It’s an understatement to suggest that being a director of a major motion picture is a difficult job. The level of coordination, vision, and leadership needed to bring a multi-million dollar production together is enormous, in part because making a movie demands the involvement of a ridiculous number of people and managing all of them can is a daunting task. Making movies is a game that often comes down to a number of sizable egos butting heads and the reality is that sometimes, directors lose that ego battle and are pushed out. The following 10 directors can count themselves as having the unfortunate career distinction of having been fired from blockbuster films.
10. Richard Stanley – The Island of Dr. Moreau
The Island of Dr. Moreau is primarily remembered as a bloated flop that showcased a completely off-the-rails Marlon Brando in a bizarre performance for the ages. As fun as it is to watch Brando make a spectacle of himself, the behind-the-scenes drama is much more faschinating than the film itself (much like Apocalypse Now, come to think of it). Original director Richard Stanley spent a whopping four years planning the project before getting it off the ground, but only three days into filming, Stanley was abruptly fired by the film’s producers at New Line Cinema. It’s believed that the main reason for Stanley’s dismissal was Brando’s co-star, Val Kilmer, who was a notoriously volatile presence on set. The studio pretty much blamed Stanley for being unable to get Kilmer under control and the decision was made to bring in John Frankenheimer, best known for The Manchurian Candidate. Nothing really improved after Stanley’s firing, as Kilmer continued to clash with everyone, including Frankenheimer, who was quoted as saying he would never work with Kilmer again. Hmm, here’s a wild theory: maybe Richard Stanley wasn’t the problem…
http://www.filmlinc.org/films/lost-soul-the-doomed-journey-of-richard-stanleys-island-of-dr-moreau/ Source: filmlinc.org
