2. Stanley Kubrick
Most Controversial Film: A Clockwork Orange Stanley Kubrick attracted controversy in a variety of ways. Most famously through his masterpiece, A Clockwork Orange, but claims that he was anti-American, a demanding tyrant on set (he particularly drove Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall mad on the set of The Shining) and his reclusive nature made him one of the most talked about directors of the last century. A Clockwork Orange became so controversial that in an unprecedented move, Kubrick himself banned it, and that ban lasted up until his death in 1999. Threats were sent to him and his family so he decided it wasn't worth it and convinced Warner Bros to stop distributing the film in the UK. One art house cinema that played the film in 1993 was shut down permanently. A Clockwork Orange after all this time is still a shocking work, and not just for the rape scenes either. It's violence is brutal and the constant erotic imagery is also unsettling. A Clockwork Orange wasn't the only Kubrick picture to receive controversy, Dr. Strangelove with its satirical portrayal of the Cold War was greeted with some skepticism and its release date was pushed back because of JFK's assassination. Kubrick personally received a lot of heat for his actions on the set of The Shining for his perfectionist nature that aggravated stars Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall, who became severely ill after the stress of working with the famed director. As Kubrick's actions over A Clockwork Orange prove, he wanted to avoid controversy, but that just wasn't possible as his films were hyped massively prior to release and his constant dabbling in demanding material meant his films were always meticulously analysed and scanned for controversial elements.