10 Directors Who Drove Their Movie Stars To The Edge

Alfred Hitchcock and Tippi Hedren collaborated on Marnie and, more famously, The Birds, but never saw eye to eye from the outset.

Although it was somewhat par for the course at the time, Hitchcock was a bit of a letch and a misogynist -- not a great combo. And it was this unfortunate approach to working with women that had Hedren recoiling from the auteur. But attempting to keep him at arm's length created an enmity between the pair that translated into challenging on-set behaviours, where Hitchcock's star was at his mercy.

Hedren was hanging on by a thread throughout The Birds, fed up of being constantly objectified but with nowhere to turn. To add injury to insult, the director -- by now aggrieved by Hedren's rejection -- had her intentionally pelted with live birds on set. The famous bedroom scene where the birds have pecked there way inside the house and swarm protagonist Melanie Daniels (Hedren) was filmed with live animals. Hitchcock insisted on filming what would become a minute-long scene for five days straight, very nearly putting Hedren out of the game for good.