7. Michael Cimino
A megalomaniac with an appetite for control so ginormous that there's a book dedicated to it (Stephen Bach's Final Cut), Michael Cimino first showed his true colours whilst making his second film The Deer Hunter, by doubling the budget in over-indulging his creative whims. Fortunately, Cimino was pardoned when that film went on to be a triple threat of success, being blessed by critics, the box office and by Oscar. But none of Cimino's awards gold would make up for his behaviour on the set of Heaven's Gate, an enormous western that spiralled out of control so spectacularly it bankrupted United Artists. Cimino refused to co-operate with producers during the shoot, went over budget by $13 million (an almost insignificant sum now, but a huge amount at the time), spent whole days on single shots and amassed 1.3 million feet of footage in an attempt to surpass Francis Ford Coppola's record of 1 million for Apocalypse Now. Surprisingly, no-one lets Michael Cimino near film sets anymore. But, God bless him, he's still trying.