20 Actors Who Quit Movies For Insane Reasons
17. The Director Killed A Donkey For Real - John C. Reilly (Manderlay)
John C. Reilly was originally hired to play the part of Dr. Hector in Lars von Trier's 2005 drama Manderlay, though abruptly quit the picture in protest once he learned that the provocative director intended to kill an animal for a scene in the film.
The script called for the characters to kill a donkey, cut it up, and eat it, and Reilly soon found out that von Trier planned to do it for real - something Reilly, an animal lover, baulked at.
When he confronted the filmmaker about this, noting his assumption that a prosthetic donkey would be used, von Trier retorted that an artificial solution would've comprised a large chunk of the drama's budget.
Von Trier then referred to the animal as a "poor old suicidal donkey," much to Reilly's frustration, and with the filmmaker refusing to back down, Reilly promptly boarded a plane home and exited the production. He was then replaced by Ċ½eljko Ivanek in the role of Dr. Hector.
As for the director, he did indeed slaughter the donkey on-camera as planned, though ironically ended up cutting the sequence from the final film.