Jeremy Renner — who appeared in the recently released installment of long-running Tom Cruise action vehicle, Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol — was at a pub in Phuket, Thailand last night when a huge brawl broke out. Rumors circulated that the Hurt Locker actor might have been injured, but later reports confirmed that Renner left the bar unharmed as soon as the frenzy broke out. The star’s reps advised J.R. was “not involved” in the attack, but it made us wonder if his bad boy screen persona had any real-life influence when it came to the verbal assault that apparently started the whole thing. Renner’s not the only Hollywood actor who appears to be a little too comfortable in the part of troublemaker. Past the break, we list several other stars working today that probably belong to the celebrity fight club we’re not allowed to talk about (them’s the rules). Who’d you add?
Russell Crowe’s rugged looks match his rocky personality and notorious bad temper. Even his roles as good guys your heart aches for — like Maximus in Gladiator who lost his wife and son, or the brilliant John Nash in A Beautiful Mind who suffered from paranoid schizophrenia — can’t totally conceal his penchant for fisticuff action. Various scuffles in hotels (one in which he threw a phone at an employee’s face) and restaurants even led to a spoof of the actor on South Park. His mouth got him into trouble at 2002’s BAFTA awards, where Crowe cursed out a producer. Then there was that controversial comment on Twitter to Eli Roth about infant circumcision. We know he’s not all bad, however, as Crowe supports the Occupy movement. He probably brings his own pepper spray.
The words “bad boy” conjure images of a hulking dude who could crush you with his pinky finger, but really they come in all shapes and sizes. Shia LaBeouf may not be the biggest guy on the block, but don’t let that or his Disney career fool you. Details recently named the Transformers actor “Hollywood’s last bad boy,” and shared an account of his party boy lifestyle. Multiple bouts with just about everyone that has pissed him off, a history of irking directors, “philandering around,” and “a Holden Caulfield—esque allergy to phoniness” that seems to get him into a lot of trouble adds to his reputation. Did we mention one of his BFFs is Marilyn Manson? If you ever decide to kick Shia’s ass, beware: he carries a knife — but it sounds like he’ll always give it to you straight should you choose words instead of blows.
It doesn’t seem hard to irk Jonathan Rhys Meyers, as his life ban from United Airlines suggests. In 2010, the award-winning Tudors actor had a nasty altercation with an airline employee. Prior to that, he attacked a staff member at a Paris airport bar. Despite his boozy history and battle scars, Meyers insists he’s just a regular Joe. “Oh, I’m nothing like as naughty as people think I am. I don’t hang out with movie stars, and you won’t see me going to many Hollywood parties. I’m actually quite boring.”
Is the name Russell just so damn genteel that it incites a whole lot of rage for two actors on our list? Russell Brand may be feeling extra cranky lately since he’s divorcing singer Katy Perry. The Get Him to the Greek actor is a former heroin and sex addict who is quite familiar with handcuffs. He even beat the living daylights out of a photog that got in his way at the airport, but the funnyman’s actions were defended by Perry who said the paparazzo was trying to look up her skirt.
Does making a sex tape instantly teleport you into bad boy territory? Probably. And In Bruges actor Colin Farrell can check that — along with drugging and drinking and harassing a phone sex worker — off his bucket list. The born and bred Dubliner swears his party days are over since he became a father, but we’re giving it some time before we agree with him.
Up and comer — in Hollywood and in a long line of bad boys — Alex Pettyfer has been described as “cocky,” “very ahead of himself,” and a loner, which sounds like all the makings of a tumultuous path ahead. Insiders have shared that while the I Am Number Four actor is a big talent, he’s also “immature and opinionated.” When the English star isn’t busy rubbing people the wrong way, breaking Dianna Agron’s heart, or showing up late to his own premiere, he’s causing a scene on set over contracts and cash, and avoiding after parties like the plague.
The bad boy hall of fame can welcome you with open arms once you win your very own angry meme. Plus, you’re kind of a real badass when you get to play psychopath yuppie Patrick Bateman and the Dark Knight. That’s part of Christian Bale’s claim to fame. After flipping out on Terminator Salvation‘s director of photography Shane Hurlbut, TMZ released an audio of the incident, which was quickly turned into an absurd mashup, remix, and everything in between. We still wouldn’t want to get on his bad side, despite the ridiculous auto-tune.
Jude Law may have played the reliable Doc Watson in the recent Sherlock Holmes sequel, but the Hollywood heartthrob doesn’t seem entirely influenced by the screen M.D.’s astute judgment. Law has had a longtime on and off again relationship with Alfie co-star Sienna Miller, who he cheated on with their children’s nanny. Law’s also been arrested for attacking paparazzi, which he claims (ironically) he tried to fend off for the sake of his children’s privacy.
He was the family patriarch on Party of Five, but it seems that good ol’ Charlie Salinger hasn’t really learned much since the ’90s. Lost star and Speed Racer actor Matthew Fox revealed his dark side during an interview, where he claimed to be ” … a liar and a cheat and a thief and the ultimate manipulator.” He emphasized his strange point by expressing, “And when I say I’m phenomenally manipulative, I am.” If that sounds like Fox was just having a crazypants moment, consider that he also beat up a female bus driver last year.
Ok, we did say that this list was comprised of “working actors today,” but since Charlie Sheen just wrapped up a film with Hilary Duff (yikes!) — She Wants Me — and will be appearing in the upcoming A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III — directed by Roman Coppola — we’re guesstimating that Sheen isn’t just sitting around sipping tiger blood. The Adonis DNA-ridden actor’s public meltdown last year cemented his long running bad boy image (even his daddy agrees). However, the Two and a Half Men star, who has long battled drugs and alcohol, spread the icing on the cake when he hooked up with porn stars and seemed to be a few sandwiches short of a picnic after chatting openly about “Vatican assassin warlocks.” So bad.