8 Directors Who Admitted They Pushed Their Stars Too Far

8. Bernardo Bertolucci

Bernardo Bertolucci's controversial 1972 erotic drama Last Tango in Paris is best remembered for an infamous sequence in which Maria Schneider's character is anally raped by Marlon Brando's protagonist, who uses butter as lubricant.

In recent years, a clip emerged online in which the filmmaker admits that Schneider wasn't made fully aware of the scene's content in order to evoke a legitimately surprised reaction from her.

Schneider herself brought this to light back in 2007, but it mostly fell on dear ears until Bertolucci himself confirmed it more recently. She said of shooting the sequence, "I was crying real tears. I felt humiliated and, to be honest, I felt a little raped, both by Marlon and Bertoucci."

Bertolucci fully acknowledges that he took things too far, though stops short of wishing it hadn't happened. He said, "I feel guilty but I do not regret. To make movies sometimes to obtain something we have to be completely free. I didn’t want Maria to act her humiliation, her rage, I wanted Maria to feel, not to act. Then she hated me for all her life."