8 Times Movie Directors Were Total Jerks To Their Actors

8. Fritz Lang - M

Fritz Lang was one of the greatest directors of the mid-20th century, responsible for such legendary classics as Metropolis and M. He was also known for pulling no punches - quite literally - when it came to getting the most realistic reactions out of his actors. Lang nearly let a woman burn to death while filming Metropolis and was especially harsh to actor Peter Lorre on the set of M.

A scene near the end of the film features Lorre being dragged, punched, and kicked by a bunch of thugs on a set of stairs. These days, scenes like that would be carefully choreographed to ensure that nobody got hurt, but Lang wasn't going to waste time with any of that. He encouraged his actors to really go for it, leaving Lorre with some nasty bruises.

One sequence in the scene shows Lorre's shin taking a kick, and Lang re-filmed that single shot over a dozen times, leaving Lorre unable to walk for a few days and needing bandages all over his leg. Since every cloud has a silver lining, it's worth noting that Lorre's turn in M really launched his career, and he would go on to appear in classics like The Maltese Falcon and Casablanca in the years that followed.