10 Film Directors Who Totally Tricked The Studio

1. F.W. Murnau Added A Happy Epilogue...With An Apology To The Audience - The Last Laugh

Legendary Nosferatu director F.W Murnau seemingly invented the art of flipping the bird at an intrusive and annoying movie studio while working on his 1924 silent film The Last Laugh.

The film was originally intended to end with the death of the hotel doorman protagonist (Emil Jannings), but executives at studio UFA insisted that Murnau come up with a happier ending ahead of the film's premiere to boost box office business.

With the help of screenwriter Carl Mayer, a thoroughly pissed-off Murnau conceived a cynical, parodically happy ending where the doorman randomly inherits a massive fortune.

And in case that wasn't unsubtle enough, Murnau even included a title card before the epilogue which read, "Here our story should really end, for in actual life the forlorn old man would have little to look forward to but death. The author took pity on him, however, and provided quite an improbable epilogue."

The irony of the film's title, then, speaks for itself, because while The Last Laugh was a massive critical and commercial hit for the studio, Murnau was also able to blatantly register his protest at the tacked-on denouement and near enough acquit himself from criticism in the process.