12 People Who Totally Broke The Law To Make Great Movies
When method says f*ck the police.
If the modern culture of cinema teaches us anything, it's that people can get really, really upset about things as silly as films if the subject is controversial enough or the target sensitive enough.
Criminal accusations and film-making have a long and storied history: most of the time the cases involve disgruntled people suing each other, whether because someone reneged on some sort of distribution deal (or a merchandising one like that which almost stopped Peter Jackson making The Hobbit) or because a film offended or directly insulted them (as Borat managed on a staggering scale).
But what of the crimes that are admitted in retrospect? The unpunished law-breaking that actually informs the way films are made, where film-makers and actors bend the laws of the land in order to add impact or piquancy to their projects, and in particular their starring performances. After all, art is everything, and things as mundane and reductive as the Laws Of Men should not limit its magical, transcendent vision: which was definitely the thinking behind Borat.
Especially the naked wrestling scene.
Some film-makers push the boundaries of corporate law - like Escape To From Tomorrow basically committing Corporate Espionage - or even defy the laws of censorship in heavy-handed countries to tell their important stories. And others just rely on directors being total d*cks to their stars. Either way, it's all pretty much illegal...