Entertainment

Lee Daniels Dared Tell Oprah What?

There are just some things that you don't ever dare to tell a person like Oprah Winfrey. For instance: You do not dare tell Oprah that her acting sucks, even if you are the director of the film she is acting in, because she is Oprah, and could probably have you smoted with her pinky finger or something. For some reason, though, this is exactly what Lee Daniels did when he was directing Oprah last year: According to The Hollywood Reporter, Lee Daniels told Oprah that her first take of The Butler "sucked," and that it wasn't real enough.

"I said: 'No! That sucks! What are you doin'? It's not real! It's fake!'" Daniels recalled of the scene, which involved Oprah's character saying goodbye to her son. "She was like, 'Huh?' — just sort of reeling from that. It took her a minute to understand not being in charge. But I think she almost got off on it."

This isn't the first time Daniels has spoken out — in good fun — about Oprah on the set of The Butler: Back in August, he revealed that Oprah couldn't stop asking for the time during her love scenes, and that she refused to do any nudity because the audience would "never forgive her."

No worries, though: There were no ill-feelings between Oprah and Daniels at the end of the day. "I said yes to The Butler because Lee Daniels was relentless. I did it to stretch myself," Oprah commented to THR. "I did it to say, 'All right, can you do this again?'" For the record, she did — Lee Daniels' The Butler received great reviews upon release, and currently holds a 74 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes.