1. Dennis Hopper Drank, Smoke And Fought His Way Through Easy Rider
Most movie lovers will agree that Easy Rider is a modern classic. Not just for being a great film with something different to say than all that came before it, but also because it ushered in New Hollywood and a new style of filmmaking that allowed American directors, writers and performers more freedom of expression than ever before. On the other hand, most movie historians will agree that the film's director, co-writer and co-star Dennis Hopper was a huge a*sho!e. Even before his directorial debut, when he was just playing bit parts in westerns and James Dean movies, he'd developed a reputation for being a pain. John Wayne had supposedly been so ticked off by Hopper that he chased him around with a loaded gun on the set of True Grit! So once Hopper was in the director's chair, all bets were off because he could terrorize to his heart's content without anyone to challenge him, especially on a film like Easy Rider that was set on the road and had minimal crew and studio interference. Hopper had already chased off one actor, Rip Torn (who was replaced by Jack Nicholson in a star-making turn), before he really got out of control. He would do drugs while filming, yell at the actors and get into bitter arguments with co-star Peter Fonda, who has bitter memories about the experience. Easy Rider paid off somehow despite all this, but Hopper couldn't keep up this streak for long and his second film as director, The Last Movie, was a catastrophic failure and his inability to play well with others left him in Hollywood limbo for the better part of a decade. Still, his co-stars probably got a better deal than most of his ex-wives... Are there any worse tantrums you can think of? Are these ones not so bad compared to others? Let us know in the comments!
