3. Lars Von Trier
Lars Von Trier is no stranger to controversy. In fact, he seems to thrive off it. Actors, with the exceptions of Stellan Skarsgard and Charlotte Gainsbourg seem to hate him, as Bjork vowed to mver act again after her intense and gruelling on-set experiences with him. Von Trier is also not adverse to having notorious subject material in his fillms. Indeed, full-frontal nudity seems to be a given for a Von Trier picture these days, most notably in Antichrist, an appalling work masked as a homage to the great Andrey Tarkovsky. Sexual imagery is a big part of Von Trier's films, most notably the unsimulated sex scenes of The Idiots and the upcoming Nymphomaniac. And he's depiction of sex has earned him a lot of criticism from all corners, with him being labelled a misogynist on more than one occassion. It's not just his on-screen virtues that has led to Von Trier being considered one of the most eccentric characters in world cinema, he also has a knack of saying outlandish things for attention. The most obvious example of this is when he said he sympathised with Hitler during a press conference at the Cannes Film Festival, and he ended up banned for life from the prestigious festival that has supported his career massively over the years. Von Trier makes crazy films in odd ways, and is himself a strange and complex human being, making him one of cinema's greatest enigmas.