10 Outrageous Ways Movie Directors Got Performances Out Of Actors

Trying to deliver a legitimately upset response to a scenario on a movie set isn't as simple as flicking a switch and turning on the water works by any means. So, it's not uncommon for a director to try and genuinely spook an actor into shedding a tear or recoiling in authentic fear when trying to capture an emotional scene on camera.

However, there's unnerving a star with a sudden jump scare - as you'll see before the end of this list - and then there's unleashing a wave of whispered improvised abuse that may not have ultimately had the desired effect.

Coming during a scene in Francis Ford Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula, the director decided that having Gary Oldman's creepy titular figure whisper "horrific and evil" words to Winona Ryder was the perfect way to provoke the star into crying.

Yet, as Ryder would eventually reveal to Times, "It kind of did the opposite", along with stating that the likes of Keanu Reeves and Anthony Hopkins refused to have any part in the controversial technique that saw the director instruct his actors to say "horrible things" to her in character in a bid to make her sob for real.

That being said, a spokesperson for Ryder would still note, "Although that technique didn't work for her, she loves and respects him and considers it a great privilege to have worked with him."