Actress Olivia Munn has opened up about a troubling experience she had while filming HBO’s acclaimed drama The Newsroom, revealing that a conflict with a director led to attempts to derail her future career opportunities.
Speaking candidly on Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast, Munn, 44, claimed that the unnamed director deliberately tried to paint her as “difficult” and “unprofessional” to prevent her from landing a movie role after they disagreed over character direction on set.
“There was a storyline where my character and Tom Sadoski’s character are dating and falling in love,” Munn explained. “But [the director] kept trying to force me to carry that storyline only on my side. He’s like, ‘Can you look out at him and smile?’ … ‘Can you stop and snuggle up to him or flirt with him?’”
“I’m like, ‘She’s working. This is in the middle of her doing her job.’”
Attempt to Sabotage Her Casting
The situation escalated when Munn was close to securing a movie role—until a phone call from her manager revealed that the same director had allegedly badmouthed her to the studio.
“My manager calls me and says, ‘Hey, you’re gonna get the role. But there’s another director they know, and he says you were late all the time and really combative on The Newsroom,’” she recalled.
Munn denied the claims outright, stating she lived just minutes from the set and was never late.
“I was like, ‘I know who this is.’ Just because of our conflicts on how we approached a role, he wanted to ruin my chances of getting anything else.”
Despite the smear attempt, Munn did end up landing the role—yet the experience has clearly stayed with her.
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Role on The Newsroom
Olivia Munn starred as Sloan Sabbith, an intelligent and confident economist who worked alongside Jeff Daniels’ character Will McAvoy. The Aaron Sorkin-created political drama aired from 2012 to 2014 and was widely praised for its sharp writing and newsroom realism.
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On Blame Over Aaron Rodgers’ Career
Munn also reflected on the backlash she received during her relationship with NFL star Aaron Rodgers, whom she dated from 2014 to 2017. She expressed frustration at being blamed for his professional struggles at the time.
“During the time that I was with him, he had three hail marys, I think two NFC championships—not wins—but he made it into the NFC championship, which is very hard,” she said.
“No one wanted to talk about that. I didn’t get credit for any of the wins.”
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Olivia Munn’s revelations add to ongoing conversations in Hollywood about how behind-the-scenes power dynamics—and gendered expectations—can impact an actress’s career, often long after the cameras stop rolling.
