10 Directors Who Were Kicked Off A Movie

5. Anthony Mann - Spartacus

Richard Donner Superman
Universal

Arguably the movie that put Stanley Kubrick on the Hollywood map, its easy to forget given his legendary career how out of his depth the 30 year-old was when he was hired to take over the epic Spartacus after Anthony Mann was fired at the end of the first week's shooting.

Star and producer Kirk Douglas felt that Mann was ill-suited for the task of working on the massive-scale project, and Douglas recruited the young filmmaker he had recently worked with on Paths of Glory as the replacement in what was the last of Kubrick's movies that he didn't have complete creative control over.

Despite doubts among the veteran crew that the inexperienced director could handle the size and scope of the movie, Spartacus was a critical and commercial success that helped take Kubrick's career to the next level.

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