Cut, Print, Scream: Directors Gone Crazy
Directing your own movie is a lifetime dream for some people with the opportunity to call all the shots being an ultimate goal for most filmmakers. Sometimes this task and responsibility can be a bit much for some directors, causing them to go a little nuts during the process– like for it was for these six directors, who went crazy for their movies.
Cecil B. DeMille Built and Buried a City
The Ten Commandments (1923)
Cecil B. Demille’s ‘The Ten Commandments’ was the largest scale film ever made at the time of it’s production. Several replicas of ancient Egyptian statues and monuments weighed several tons and were made by over 1,000 workers. An additional 5,000 animals and 2,500 extras made DeMille a little power hungry causing him to hire a fleet of bulldozers to bury the fake city in sand where it stayed for 60 years before being discovered by a young film student. This is kind of like James Cameron saying “fuck it” and pushing the Titanic replica into the actual ocean.
Werner Herzog Drags A Giant Ship Over a Hill
Fitzcarraldo (1982)
The true story of Carlos Fermín Fitzcarrald included a story about the Peruvian rubber baron pushing a 30 ton steamship across an isthmus from one river to another to transport rubber. Werner Herzog’s autobiographical film had his crew hauling a 300 ton steamship over a hill which resulted in three people being injured. Herzog’s demanding task ended up causing the films star, Klaus Kinski, to go bananas himself with some of the island naives offering to kill the actor for Herzog (he graciously declined).
Michael Cimino Starts Over
Heaven’s Gate (1980)
Michael Cimino could do whatever he wanted after winning Best Director and Best Picture for ‘The Deer Hunter’ in 1978 so he promptly went crazy and directed one of the biggest box-office bombs in history. Cimino went vastly over-budget, had sets torn down and rebuilt and shot over 220 hours of footage (surpassing Coppola’s ‘Apocalypse Now’). The nightmare didn’t end when shooting finished however, with Cimino changing the locks on the editing room so studio heads couldn’t see the film until it was finished. The movie was a critical and financial failure and ruined Cimino’s career. A 2013 re-edit was shown at Cannes to critical acclaim so….he has that going for him.
B. Reeves Easton Kills Some Horses
Ben Hur (1925)
The chariot race scene in the 1925 film ‘Ben Hur’ is one of the most exciting action scenes ever caught on film, even by today’s standards. The high speed chase around the arena between the horses and their riders seemed so dangerous because of one man: B. Reeves Easton. Easton offered $100 to whoever won the race, to make it more exciting. Since $100 then was like a $1000 + bonus today, all safety precautions were tossed out the window and a crash took place that resulted in the deaths of five horses. Easton also reportedly shot several horses who were afflicted with only minor injuries. One man singlehandedly made the set of HBO’s ‘Luck’ look like a PETA gathering.
Richard Stanley Gets Fired, Sneaks Back on Set as a Dog
The Island of Doctor Moreau (1996)
The 1996 adaptation of H.G. Wells classic novel was doomed as soon as it started. First Val Kilmer decided that he didn’t like his part in the film and demanded that he be able to switch with another actor. Marlon Brando couldn’t keep up with the constant rewrites and had his lines fed to him through a small radio receiver that would occasionally be interrupted by police messages. Stanley was driven insane by the two actors and after being fired by the studio, he donned a disguise to sneak back on set to watch his screenplay be gutted. An impressive feat when Val Kilmer is a bigger pain in the ass to work with than Marlon Brando.
David O. Russell is a Screamer
Three Kings & I Heart Huckabees (1999; 2004)
David O. Russell is one of the hottest directors in Hollywood in right now, with his last three films being nominated for best picture. Maybe this is because Russell has cooled down a bit from his earlier works. His first actor run-in was with George Clooney on the set of ‘Three Kings’ with the two getting in a fist fight after Russell was demeaning the crew. On the set of ‘I Heart Huckabees’, Russell was involved in multiple screaming matches with actress Lily Tomlin which were actually caught on tape and widely distributed. You’d think someone crazy enough to put Clooney and Ice Cube in the same movie would be able to handle anything.
