10 Directors Who Broke Their Stars To Make Famous Movies

6. Lars Von Trier Made Bjork Vow Never To Make Another Film

Notorious for pushing actors to their limits, Lars von Trier has in his time as a firebrand filmmaker received bad notice from performers; Dogville stars Nicole Kidman and Paul Bettany, to name but two, won't be working with him again any time soon (they didn't agree with his directing habits, FYI). The combination of the difficult von Trier and volatile singer-songwriter Bjork, in her first major lead role, then, was bound to lead to fireworks - which it did, on the set of von Trier musical Dancer In The Dark, of course. Von Trier, by compensating for the fact he was working with someone inexperienced as an actress, allegedly 'manipulated' Bjork emotionally, until she was - according to co-star Catherine Deneuve - "feeling" as opposed to acting. The process of working with von Trier was apparently so taxing that Bjork vowed never to return to film, though it must be said that von Trier insists his actress was just as tough on him - he claims Bjork would each morning say the words "Mr. von Trier, I despise you," and spit at him.