10 Directors Who Drove Their Movie Stars To The Edge

Francis Ford Coppola's late-'70s Vietnam War movie Apocalypse Now is the film that almost broke the Godfather director, his cast and crew. Beset by money issues, production issues, all of the many unforeseeable issues that come with shooting on location, and the obligatory Marlon Brando-shaped issues, filming was something of a nightmare all round from the outset.

But nobody had it worse than Martin Sheen.

In the revelatory documentary Hearts of Darkness, it came to light that Sheen was made to endure both mental and physical breakdown during the production of the war classic. Determined to push his star to the edge, Coppola actively sought to brainwash Sheen and keep him drunk throughout filming. Amongst other ill effects, this led to Sheen developing a dependency on alcohol and nearly dying from a heart attack during the shoot.

As if that wasn't enough, Sheen took his complete psychological and physical breakdown with something of a stiff upper lip, at the time reporting his condition as heat stroke so that investors wouldn't pull funding on an already drastically over-budget movie.