12 Directors Everyone Hates Working With (But Get Awesome Results)

3. David O. Russell

His Reputation: David O. Russell has one of the most fiery tempers of any filmmaker in Hollywood, reportedly headbutting George Clooney on the set of Three Kings, causing Clooney to call it, "truly, without exception, the worst experience of life." The worst was yet to come for the director, though, when a video of him calling actress Lily Tomlin a "c***" on the set of I Heart Huckabees was leaked online, in which the director had a lengthy, rage-filled outburst. That's without even considering the unsavoury battery charge filed against him for groping his 19-year-old pre-op transgender nephew, which he admitted though insisted the encounter was completely consensual. That's weird enough to already put some actors off from working with you... Why He's Worth Working With: Still, O. Russell has proven himself to be an extraordinary actor's director over the years, directing Christian Bale, Melissa Leo (The Fighter) and Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook) to Oscars, while also helping score nods for Amy Adams (The Fighter, American Hustle), Bradley Cooper (Silver Linings, Hustle), Robert De Niro (Silver Linings), Jacki Weaver (Silver Linings), and again, Bale (Hustle) and Lawrence (Hustle). Russell has himself earned five Oscar nods, three for directing and two for writing. Though the director does appear to have calmed down a little in recent years and cleaned up his act, he's still got an infamous reputation throughout the industry, and as such Clooney won't be the only actor swearing off working with him, even if Tomlin said she would gladly collaborate again.