1. Terrence Malick
More interested in "silence" than humans - as he
recently revealed to Ben Affleck on the set of To The Wonder - when it comes to aggravating his co-workers, Terrence Malick does his best to cover all bases. This includes: actors (Malick is
renowned for editing performers out of his films - Jessica Chastain, Rachel Weisz and Michael Sheen were
all excised from To The Wonder - or significantly shortening their screen time, then not telling them - just ask
Adrien Brody,
Sean Penn or
Christopher Plummer); editors (Malick has always taken months to rattle through hours of raw footage, and has alienated scores of editors in the process - just look at the lengthy editorial credits on any of his last three films); composers (
James Horner was responsible for The New World's score, and claimed he had "never felt so let down by a filmmaker" after Malick chopped up Horner's compositions during a typically tumultuous edit); production crew (shoots on Malick films have always over-run, seeing crew quit along the way - Badlands in particular was a merry-go-round); and producers (Malick seemingly edits and releases his films when he likes, and he was recently sued for allegedly pilfering funds from a production company for
forgetting to make the film he was hired to direct, instead spending his time on the myriad projects he's suddenly churning out). In short, Malick is a pioneer of directorial aggro.