10 Directors Who Nearly Killed Their Actors

8. Howard Hughes Cast Himself As A Stuntman And Nearly Died

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCiEwMUHMsE It's well documented how "eccentric", shall we say, Howard Hughes was throughout his life, contending with crippling OCD, though also managing to direct a few films in his time, one of the most famous of which was Hell's Angels, depicting the heroism of fighter pilots during WWI. Martin Scorsese's brilliant Hughes biopic The Aviator makes it clear how obsessed the guy was with finer details, especially with regard to aircraft on film, and this became somewhat problematic during the film's meticulously staged action sequences. Hughes used professional air veterans to shoot the scenes, and Hughes' production did actually claim the lives of four pilots, as well as a close call that nearly killed two more. The kicker, however, is that Hughes' rather reckless regard to human life - evidenced by the fact he finished playing a game of golf after hearing about one near-fatal accident - did at least extend to himself, so you might call him irresponsible, but at least he's equal-opportunities irresponsible. Hughes ended up casting himself as a stuntman after the original stunt pilots deemed his demands too dangerous, and though Hughes pulled them off, he ended up crashing the plane and nearly punching his own ticket. I suppose that's fair.