8 Directors Who Did Crazy Things To Get Their Movies Made

3. Ruggero Deodato Ordered His Actors To Slaughter Live Animals For Cannibal Holocaust

Considered to be one of the most gruesome horror films ever made (the film was one of the famous 'video nasties' declared by the British Board Of Film Censors to be unsuitable for public viewing) Cannibal Holocaust is a painful example of when a film-maker genuinely goes too far.

The film tells of a professor from New York who returns from deep within the Amazon with a ton of footage documenting the local cannibal tribes. Director Ruggero Deodato was so set on finding the perfect location that he repeatedly rejected suggested filming locations and ultimately forced the actors and crew to take an aircraft, followed by a private boat, to a rainforest in Leticia, Colombia. During filming, Deodato ordered his cast to kill seven live animals €“ actual, real-life creatures found in the rainforest. One person was instructed to shoot a pig in the head with a shotgun. He ordered another to kill a squirrel monkey by decapitating it with a machete (this scene was actually shot twice, so two monkeys were killed). Several of the actors (and indeed some of the crew) were so emotionally disturbed by these actions that they cried on-set. Not only that, but Deodato also used the rainforest's indigenous tribes as extras in the film, reportedly refusing to pay them after the shoot. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQYqgKTJmBQ