working on a movie isn’t all glitz and
glamour in fact it can be downright
unpleasant welcome to watchmojo.com and
today we’re counting down our picks for
the top 10 most difficult to work with
movie directors before we begin we
publish new videos every day
so be sure to subscribe for more great
content for this list we’re looking at
directors who have a reputation for
being demanding rude or ill-tempered or
otherwise exhibit some type of
off-putting behavior many of these
directors are legendary and well
respected just not particularly
well-liked on set ok I’m a Nazi number
10
Verner Herzog but of course I’ve done
things it normally a filmmaker wouldn’t
do well Herzog maybe a nice enough fella
he’s well known in the industry for
being absolutely bonkers and a real
stickler for authenticity and it’s this
reality based directing style that gets
on many people’s nerves some of his
nuttier actions include willingly
filming an active and erupting volcano
making Christian Bale eat live maggots
for Rescue Dawn and forcing his
production team to halt a real 320 ton
ship over a large hill for his film
Fisker aldo but hey at least no one can
criticize the quality of the effects
yeah you see that nice but effective
brain is good for some do not have
patent number 9 Terrence Malick in this
world
a man himself a strictly private and
withdrawn man Malik is reported to be
both kind and inviting offsets but
peculiar and troublesome when behind the
camera making for stressful productions
numerous crew members have quit on him
over the years due to his exome
direction and his work has been called
quote pretentious by Christopher Plummer
due to his habit of over writing because
he insists on doing everything as we all
know and he insists on writing and
overriding and overriding until it
sounds terribly pretentious Malik also
has a knack for upsetting actors like
Adrien Brody by significantly reducing
or entirely eliminating their roles in
editing editing which can sometimes take
up to two years as was the case on his
film days of heaven nobody’s perfect
number eight David Fincher second rule
of Fight Club is you do not talk about
Fight Club Fincher has directed five
actors to Oscar nominations so it’s
clear he knows what he’s doing
unfortunately for the actors themselves
this comes at a cost
including extremely long hours and not
being able to pee yep on the set of
zodiac actors reportedly worked overtime
with few breaks and as a form of protest
Robert Downey jr. left mason jars full
of urine scattered around the set just
like over in the corner and stuff just
he would go off and European they’d
bring back and it was like form of
protest ventures notorious perfectionism
reportedly brought down his co-star Jake
Gyllenhaal to tears when while
demonstrating the virtues of shooting
digitally he erased imperfect takes
right in front of the frustrated and
tired actor I just want to help number
seven Michael Bay this has to be all
grips on hand with their days not to
move on to the tale you understand me
yeah all right am I very clear
good say what you will about Michael Bay
and his movies but don’t say it to his
face a is known for being extremely
hot-tempered and emotional on its s
often bossing the crew around and
becoming agitated over confrontations he
allegedly once unplugged music that Shia
LaBeouf was playing to prepare for a
scene and replaced it with his own only
to storm off in anger when the buff
confronted him about it you did you got
roof actress Megan Fox has also said of
Bay quote he wants to create this insane
infamous madman reputation and compared
him at the expense of her job to Hitler
and I’m your worst nightmare
number six lars von trier what can I say
I understand Hitler this technical
master may have both a Palme d’Or and
Groff free from the Cannes Film Festival
to his credit but he’s also a quote
self-proclaimed control freak he
reportedly has a penchant for yelling at
and disrespecting his actors
particularly women some of whom have
accused von trier of displaying
misogynistic tendencies Icelandic singer
Bjork’s experience working with the
director was seemingly so unpleasant
that she claimed she would never work on
a film again I had to trade my outfit a
nice coat a nice coat nothing dreadful
ever happened Nicole Kidman actually
confronted him about making too many
sexual jokes on the set of Dogville
while kirsten dunst after working with
him on melancholia acknowledged that his
sense of humor took some time to adjust
to I notice – earth is he number 5 David
O’Russell while David O’Russell has
produced some acclaimed film his onset
personality leaves much to be desired
case in point the videos of Russell’s
tearing into actress Lily Tomlin then
there was the drama while shooting three
kings
when Russell reportedly threw an extra
to the ground prompting George Clooney
to confront him as the story goes Russel
began banging his head against Clooney
goading the actor to punch him
only to have clooney strangle him
instead I think you know of course I
went to him you know and of course I you
know you try everything you can to try
to make it as good as it can of course
we couldn’t leave out the time he
allegedly put Christopher Nolan in a
headlock to get the director to release
Jude Law from his contract so Russell
could keep him in a role so yeah
difficult hey man how’s it going
you’re an asshole number four Francis
Ford Coppola I want to make an offer
again review the man behind the camera
of some of the greatest movies ever made
is known for being extremely assertive
often clashing with production crews and
Studios his problematic for Sona was
perhaps most evident during the filming
of Apocalypse Now which saw Coppola
essentially making up the movie as he
went to the understandable annoyance of
everyone else involved they had to tread
lightly however as he was quick to fire
naysayers he also blamed himself for
leading Martin Sheen to an early aged
heart attack although the heat in booze
certainly didn’t help with Sheen later
saying quote I don’t know if I’m going
to live through this it was a real
choice mission and what was our I never
won another number three Stanley Kubrick
Kubrick is infamous for his
perfectionism and unfortunately for
those under his command this often meant
long days
countless takes and lots of stress for
example he demanded so much from Shelley
Duvall and treated her so harshly on the
set of The Shining that she became sick
and began to lose hair from the stress
oh come on what do you mean wrong video
well killing ourselves out here his
penchant for endless takes annoyed many
but his iron fists and strong
personality usually dominated them in
the end Tom Cruise didn’t even tell
Kubrick that he had an ulcer during Eyes
Wide Shut because he feared how Kubrick
would react talk about a strong
personality a little oversimplified
Alice but yes something like that
number 2 James Cameron James Cameron is
one of the most visionary and
game-changing directors in history but
revolutionary titles mean revolutionary
work and apparently lots of flying spit
Cameron is never one to say no and once
he gets an idea in his head it will come
to fruition
no matter the physical hardships
financial detriment dangers or emotional
costs to himself cast or crew I think
that Jim has a special reverence for
actors because it may be the one job
aside from catering on a film set that
he doesn’t think he can do he is
notorious for his long work days he’s
extremely short temper and his
subsequent explosive tantrums and as
legend has it at least for punishing
distracting Crowe members by nailing
their cell phones to the wall my world
you all would just live in it before we
scare you with our top pick here are
some honorable mentions I can take
confrontation it’s over and it’s
forgotten in eight minutes and if you
can’t forget it then you leave this
terrible bruise that can go on right
throughout the whole movie so give the
dangerous to be for this
did what happened today is just the
beginning we’re going to lose this war
number one Alfred Hitchcock while
Hitchcock was notoriously hard on actors
he’s our number one pick for one reason
his treatment of actress Tippi Hedren it
started during filming of the birds when
Hitchcock used live birds to attack
Hedren despite having previously assured
her that they would be mechanical Hedren
also claims that Hitchcock began making
repeated sexual advances on her during
filming of Marni the allegedly outright
told her to be sexually available to him
often isolating her from the crew when
she refused him he used his power as her
contract owner to deny her future roles
effectively ruining her acting career I
said do what you have to do and out the
door I went and did he ruin your career
yes he did do you agree with our picks
check out these other great clips from
WatchMojo and subscribe for new videos
every day
glamour in fact it can be downright
unpleasant welcome to watchmojo.com and
today we’re counting down our picks for
the top 10 most difficult to work with
movie directors before we begin we
publish new videos every day
so be sure to subscribe for more great
content for this list we’re looking at
directors who have a reputation for
being demanding rude or ill-tempered or
otherwise exhibit some type of
off-putting behavior many of these
directors are legendary and well
respected just not particularly
well-liked on set ok I’m a Nazi number
10
Verner Herzog but of course I’ve done
things it normally a filmmaker wouldn’t
do well Herzog maybe a nice enough fella
he’s well known in the industry for
being absolutely bonkers and a real
stickler for authenticity and it’s this
reality based directing style that gets
on many people’s nerves some of his
nuttier actions include willingly
filming an active and erupting volcano
making Christian Bale eat live maggots
for Rescue Dawn and forcing his
production team to halt a real 320 ton
ship over a large hill for his film
Fisker aldo but hey at least no one can
criticize the quality of the effects
yeah you see that nice but effective
brain is good for some do not have
patent number 9 Terrence Malick in this
world
a man himself a strictly private and
withdrawn man Malik is reported to be
both kind and inviting offsets but
peculiar and troublesome when behind the
camera making for stressful productions
numerous crew members have quit on him
over the years due to his exome
direction and his work has been called
quote pretentious by Christopher Plummer
due to his habit of over writing because
he insists on doing everything as we all
know and he insists on writing and
overriding and overriding until it
sounds terribly pretentious Malik also
has a knack for upsetting actors like
Adrien Brody by significantly reducing
or entirely eliminating their roles in
editing editing which can sometimes take
up to two years as was the case on his
film days of heaven nobody’s perfect
number eight David Fincher second rule
of Fight Club is you do not talk about
Fight Club Fincher has directed five
actors to Oscar nominations so it’s
clear he knows what he’s doing
unfortunately for the actors themselves
this comes at a cost
including extremely long hours and not
being able to pee yep on the set of
zodiac actors reportedly worked overtime
with few breaks and as a form of protest
Robert Downey jr. left mason jars full
of urine scattered around the set just
like over in the corner and stuff just
he would go off and European they’d
bring back and it was like form of
protest ventures notorious perfectionism
reportedly brought down his co-star Jake
Gyllenhaal to tears when while
demonstrating the virtues of shooting
digitally he erased imperfect takes
right in front of the frustrated and
tired actor I just want to help number
seven Michael Bay this has to be all
grips on hand with their days not to
move on to the tale you understand me
yeah all right am I very clear
good say what you will about Michael Bay
and his movies but don’t say it to his
face a is known for being extremely
hot-tempered and emotional on its s
often bossing the crew around and
becoming agitated over confrontations he
allegedly once unplugged music that Shia
LaBeouf was playing to prepare for a
scene and replaced it with his own only
to storm off in anger when the buff
confronted him about it you did you got
roof actress Megan Fox has also said of
Bay quote he wants to create this insane
infamous madman reputation and compared
him at the expense of her job to Hitler
and I’m your worst nightmare
number six lars von trier what can I say
I understand Hitler this technical
master may have both a Palme d’Or and
Groff free from the Cannes Film Festival
to his credit but he’s also a quote
self-proclaimed control freak he
reportedly has a penchant for yelling at
and disrespecting his actors
particularly women some of whom have
accused von trier of displaying
misogynistic tendencies Icelandic singer
Bjork’s experience working with the
director was seemingly so unpleasant
that she claimed she would never work on
a film again I had to trade my outfit a
nice coat a nice coat nothing dreadful
ever happened Nicole Kidman actually
confronted him about making too many
sexual jokes on the set of Dogville
while kirsten dunst after working with
him on melancholia acknowledged that his
sense of humor took some time to adjust
to I notice – earth is he number 5 David
O’Russell while David O’Russell has
produced some acclaimed film his onset
personality leaves much to be desired
case in point the videos of Russell’s
tearing into actress Lily Tomlin then
there was the drama while shooting three
kings
when Russell reportedly threw an extra
to the ground prompting George Clooney
to confront him as the story goes Russel
began banging his head against Clooney
goading the actor to punch him
only to have clooney strangle him
instead I think you know of course I
went to him you know and of course I you
know you try everything you can to try
to make it as good as it can of course
we couldn’t leave out the time he
allegedly put Christopher Nolan in a
headlock to get the director to release
Jude Law from his contract so Russell
could keep him in a role so yeah
difficult hey man how’s it going
you’re an asshole number four Francis
Ford Coppola I want to make an offer
again review the man behind the camera
of some of the greatest movies ever made
is known for being extremely assertive
often clashing with production crews and
Studios his problematic for Sona was
perhaps most evident during the filming
of Apocalypse Now which saw Coppola
essentially making up the movie as he
went to the understandable annoyance of
everyone else involved they had to tread
lightly however as he was quick to fire
naysayers he also blamed himself for
leading Martin Sheen to an early aged
heart attack although the heat in booze
certainly didn’t help with Sheen later
saying quote I don’t know if I’m going
to live through this it was a real
choice mission and what was our I never
won another number three Stanley Kubrick
Kubrick is infamous for his
perfectionism and unfortunately for
those under his command this often meant
long days
countless takes and lots of stress for
example he demanded so much from Shelley
Duvall and treated her so harshly on the
set of The Shining that she became sick
and began to lose hair from the stress
oh come on what do you mean wrong video
well killing ourselves out here his
penchant for endless takes annoyed many
but his iron fists and strong
personality usually dominated them in
the end Tom Cruise didn’t even tell
Kubrick that he had an ulcer during Eyes
Wide Shut because he feared how Kubrick
would react talk about a strong
personality a little oversimplified
Alice but yes something like that
number 2 James Cameron James Cameron is
one of the most visionary and
game-changing directors in history but
revolutionary titles mean revolutionary
work and apparently lots of flying spit
Cameron is never one to say no and once
he gets an idea in his head it will come
to fruition
no matter the physical hardships
financial detriment dangers or emotional
costs to himself cast or crew I think
that Jim has a special reverence for
actors because it may be the one job
aside from catering on a film set that
he doesn’t think he can do he is
notorious for his long work days he’s
extremely short temper and his
subsequent explosive tantrums and as
legend has it at least for punishing
distracting Crowe members by nailing
their cell phones to the wall my world
you all would just live in it before we
scare you with our top pick here are
some honorable mentions I can take
confrontation it’s over and it’s
forgotten in eight minutes and if you
can’t forget it then you leave this
terrible bruise that can go on right
throughout the whole movie so give the
dangerous to be for this
did what happened today is just the
beginning we’re going to lose this war
number one Alfred Hitchcock while
Hitchcock was notoriously hard on actors
he’s our number one pick for one reason
his treatment of actress Tippi Hedren it
started during filming of the birds when
Hitchcock used live birds to attack
Hedren despite having previously assured
her that they would be mechanical Hedren
also claims that Hitchcock began making
repeated sexual advances on her during
filming of Marni the allegedly outright
told her to be sexually available to him
often isolating her from the crew when
she refused him he used his power as her
contract owner to deny her future roles
effectively ruining her acting career I
said do what you have to do and out the
door I went and did he ruin your career
yes he did do you agree with our picks
check out these other great clips from
WatchMojo and subscribe for new videos
every day
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