10 Directors Who Broke Their Stars To Make Famous Movies

1. Stanley Kubrick Played Mind Games With Shelley Duvall Until She Was Suffering From 'Nervous Exhaustion'

The myth surrounding master manipulator and multiple-take gatherer Stanley Kubrick would suggest the director was an irredeemable eccentric and brutal perfectionist. The truth is the director made great friends of some of his actors, but not always;t look here at what Kubrick did to the actress playing what Jack Nicholson considered the most difficult role he's ever seen an actor take on. According to Shelley Duvall, who plays terrified housewife Wendy Torrance in The Shining, the heightened state of hysteria she was made to be in throughout the shoot meant she had to constantly hydrate because she kept running out of tears. Kubrick would try to push Duvall to the edge, losing his temper, picking on and intentionally alienating her to the point where she was suffering nervous exhaustion, making her physically ill and resulting in her hair falling out. Duvall wasn't the only one to have an adverse reaction to Kubrick on The Shining - the director also reduced Scatman Crothers to tears after shooting over 60 takes of one simple shot ("What do you want Mr. Kubrick?", he pleaded), and forced Jack Nicholson to eat only cheese sandwiches - which the actor hates - to keep him suitably agitated. Nicholson vowed never to work with Kubrick again, coincidentally. Which cases of directors breaking their stars did we miss off the list? Let us know in the comments below.