Everyone will have the displeasure of dealing with a challenging employer at some stage of life. When it comes to actors working under bad filmmakers, Hollywood is no exception. Despite having some of the most illustrious and prize-winning careers in cinema, these directors appear to have achieved their goals via unrelenting persistence. They’ve developed a reputation for being complicated to handle among actors, crew members, and mainstream media. Here’s a list of five directors who make the life of their actors a living hell:
1. James Cameron instructed his stars to pee in their wetsuits to save time, but he made no apologies for his own delays
Because of chronic postponement, six-day & 70-hour weeks, and the challenges of creating underwater sequences, the six-month shoot for Cameron’s 1993 sci-fi blockbuster The Abyss is often referred to as the worst in Hollywood history. Cameron refused to allow stuntmen to step in for his actors, thus the movie was filmed nearly entirely in a massive concrete containment tank at an inactive nuclear power plant. Ed Harris, who thought he was going to drown after running out of oxygen during an underwater scene, reportedly cried while driving home at the end of a week’s filming, while Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio had a physical and mental breakdown on set.
2. Francis Ford Coppola – The Godfather and Apocalypse Now director drove Martin Sheen to a heart attack
For Apocalypse Now solely, Francis Ford Coppola would receive the top spot on this list. During the production of the Heart of Darkness remake, Coppola is rumored to have thrown one of the largest on-set outbursts ever. Not only did Coppola compel Harvey Keitel to leave, but when his actor Martin Sheen had a heart attack on set, Coppola justified it as only “heat fatigue.” He allegedly pressured the prop unit to utilize actual cadavers in the film, and he was reputedly so erratic that he came dangerously close to taking his own life during the filming.
3. Megan Fox claimed Director Michael Bay to be similar to Napolean or Hitler on set
Megan Fox, Shia LaBeouf, and Hugo Weaving are the ones who made the public aware of Michael Bay’s tough personality, implying that the filmmaker is alternately rude and dismissive to his actors. Bay is like Napoleon, according to Megan Fox, and he wants to build an outrageous, notorious mad-man reputation. He also wants to be Hitler on his sets, according to her, making him a misery to work with. Furthermore, on the production of Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Bay also reportedly got into a fist brawl with Shia LaBeouf.
4. David Fincher himself admits that he is a very difficult director to work with.
Another one among the directors recognized for his meticulous and infamous method of shooting is David Fincher. Since this director forbids his team from taking bathroom breaks, Robert Downey Jr. was compelled to leave mason jars filled with his pee on the sets of Zodiac. Fincher psychologically exhausted Jake Gyllenhaal during the production of the same film by repeatedly retaking his parts, then deleting them. After witnessing hours of his hard labor destroyed, the actor even began to cry.
5. George Clooney claimed that his experience with director David O. Russell was the worst time of his life.
David O. Russell is one of the directors who is well noted for his bad attitude with most of his actors, despite receiving multiple Academy Award nominations for his films. After working together on ER and Three Kings, George Clooney and Russell were known to have a strained relationship. When Clooney disagreed with Russell about him shouting at a crew member, their quarrel developed into a physical altercation. Russell initiated the instigation with many headbutts and Clooney caught Russell by the throat, leading to a bad fight.
