10 Directors Who Sabotaged Their Own Movies

5. George Lucas - The Star Wars Prequels

When George Lucas made Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, he hadn't directed a film since A New Hope 22 years prior, and only did so after his pals Robert Zemeckis, Steven Spielberg and Ron Howard all turned the gig down.

With their encouragement, he ventured back into the world of filmmaking, and fans worldwide couldn't wait to see what wonders Lucas would cook up with the first Star Wars movie in over 15 years.

But Lucas did himself no favours at all by deciding to "innovate" with experimental new digital filmmaking technology, and also by agreeing to direct all three Star Wars prequel films himself.

Lucas' obsession with blue screen technology gave all three prequels a depressingly artificial look that ran counter to the more tactile experience of the original films - of which he only directed one, remember - to say nothing of his general lack of creative oversight or collaboration with his cast and crew.

It's painfully clear from behind-the-scenes footage that Lucas needed a fearless colleague to bounce ideas off, but by confidently forging ahead with yes-men in tow and more money than God, he set himself up for epic failure.

Of course, all three films were colossal financial successes, but the virtually unmatched disappointment felt by The Phantom Menace's release caused many fans to turn on Lucas, even if the response at least sufficiently prepared them for an utterly unremarkable trilogy.

Between his garish over-reliance on "cutting edge" CGI filmmaking and over-confidence in his own ideas, not to mention an unfathomable amount of hype the trilogy could never live up to, Lucas was absolutely hoist by his own directorial petard.