8 Times Movie Directors Were Total Jerks To Their Actors

Joan Fontaine's troubles on the set of Rebecca began before she even got the role. She, along with hundreds of other actresses, had to go through six gruelling months of screen tests before finally landing the part. From there, things only got worse.

The late Fontaine was really nervous about her first ever starring role in such a big production, and Hitchcock took advantage of that. In the film, Fontaine's character is shunned, criticised, insulted, and ignored, and in order to really get Fontaine into the role, the British director told her she was out of her depth, criticising her abilities and even going as far as saying that nobody on set liked her.

On one occasion, when Fontaine needed to cry for a scene, she asked a fellow actress to slap her. The actress refused, but Hitchcock volunteered and struck his star around the face to trigger her tears. Hitchcock was renowned for his troubled and ambiguous relationships with his female stars, but his methods did get results as Fontaine was nominated for an Academy Award for her performance.