Debra Winger had a very fruitful carrier in 1980’s and 90s, featuring as the main actress in numerous immensely successful flicks. Though she was acclaimed for her fantastic performances but she was very problematic to work with on sets. This story is about the arguments of Debra Winger and how they may have eventually caused her downfall.
Her first dispute was on the set of Urban Cowboy, the 80’s hit picture featuring Winger and John Travolta. When she first met Travolta, he showered her with rather offensive and offensive questions. The first thing he asked her was if she was Jewish, which surely is not an offence but a strange first thing to say to somebody. Next, Travolta asked her if she had graduated from college. This too, may not sound rude but questions her intellect. And lastly, Travolta made some voluptuous comments, which Debra has not revealed exactly. Subsequently, Travolta and Debra developed an unhealthy working relation. But soon they started dating and Travolta asked her to marry him. However, Debra was not keen to take that forward and declined his proposal.
Debra’s dispute with Richard Gere was one of her most well-known. They featured together in “An Officer and A Gentleman” in 1982 and their onscreen chemistry was electric. But things were not so great on the sets as they had conflicting behaviors and did not get along well and tried to stay apart from each other as they could. Debra was cited saying that acting apposite Gere was like acting against a brick wall. This made her status as being tough to work with on set. However, Debra and Gere reconciled later.
Debra dropped out of 1992’s “A League of their Own”. It was a delightful movie about the All-American Girls professional Baseball League during World War II. But most people did not know that Debra was in fact supposed to be the lead and she was even casted for the role and did all sort of training as well. But eventually Madonna came on board and Debra felt it was not good for the role and promptly decided to leave the movie.
The Shirley MacLaine dispute perhaps one of Debra’s famed on-set feuds on the sets of “Terms of Endearment”. Both had different personalities and sense of styles. They had deep differences in terms of their clothing choices and Debra was more stubborn on sets, while MacLaine was more laid back and quiet. In her autobiography, MacLaine did not appreciate Debra’s tone and demeanour.
With all these feuds, Debra grew a status that she is been difficult to work with but she upholds that there was a layer of prejudice built into that tag. She pointed out that if a man had done some of the same behaviours, he would not have been branded difficult, instead, he would be called a perfectionist and considered for being an independent thinker and articulating himself. She said that this is an example of classic double standard that women in Hollywood have to always deal with.
Nowadays, Debra is not seen much in Hollywood movies, is it since they are worried of a possible feud between her and her co-stars or just because that her movies did not do well at the box-office. Actually, neither is true. Debra decided in 1995 that she was done with the rollercoaster ride that is the studio system in Hollywood and decided to leave Hollywood.
In an interview, Debra said that she is still getting offers from Hollywood but not getting the challenging roles.
