8 Directors Who Admitted They Pushed Their Stars Too Far

1. Tony Kaye

In a rare case of a male director hurling abuse at someone who isn't a woman in Hollywood, Tony Kaye pushed Edward Norton to his wits' end during post-production on racism drama American History X.

Kaye, who made his feature debut with the film, apparently wanted Joaquin Phoenix for the Norton role originally, but principal photography nevertheless went off without a hitch, and problems only occurred during the editing process.

Kaye delivered a first cut of the film and received notes from both the studio and Norton himself, but Kaye's adversarial approach - including punching a wall and breaking his hand - resulted in him being locked out of the editing process, with Norton creating a new edit that ultimately became the theatrical version.

The director publicly disparaged the film in interviews and lobbied to have his name removed from it - wishing to be credited as "Humpty Dumpty" - while Norton, who received an Oscar nod for his performance, made this legendary proclamation: "Let’s not make any mistake: Tony Kaye is a victim of nothing but his own professional and spiritual immaturity."

In recent years Kaye has admitted his part in testing Norton's patience, stating, "I wasn't what you'd call 'user friendly'...I did a lot of very insane things. A lot of very, very insane things."

What do you make of these filmmakers pushing their actors past the brink? Shout it out in the comments!