10 Films That Switched Directors During Production

As legend has it, after losing out on the coveted lead role in Ben-Hur, actor Kirk Douglas immediately looked for a similar property which he could buy and adapt into a similarly epic film.

The resulting project was Spartacus, an adaptation of Howard Fast's original novel. Douglas was in a bit of a rush to get his biblically epic film out into the world, and as a result, perhaps moved pre-production along a bit quicker than he should have.

The film began principal photography with Anthony Mann, a fairly well-established director in the Western genre. However, after the first week of filming, Douglas and Mann were at odds. They had filmed the large-scale opening sequence, and Douglas wasn't pleased with Mann's work ethic, explaining later;

"He seemed scared of the scope of the picture."

As a result, Douglas has Mann fired and brought him his former Paths of Glory director, Stanley Kubrick. Kubrick took to the film like a fish to water and wound up crafting a panoramic epic that remains highly revered to this day.