and three personal chefs be flown in to cook handmade ravioli when she appeared on Top of the Pops last December. Her demands have supposedly made her so unpopular that there are collective fingers crossing that she wont be back. If youre ever thinking of inviting her round, her basic requirements are that coffee is stirred anticlockwise, bed linen must be Egyptian cotton with a 250-thread count and drinking water must be processed through a reverse osmosis multi-filter system.
But does anyone put their foot down and tell her to get a grip? No. Staff at one New York hotel recently told reporters how on one visit: Her assistants rang room service and asked for eight breakfasts to be brought up. Apparently, she was asleep and they didnt dare wake her, but they knew she would want something to eat immediately she did. They couldnt decide what she would want, so they covered all the options.
And there are more... Elizabeth Taylor requested that her London hotel suite be repainted lilac and her bodyguards allowed to check over Buckingham Palace before her audience with the Queen (the first request was granted, the second, refused).
Meanwhile, back in the US, Meryl Streep reportedly declared that either she be flown from her house to the set of her most recent film by helicopter, about 150 miles at a cost of 400 per hour, or the shoot be moved nearer her home it was moved, naturally. One director claims, I always think that this kind of behaviour is directly proportional to the persons bank balance. The more money they can command, the more outrageous they are.
Who ends up on the receiving end of tantrums when a prima donna doesnt get her way? Aspiring movie workers who start life as runners or production assistants, gofers for crew and stars, are the butts of much bad behaviour. One former runner tells how he drove Raquel Welch home from filming, pulled up at her house, got out and opened her door. The movie legend stepped out and handed him... her dog. Shampoo my dog, she barked. Bewildered, he phoned his producer. Is washing dogs part of my job spec? he wondered. If Raquel Welch wants her dog washed, you wash it, was the terse reply.
One person trying to help film and TV crews deal with such behaviour is Sue Davies, people management tutor at the National Film and Television School in London: Some artists can be very difficult to deal with... I think it is perhaps more common in our industry because performers, directors and a lot of others are giving a part of themselves in their work. They are baring their soul in a way that wouldnt happen in banking, for example. Any criticism can be taken very personally and they see the best form of defence as attack.
I train people to handle aggression and prima donna behaviour by advising them not to respond in an emotional way. The natural response is to want revenge and although it may make you feel good for a time it is counter-productive. The problem just escalates and youve got to work with the person again. We do a lot of role-plays and discuss real situations. We look at the importance of focusing on the positive longer-term outcome you want and the value of responding in an adult, assertive way.
Prima donna is Italian for first lady and refers to the leading singers in an opera; the lead prima donna in any one performance is called the prima donna absoluta. However, a Royal Opera spokesman says the term is never used in the UK where diva is preferred. It is unknown whether the common use of the phrase came about because of one particular diva or whether the entire genre is believed to be demanding.
Id say that about half of opera singers easily fit the prima donna description. Anything can spark off an incident, says an opera insider. On one occasion a famous singer was in a foul mood and refused point blank to put on her costume although she had previously been pleased with it. In front of all the wardrobe staff, she pulled it down off the hanger and stamped all over it.
Another time, a director asked where a certain singer was at a crucial point in a rehearsal. The singer was nowhere to be found and was eventually discovered hiding, in floods of tears over a trivial issue, completely refusing to come on stage.
We always have to remember that the singers are pivotal to the whole opera and that great talent often goes hand-in-hand with a rather fragile temperament. We have to gently reason with them mollycoddle them if necessary. Basically we have to accommodate their needs, however pointless and irrelevant they are.
It seems that prima donnas are prone to costume dramas, with the current horror story circulating at the National Theatre being that actress Maggie Smith ripped her gown apart in front of wardrobe staff after she discovered that it was a little tight and difficult to breathe in.
In the world of fashion, where catwalks are stages and models the new superstars, Naomi Campbell looms large. She was once called the biggest brat in the modelling business, and was reportedly fired by her agency on the grounds that no money or prestige could further justify the abuse that has been imposed on staff and clients only to be rehired by the same agency six months later.
Campbell has been in the papers recently, this time for reportedly being rude to staff in the London boutique, Voyage. The manager banned her after she complained that she had had to wait before being let into the shop. Nonetheless, staff at Premier Model Management, which represents Campbell, have a practical approach to prima donna behaviour.
Model booker Jeanna Ridout says she sits badly behaving girls down and says, Look you are over-reacting. You need to get them to confront how silly they are being. Admittedly its not easy with everyone, especially some of the bigger girls. But normally it boils down to a lack of communication. The prima donna is unhappy about something which they are not communicating.
When the girls are starting out we let them know straight away that we wont put up with such behaviour. If you feed the fire then you make the situation worse. We tell them, It doesnt matter how beautiful or successful you are, if you are not a nice person you wont work. The clients have the ultimate power, explains Ridout, who says models have been blacklisted sometimes for something as simple as a look they didnt like. We tell the girls that they have to be very, very charming.
And Naomi? A lot of it is hype by the newspapers. Look, she just cannot be as horrible as everyone says otherwise she simply wouldnt work. At the end of the day, she wouldnt have her face everywhere because the clients wouldnt put up with it.
Whatever the motives behind a prima donnas action, it is clear that the degree to which they are managed depends upon their talent, its rarity and the price it can command.
Further reading
Tantrums and Talent by Winston Fletcher, Admap Publications
