10 Movies That Changed Because Of A Director’s Bad Behaviour

Released in 1998, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is perhaps the only example of singular American author Hunter S Thompson’s unique style successfully being translated to the screen.

The madcap but ultimately rather bleak story of two miscreants failing to find the American dream through a multi-day drug binge, the film fuses director Terry Gilliam’s blackly comic sensibility with the writer’s unmistakeable voice to great effect.

But the film didn’t have an easy time making it to the screen, with original director Alex Cox being fired for his divergent vision.

Not only did the Repo Man director repeatedly clash with his own co-writer during the screenwriting process, he also annoyed both star Johnny Depp and Hunter S Thompson himself with his insistence on shooting many of the novel’s scenes as animated interludes.

Thompson felt his work was being done a disservice by this decision and petitioned for his replacement, resulting not only in the hiring of Gilliam but also in a rapid fire ten day rewrite of the entire script before filming commenced.