5. Blue Collar - Richard Pryor Versus Harvey Keitel
Blue Collar sounds like it was just a horrible fight to work on; the three lead actors Richard Pryor, Yaphet Kotto and Harvey Keitel despised each other to the point that they could barely get through takes together, and all three of them hated the director Paul Schrader. Pryor who was in the grip of a nasty drug habit once pulled a gun on Schrader on set, refusing to do more than three takes of a scene. Schrader said the incident later gave him a mental breakdown, and he nearly quite the film business altogether. With all that happiness its no wonder things got physical on set a couple of times, including an incident where Pryor smashed a chair over Kotto because he felt the actor was trying to outstage him in a scene. Pryor and Keitel also got into a nasty scuffle after weeks of tension, with the two men having to be ripped off of each other. All this behind the scenes drama no doubt helped the film feel as raw and oppressive as the movie turned out.
