10 Directors Who Sabotaged Their Own Movies

10. Francis Ford Coppola - The Godfather Part III

Following up two of the most acclaimed Hollywood movies of all time was always going to be a thankless task, and though The Godfather Part III isn't the "terrible" movie that hyperbole dictates it is, it's absolutely a colossal step down from its two Best Picture-winning predecessors.

The blame for the film's comparative failure can certainly be shared between Coppola's somewhat slack direction and an at times surprisingly hokey script co-written by Coppola and the brilliant author of the original Godfather novel, Mario Puzo.

But what truly makes Coppola the saboteur of his own movie is his fatal decision to cast his own daughter, Sofia, as Michael Corleone's (Al Pacino) daughter Mary.

Granted, the director was in a tight spot after the already-cast Winona Ryder was stricken with illness last-minute and had to pull out, while other candidates ultimately couldn't be cast for various reasons.

Julia Roberts had scheduling conflicts, Madonna being almost 15 years older than Ryder would've required a substantial re-write, and up-and-comer Rebecca Schaeffer was tragically murdered by a stalker the day she was supposed to meet Coppola to read for the part.

In a panic, Coppola settled on Sofia, and her infamously shambolic performance tanked every scene she was in, especially her climactic, atrociously acted death. Coppola ultimately won two Razzie Awards for her role in the film - Worst Supporting Actress and Worst New Star of 1990.

Combining the filmmaker's senseless nepotism with him openly admitting in recent years that he made the film largely for financial reasons following a series of flops throughout the 1980s, the threequel was seemingly always destined for disaster.