8. Aguirre, The Wrath of God
Werner Herzog FilmproduktionThis is a Werner Herzog film, so fasten your seatbelts: you're in for a healthy dose of crazy. This was the first time that Herzog and actor Klaus Kinski worked together, but surprisingly, given the incredibly hostile relationship between the two, they would go on to collaborate on four additional films. The two famously difficult personalities clashed frequently on set, disagreeing over how Aguirre should be played. Herzog would frequently antagonize Kinski between takes, wait for the inevitable tantrum to run its course, and then film the scene, getting the more subdued and menacing performance that he wanted. At one point in the film, Kinski became so enraged that he fired off a gun in the crew tent, shooting off the tip of an extra's finger. Another memorable incident occurred when Kinski was determined to escape the set by boat, to which Herzog responded by threatening to shoot him if he tried to leave. Given the dramatics behind the scenes, it boggles the mind that they were ever able to actually to focus enough to create a film.