A wonderful example to illustrate this…
In 1960, Steve McQueen was a young, up-and-coming actor. He had made a few films, but he wasn’t yet the star he would soon become.
He then landed a role in the blockbuster The Magnificent Seven .
The star of the film is Yul Brynner. He was a huge star at the time.
Steve McQueen is counting on this project to further his career. Highly competitive by nature, he arrives on set eager to stand out from the star-studded cast.
The first scene he shot opposite star Yul Brynner was in the saloon at the beginning of the film, where Steve McQueen agrees to join the gang to defend the villagers.
He asks Yul Brynner how many of them there are to attack the bandits.
Brynner raises his index finger, to indicate that he is alone, for the moment.
Steve McQueen then has to signal that he too agrees to be part of the adventure. He then makes a “2” with his fingers. To indicate that there are now two of them.
The scene is strong and well played.
But as soon as the director shouts “Print!”, announcing that the scene is complete, Yul Brynner takes Steve McQueen aside and sharply reprimands him. He tells him that he sees what he’s trying to do and that this kind of thing won’t fly with him.
According to him, Steve McQueen wanted to be clever by first raising his fist, then sticking out his two fingers in an overly theatrical manner.
Yul Brynner is convinced that McQueen is trying to steal the spotlight by overacting. He considers it a blatant ploy to get noticed.
From there, the relationship between the two actors will only get worse.
Steve McQueen actually does everything to steal the spotlight from his co-stars, and especially from the star of the film.
While Yul Brynner has made it clear that he wants his co-stars to stand at a distance and remain motionless when they have a scene together, Steve McQueen does everything he can to draw attention to himself.
In the film, it is actually amusing to see the means he uses to make himself noticed in each scene and attract the viewer’s attention towards him.
-he constantly fiddles with and takes off his hat
-he plays with his gun
-he counts his ammunition
-he squirms in his saddle
In a scene where the troupe is crossing a river on horseback, he leans down from his mount and scoops water into his hat to splash his face. This wasn’t in the script…
Yul Brynner quickly becomes annoyed by Steve McQueen’s behavior.
So much so that he even asks his assistant to count the number of times McQueen touches his hat while saying his lines, so he can prove what is happening to the director.
In an interview years later, Steve McQueen would recall this feud with Brynner:
“We didn’t get along. Brynner came up to me one day in front of everyone and grabbed me by the shoulder. He was angry about something, I don’t remember what. He wasn’t a good horseman and he didn’t know anything about firearms, so since I was in my element, he might have thought I was a threat to him. Anyway, I don’t like people grabbing me like he did. I told him, ‘Get your hands off me, let go of me.’ When you’re shooting a scene with Yul, you’re supposed to stay perfectly still 10 meters away from him. Well, I don’t work that way. So I protected myself as best I could.”
Ultimately, the film transformed Steve McQueen into a big-screen star and launched his film career.