8 Movie Sets That Were Allegedly “Torture” To Work On, And 9 That Were An Absolute Delight
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1.Difficult on-set experience: James Cameron
Cameron may be known for directing iconic films such as Titanic, The Terminator, and Avatar, but he's also developed quite a reputation for his demanding behavior on set. Kate Winslet famously shared her experiences on the set of Titanic, which included a long and hard filming schedule, her almost drowning, and even suffering from hypothermia from being in cold water.
Back in 1997, Winslet told LA Times that shooting the movie was "an ordeal" and claimed that Cameron "has a temper like you wouldn't believe." Plus, when it came to filming Avatar, actor Sam Worthington said if someone's phone went off on set, interrupting production, Cameron would "nail it to the wall with a nail gun."
2.Great on-set experience: Jordan Peele
The Get Out and Us director has gotten tons of praise from those he works with. In an interview with The Washington Post, Keke Palmer shared what it was like working with Peele on set for his latest film, Nope: "He’s just so thoughtful, and he has something to say," she said. "He empowers the other people on set. He has a clear vision, but he also trusts the people that he’s hired. ... It’s just a very cool and genuinely collaborative process."
Nope editor, Nicholas Monsour, who's collaborated with Peele on multiple projects, also praised him for how open he is with those he works with: "...Jordan's an amazing collaborator in that he's extremely generous with how inside his own thought process he allows you to be," he told Looper.
3.Also a great on-set experience: Sofia Coppola
The daughter of director Francis Ford Coppola, Sofia has made a name for herself directing numerous films, such as Lost in Translation, Marie Antoinette, and The Bling Ring. In an interview shared by Netflix, Kirsten Dunst shared how working with Coppolla in the '90s on The Virgin Suicides "empowered" her, especially as Hollywood producers tried getting her to "fix" her teeth as a young actor.
"She just gave me a lot of confidence that I carried throughout my career... She made me feel beautiful for who I was. That was a very pivotal time in my life to feel that way and to be given that," she said. Plus, in an interview with IMDb for The Beguiled, Dunst had many compliments when it came to working with Coppola on set: "Her aesthetic of how she sees things, and what stories she wants to see on film, and how she portrays them is so unique," she said. "That's the sign of a great director." Elle Fanning added, "She just knows how to portray people. She really gets people."
4.Difficult on-set experience: Michael Bay
Megan Fox didn't hold back when it came to criticizing the reportedly demanding Transformers director: "He’s like Napoleon and he wants to create this insane, infamous mad-man reputation. He wants to be like Hitler on his sets, and he is," she told Wonderland Magazine.
Fox also shared her frustration over Bay's instructions on set for her to just "be hot," giving an example: "'Mike,' I’ll say, 'Who am I talking to? Where am I supposed to be looking at?' And he responds, 'Just be sexy.' I get mad when people talk to me like that."
Also, when commenting on filming Armageddon with Bay, Bruce Willis said, "a screaming director does not make for a pleasant set experience."
5.Great on-set experience: Tim Burton
Working with Burton on Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, star Eva Green shared, "It is a happy set," she told Parade. "He is just a child on set, so passionate and full of ideas, full of energy…It is like a real family." Ella Purnell also added just how fun and spontaneous working with Burton was — like when he once brought water guns on set.
In an interview with Disney, the cast of Dumbo shared what it was like working with Burton on set. Colin Farrell said, "He’s just really wonderful to work with. He’s deeply kind, he’s so invested. To watch him on the set, and how engaged he is, and how frenetic at times his energy can be, and how he moves. It’s just a joy, and he’s just really kind to everyone.”
And Danny DeVito, who's worked with Burton in movies like Dumbo and Batman Returns shared his deep appreciation and admiration for Burton and his work: "I love Tim and I would do anything to be in a movie with him," he said. "I get emotional thinking about how much I care about him."
"Always spirited, always an artist, always thinking about the craft, always painting with his mind. I feel like I’m part of some kind of palette, a color scheme, in Kandinsky’s world. You see him work."
6.Difficult on-set experience: David Fincher
The director, known for his "perfectionist" tendencies, had tension with Jake Gyllenhaal on the set of Zodiac, including a time he made Gyllenhaal do a three-second scene over 30 times. The actor said Fincher "paints with people," adding "It's tough to be a color. And Robert Downey Jr. apparently called Fincher a "disciplinarian."
In an interview with New York Times, Fincher addressed the tensions between him in Gyllenhaal while filming, sharing that the actor had been "very distracted" at the time in his career and that he later apologized. Fincher also explained his own behavior on set: "I don’t want to make excuses for my behavior," he said. "There are definitely times when I can be confrontational if I see someone slacking. People go through rough patches all the time. I do. So I try to be compassionate about it. But. It’s: Four. Hundred. Thousand. Dollars. A day. And we might not get a chance to come back and do it again."
7.Great on-set experience: Chloé Zhao
Zhao revealed she only had Harry Styles in mind when it came to casting him as Eros/Starfox. And she even treated the Eternals cast to a Harry Styles concert in London after they heard about his casting. Lia McHugh, who plays Sprite, told ScreenRant, "...one day she was like, 'You wouldn't want to go to a Harry Styles concert with me, would you?' And I was like, 'Is that even a question?!' It's funny. He had a smaller, private one in London and we got special seats up in a lounge. A few of the Eternals went and it was great."
8.Difficult on-set experience: Oliver Stone
While promoting George W. Bush's biopic, W, on The View, Richard Dreyfuss, who played Dick Cheney, criticized the movie and called Stone "a fascist." Stone addressed Dreyfuss' comments and claimed that working with the actor was "the single worst experience" he's ever had. Stone also claimed Dreyfuss couldn’t remember his lines and shared, "I walked him outside, and I read him the Riot Act. I said, ‘You’re going to read these f—ing cue cards, and if you don’t read them, this scene is over.’ So, yeah, I was a fascist."
Dreyfuss wasn't the only actor who referenced the challenges of working with the director. Jaime Foxx said that Stone told him, "You’re just not good at all, are you?" while they worked together on Any Given Sunday. And during an interview on the Late Show with David Letterman, Blake Lively revealed that she bought the crew "I Survived Oliver Stone" shirts as a gift after they finished filming Savages.
9.Great on-set experience: Steven Spielberg
In his memoir, Independent Ed, Edward Burns shared his experience working with the Academy Award-winning director on Saving Private Ryan, noting how he would allow actors to make mistakes to work out their own process instead of putting pressure on them to get it right immediately. According to Business Insider, Burns wrote, "He allowed us several takes to figure things out for ourselves." The actor mentioned that through working with Spielberg, he learned that being a director is "about knowing when to give direction."
Burns also recalled Spielberg explaining his strategy: "I like to give my actors three takes to figure it out. If I step in after the first take and give you a note, especially with young actors, you'll hear me rather than your own voice," Spielberg said, according to Burns. "That might rattle you, too. Hurt your confidence. Or cause you to question your choices. And whoever gets it right on the first or second take?"
10.Difficult on-set experience: Terrence Malick
After The New World, Christopher Plummer swore to never work with Malick again. During Newsweek’s annual Oscar roundtable in 2012, Plummer criticized Malick for his controlling ways while filmmaking, which included rewriting scripts: "I love some of his movies very much, but the problem with Terry is he needs a writer, desperately. He insists on overwriting until it sounds terribly pretentious," he said, "...and he edits his films in such a way that he cuts everyone out of them."
And after seeing the movie, Plummer apparently wrote Malick a letter and didn't hold back. "I gave him shit," Plummer said. "My career with Mr. Malick is over."
11.Great on-set experience: Ryan Coogler
The Black Panther director, who had a team of women in leadership roles on set, received high remarks from the crew. In an interview with the New York Times, costume designer Ruth E. Carter complimented Coogler for his collaborative attitude. "We cut past any of the normal bureaucracy of male dominance, where they may want to overtake the conversation or need to be leader of the idea," she said. "You don’t have to be overbearing to get your point to him — he’s open in that way. With that calmness and humility, the gate opens: ‘Hello, I have this to offer.’"
In the interview, Coogler also shared his thoughts on working with his talented female department heads: "I’ve worked with these incredible filmmakers that happen to be women, they were the best people for the job." He added that he doesn't "get it" when directors don't hire many women for behind-the-scenes jobs.
And prior to the Black Panther premiere in 2018, director Ava DuVernay tweeted her own praise for Coogler, sharing what it was like working near each other: "We edited our films across the hall from each other for 8 months," she wrote. "We talked in our edit bays, on walks around the lot. About our films, our dreams. Tonight, his comes true. On my way to the #BlackPanther premiere with a full heart for my fam, director extraordinaire #RyanCoogler!"
We edited our films across the hall from each other for 8 months. We talked in our edit bays, on walks around the lot. About our films, our dreams. Tonight, his comes true. On my way to the #BlackPanther premiere with a full heart for my fam, director extraordinaire #RyanCoogler!
12.Difficult on-set experience: Ridley Scott
A self-described "tough nut," Scott notoriously had tensions with Harrison Ford while filming Blade Runner. Plus, the director's perfectionist ways meant long, exhausting days of filming — which included the cast and crew working more than 50 nights. "It took a few weeks to get into full vampire mode," Ford said, according to Vanity Fair.
Crew members even called the original movie "Blood Runner" due to the stressful production process. Looking back on shooting the film, Ford said, "It was a long slog. I didn’t really find it that physically difficult — I thought it was mentally difficult."
13.Great on-set experience: Joel and Ethan Coen (aka, the Coen Brothers)
From O Brother, Where Art Thou? to Hail, Caesar! George Clooney has collaborated with the famous brothers on a few projects and had plenty of positive things to say about them. "They are great writers. They are incredibly imaginative directors, and on top of everything else, they are the most fun to work with. Any time they call, I just say — 'Tell me where to be and I’ll be there,'" he told Variety.
The actor also shared how they're "funny" and "goofy" on set and are "very easy to work." And when it comes to working with each other, the directors apparently get along super well: "They don’t ever disagree. ... They work as one. They really are a team," Clooney said.
14.Difficult on-set experience: Stanley Kubrick
Scatman Crothers' famous "shining" speech to young Danny Torrance was miserable to film because of Kubrick. The director made Crothers do over 100 takes before he was satisfied — and apparently, the process was so debilitating that Crothers broke down into sobs between takes.
Defending his demanding behavior on set, Kubrick said, "it happens when actors are unprepared." He added, "You cannot act without knowing dialogue. If actors have to think about the words, they can’t work on the emotion. So you end up doing thirty takes of something. And still, you can see the concentration in their eyes; they don’t know their lines. So you just shoot it and shoot it and hope you can get something out of it in pieces."
15.Great on-set experience: J.J. Abrams
In an interview with Cinemablend, Daisy Ridley shared how collaborative Abrams is as a director; he was even open to her input when it came to Rey's storyline in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. "I will say the great thing about J.J. is I've felt authority like that from the get-go. ... He always listened to what I had to say, even if for the most part it's wrong," she said. "We would try things and do different lines and whatever it was so it always felt new, and like everyone was really involved in the collaborative process."
Keri Russell, who previously worked with Abrams on the TV series, Felicity, also shared her excitement to work with the director again on Rise of Skywalker. "It is just so much more fun to work with someone that you like so much," she told Deadline. "I mean, we see each other, and then we talk nonstop and fill in all the details of the past years, and you know, it’s just nice when you have that kind of fun and history with someone. It makes it all that much more enjoyable. When J.J. calls so unexpectedly, cool things happen."
16.Difficult on-set experience: Alejandro González Iñárritu
Iñárritu's The Revenant may have won multiple Oscars, but filming the movie was brutal. According to The Hollywood Reporter, cast and crew had to deal with numerous challenges such as filming in subzero temperatures and crew members being fired or quitting mid-production. One crew member called making the film "a living hell."
Iñárritu addressed the difficulties on set, telling The Hollywood Reporter, "I have nothing to hide. There were problems, but none of them made me ashamed." Regarding the crew members who left, he added, "As a director, if I identify a violin that is out of tune, I have to take that from the orchestra"
And finally...
17.Great on-set experience: Ava DuVernay
Storm Reid gushed about her experience working with DuVernay — who's been a mentor to her — on A Wrinkle in Time while chatting with Bustle. "...we had the most amazing days together," she said. "Just being able to work with her and seeing that she has so much love and passion for what she's doing, on and off the camera."
The young actor also shared how DuVernay was willing to work as a team and let her put her own "creative input" when it came to bringing her character Meg to life. In fact, she had Reid "write a journal" as Meg in the early stages of developing her character.
The cast of Queen Sugar also gave endless appreciation for DuVernay in an interview with OWN — highlighting her passion behind her work and her attentiveness to the needs of cast and crew on set. Nicholas Ashe, who plays Micah West, said, "She's sensitive to the actor but sensitive to what the production assistant needs, with the DP. She's everywhere at once, and it's a magical thing to be a part of."
Kofi Siriboe, who plays Ralph Angel Bordelon, added, "She's really collaborative. She's really open to ideas, and she just allows me to bring my perspective to her vision and actually validates it, and at the same time has that guiding hand."
