Oh, s**t! James Corden is under fire again!!
On Sunday, TV director Craig Duncan put The Late Late Show host on BLAST while reflecting on the absolutely terrible time he had working with the comedian in 2013. The pair worked together on the set of a UK comedy series called A League Of Their Own (NOT the famous baseball film or series, FYI). For the skit, Duncan was tasked with directing James, Freddie Flintoff, Jamie Redknapp, and Jack Whitehall in a Masterchef-style challenge.
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You can see it (below):
Simple enough, right? If only!
In the rant video shared on YouTube about the interaction, Craig began:
“The most difficult and obnoxious presenter I have ever worked with was James Corden. I was asked by his production company would I be willing to direct a challenge that was gonna be part of their A League of Their Own show. It was season seven, episode three, and I’ll never forget it.”
It turns out the Petter Rabbit voice actor’s problematic behavior was already VERY apparent to his colleagues because, before Craig was even hired, they made sure he could handle James! Craig continued:
“They said, ‘How are you at working with difficult presenters?’ I say, ‘Oh right, OK. Well, I’ve filmed The Three Tenors before, and you can’t get more of a prima donna than an opera singer.’”
Or so he thought…
The filmmaker was later asked to come to the set to watch a rehearsal of the show so he could become more familiar with Corden’s style before accepting the job offer. A BIG red flag, he now realizes. Recalling the host’s behavior during a run-through for the show, he said:
“It came to a point where he had to read from a card. [There was] kind of a joke in there, and he just looked at it like, ‘That’s not funny, that’s not funny. It’s s**t. We have to rewrite that.’”
While this should have been enough warning for Craig to run for the hills, he ended up agreeing to do the project because he thought James was just having a bad day. He later realized this tense atmosphere and “anxiety” that seemed to follow the performer was status quo. Uh oh!
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When it came time to film the comedy sketch, Craig knew he only had a limited amount of time with James before he had to go back to “the studio.” Toward the end of filming, they had one scene to complete and just five minutes left. As Craig was instructing his team how to film it, the Mammals lead rudely interrupted, he said:
“We were working it out. When old bugger-lugs pipes up. [He said,] ‘What the f**k is going on here? It’s obvious what you do. It’s so obvious how you shoot it, you’re stupid.’ And I’m like, ‘He’s absolutely right guys, let’s do that, that’s the best thing to do… We know what we’re doing, right?’”
This little outburst clearly annoyed the whole camera team, but they went along with exactly how James wanted to shoot the scene — and guess what?? Because of his (not-so-brilliant plan) he ended up being 45 minutes late back to the studio when Craig would’ve had him out of there on time had he been able to do what he planned. Hah! That’s karma!! Hear everything the fed-up creative had to say HERE.
As mentioned, this isn’t the first time the late-night talk show host’s attitude has come into question. He was roasted in the fall of 2022 after he was temporarily banned from a New York restaurant due to his “abusive” behavior toward staff members. After first claiming he did nothing wrong, James finally announced on his show:
“Because I didn’t shout or scream, I didn’t get up out of my seat, I didn’t call anyone names or use derogatory language, I’ve been walking around thinking that I haven’t done anything wrong. But the truth is I have made a rude, rude comment. And it was wrong. It was an unnecessary comment, it was ungracious to the server.”
His apology didn’t appease everyone, though. In December, Mel B called him one of the “biggest d**khead celebrities” she’s ever met, adding on The Big Narstie Show:
“I think you always have to be nice to the people that you work with whether it be production, camera guys, sound, lighting… and he hasn’t been very nice.”
Well, that seems to track with this director’s experience! Maybe it’s a good thing The Late Late Show is ending on April 27! We’re not sure how much more controversy it can handle! Reactions? SOUND OFF (below)!
[Image via The Late Late Show/YouTube]
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