10 Directors Who Are Notoriously Difficult To Work With

9. David O. Russell

Thanks to a trio of well-publicised bust-ups, David O. Russell's directorial tyranny was already legendary after just a handful of films. His three most nutkins moments are as follows: 1. abusing and demeaning his Three Kings crew to the extent that he somehow got Tinseltown good guy George Clooney angry, the megastar going on to sock Russell in the head, 2. putting Christopher Nolan into a headlock and refusing to let him free until he agreed to release his then-star of The Prestige, Jude Law, so he could instead lead Russell's I Heart Huckabees, and 3. willingly letting the Huckabees shoot descend into anarchy - Russell would sometimes storm off set - before getting into a YouTube-ready insult-trade with Huckabees actress Lily Tomlin, which edged the known boundaries of profanity. And it may not be entirely Russell's fault, but someone, somewhere will be annoyed that the director filmed all but a couple of scenes of bankable Jake Gyllenhaal comedy Nailed before the project got shelved.