Like many other talented musicians and actors, Barbra Streisand is known for having specific requests when it comes to interviews and movie contracts. For instance, she has specific requests for the bathroom she’ll be using in any concert venue or movie set. She also has some strict rules for interviews, such as ensuring that the cameras are always on her good side and that the interviewer uses the correct pronunciation of her name.
If her outrageous demands are not met, the singer will simply not perform, act, or give interviews. But Streisand is still considered such a great actress and performer that people are willing to abide by her rules. For instance, the producers of The Guilt Trip gave in to all her requests just to have her in this film!
Barbra Streisand Has A Set Of Very Strict Rules For Interviews
Barbra Streisand has a strict set of rules for interviews. For one, she won’t stand interviewers mispronouncing her name. In 2016, she called out an Australian TV host for saying her name wrong during an interview. "What's my name? ... You said it with a 'z,' you had a double whammy," she told the host of Australia’s 60 Minutes.
She also has some strange requests regarding the bathrooms she’d be using during a performance or interview. According to Daily Mail, the contract of this award-winning performer states that all bathrooms she’ll be using must have peach-colored toilet paper to match her complexion, rose petals in the toilet bowl, peach-colored designer towels, and ten very specific designer floor lamps.
But one of her biggest rules for interviews is that the cameras always show her good side. In fact, Streisand once canceled an interview with Jimmy Kimmel over this matter. The late-night show host revealed that he was willing to accept the request under one condition. “The condition was we couldn’t talk about the fact that we’d switched around, and I was like, ‘I just don’t see how this will work,’” but the ‘Woman in Love’ singer refused. Ultimately, Streisand canceled her appearance on the show due to this.
Around that same time, the singer appeared in The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. At the beginning of their interview, the host jokingly asked Streisand to switch seats with him. Fans think this little ploy was an attempt to fulfill the singer’s request to have cameras only show her good side.
Barbra Streisand’s Demands To Work In The Guilt Trip Were Simply Outrageous
Barbra Streisand is estimated to have a $400 million net worth. This explains why the singer and actress can be picky about the projects she takes on. She’s appeared in Academy Award-nominated films such as Funny Girl (1968) and A Star is Born (1976) but she’s also appeared in comedies such as Meet The Fockers (2006).
When she was offered one of the leading roles in The Guilt Trip, she was hesitant to take it. After all, she hadn’t worked on any films or TV roles in a while. Seth Rogen, who played her on-screen son in this film, revealed that he wouldn’t have minded if Streisand had refused the role. “Actually,” he told The Scotsman, “I was kinda holding out for Shirley MacLaine.”
Ultimately, Streisand accepted the role, but she set out an extensive list of demands. This included that filming started after 8:30 a.m. so she didn’t have to wake up too early and that the film set was no more than 45 minutes away from her Malibu home. The studio agreed, so they ended up shooting this road trip movie entirely on a sound stage.
Did Seth Rogen Like Working with Barbra Streisand in The Guilt Trip?
When it was announced that Barbra Streisand was going to play Seth Rogen’s mother in the road comedy film The Guilt Trip and that she was also going to serve as an executive producer for the movie, Rogen wasn’t sure how it was going to go. The actor had heard nightmare stories of working with Streisand.
So, he decided to call Ben Stiller and director Jay Roach, who had worked with Streisand before, to get a better idea of what he’d had to deal with. They both reassured him that she was professional and great to work with. Ultimately, he and Streisand got along well and made a great working duo.
“She reminded me of my own mother,” the actor explained. “She is the patient zero of Jewish mothers. And when we spent time together, we talked about movies, food, and the stuff I usually talk about. She’s not very pretentious.”
The Freaks and Geeks actor also recalls that despite the movie being filmed mostly on a sound stage, they got to travel to film a couple of scenes. “We went to Vegas,” he recalls. “Barbra got us all bagels.” Overall, Streisand never acted like a diva on set.
