8 Times Movie Directors Were Total Jerks To Their Actors

John Wayne and John Ford forged a powerful partnership over the years, working together on over twenty films in total, but their working relationship didn't get off to the warmest of starts. Ford had spotted Wayne, who was unknown at the time, and thought the young actor had something special. He decided to offer him a starring role in his new picture, Stagecoach.

Ford had a lot of trouble getting the project off the ground, with producers harbouring doubts about Wayne's ability and the decreasing popularity of big budget Westerns in general. Ford also had to worry about his other actors feeling envious about seeing a little-known star taking such a big role.

When filming began, Ford was deliberately harsh to Wayne, criticising his performances and making him redo certain scenes over and over again. Wayne recounted one scene in particular in which he had to splash his face with water. Ford made him do the scene so many times that Wayne's skin was red raw from having to repeatedly dry it off with a towel. It got so bad that one of the other actors, Tim Holt, actually asked John to "lay off the poor guy".