5. Twilight Zone: The Movie
Twilight Zone: The Movie was a unique project, which created an anthology of chilling horror stories from the classic television show, with each shot by a different director. It all seemed like a good idea in theory, until tragedy struck the set. Well past midnight on one day of the shoot being directed by John Landis, a helicopter used for a scene was hit by wayward pyrotechnics and crashed, killing famed actor Vic Morrow and two child actors. The two young actresses in question, Myca Dinh Le and Renee Shen-Yi Chen (aged 7 and 6, respectively), were hired in direct violation of California child labor laws, which prevent child actors from working late at night or in proximity to explosions. The result was a film marred by the tragic deaths of these three individuals, with members of the crew (including director John Landis) charged with both civil and criminal action that kept them tied up in court for nearly a decade.
4. Fitzcarraldo
New World PicturesTo be totally fair, no one going into a Werner Herzog production should really expect a good experience. The conflict between him and cast members, especially star Klaus Kinski, in nearly all of his films have become legendary. But Fitzcarraldo went into totally uncharted territory. Herzog's Oscar-winning star Jason Robards filmed about 40% of the film, but had to leave the production due to illness. He had no choice but to bring in Klaus Kinski to replace him, despite the tense relationship between the actor and director. Kinski was so disliked among the cast and crew that one of the South American chieftains serving as an extra volunteered to murder him. Astonishingly, it only goes downhill from there. While they were filming, one crew member had to have his foot cut off with a chainsaw after a run-in with a particularly venomous snake. War broke out on the Peruvian Ecuadorian border where they were filming. And a severe drought meant that the immensely heavy (hundreds of tons) steamship needed to actually be pulled up the mountain by the already exhausted crew.