Freddie says he felt from the start that director Jim Gillespie didn’t want to cast him in the film.
“He made no secret of it. There was no passive aggressiveness – which I hate – he was very direct in the fact that ‘I don’t want you in this movie,'” Freddie shared in an interview TooFab.
He explained that Jim had wanted an actor named Jeremy Sisto to take the lead and it was really difficult knowing he wasn’t wanted on the set.
“If this is your first job and you hear those words, it just breaks you, man. It just wrecks you,” Freddie admitted.
Additionally, Freddie says the director often excluded him from conversations with the rest of the cast, and when he offered criticism, it was “psychotic notes.”
“It was very difficult to wake up in the morning – or in the afternoon because we shot a lot of nights – and go to work with the right attitude,” he shared.
“When I had those moments where the director would give me psychotic notes like, ‘Don’t keep your mouth open. You look stupid when you do that’ – that was exactly the note, word for word, I’ll never forget it,” said Freddie. “I think I’m either going to break down or I’m going to have to smack this guy’s ass.”
It got to a point where, after having a “near-death experience” while filming a scene on a motorboat, Freddie almost collapsed and actually “almost finished the movie”.
“I almost caught a flight and went home. I was ready. I’ve had enough,” Freddie said. “They had broken a lot of union stuff they shouldn’t have, like union rules. All sorts of things. And I just felt like if I wasn’t wanted here, fuck it.”
Freddie says he’s “packed [his] Bags That Night” with plans to “go out of business” and return to culinary school at Le Cordon Bleu.
“I wanted to fight this guy two or three times. One time I felt like it was a legitimate reason, and the other two I was just pissed off, which isn’t right,” Freddie admitted. “I’m glad everyone talked me down.”
Looking back, Freddie says he’s not upset at all because the “movie got started [his] whole career” and he would have nothing without her – including his wife Sarah.
“It was a struggle to finish work every day, I was in pain every day of this film. But it kind of prepared me for this deal,” Freddie shared.
He continued: “It sounds weird to say this – I’m forever grateful to Jim for being such an asshole because I’ve never met one like that since. I was prepared for every minor A-hole in the business.”
“It was the toughest job I’ve ever done,” Freddie concluded. “And I’m just glad I got it out of the way so early.”
You can read everything Freddie had to say Here.
