1. Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick might not have put his life in sure danger as often as many of the previous filmmakers, but his painstakingly methodical filmmaking process ensured that he's the most certifiably insane of the lot, and has seemingly driven several of his co-stars close to the brink as well. Widely known for his obsessive-compulsive attitude to directing, he famously forced Shelley Duvall to perform 127 takes of the baseball bat scene from The Shining, which is a world record for any scene with spoken dialogue. He also required Tom Cruise to do 93 takes of a scene in Eyes Wide Shut, and many still theorise that the film may have been a prime reason for the breakdown of his marriage with Nicole Kidman. Even outside of directing, he would apparently visit random cinemas to check that his films were being projected correctly, and was extremely protective about how they were translated and dubbed into other languages. No other filmmaker has so fiercely regarded their own work to such a ridiculous level; Kubrick's process is absolutely insane, but damnit, he got brilliant results right to the very end. Shelley Duvall even admitted that despite her difficult relationship with Kubrick, she learned more from him than all her other projects combined. Who is your favourite crazy director? Let us know in the comments below.