Buzz
The film industry is famously challenging. For any high-budget production, hundreds of crew members collaborate on thousands of individual shots, requiring meticulous attention to sound engineering, lighting setups, costume creation, and logistical coordination, all demanding significant time and expertise.
Given the countless variables that can derail a project, it’s no wonder that certain films have been particularly harrowing for their directors, who oversee every stage, from casting and sound editing to the complex task of synchronizing actors and cameras during filming.
For some directors on this list, the timing or choice of project was simply unfortunate. Others faced a perfect storm of challenges, including cast conflicts, ballooning budgets, poor location decisions, and even natural calamities, turning potential success into disaster. Each filmmaker’s life was profoundly impacted by their ordeal.
1. Peeping Tom (1960)
During the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, the British pair Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger crafted a series of enduring films under their production company, The Archers. Notable works include A Matter of Life and Death (1946), Black Narcissus (1947), and The Red Shoes (1948). In 1959, Powell ventured solo to create Peeping Tom, a pioneering exploration of a serial killer who captures the final moments of his victims. Though mild by today’s standards, the film faced such harsh criticism that it effectively ended Powell’s career. Sunday Times critic Dilys Powell even described it as “fundamentally depraved.”
Peeping Tom has since earned the critical acclaim it rightly deserves. Often hailed as the first slasher film, it predates Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, which debuted shortly after and, ironically, received widespread praise.
2. The Man Who Killed Don Quixote (2018)
Former Monty Python member Terry Gilliam, known for his acclaimed 1985 cult classic Brazil, faced immense challenges while making The Man Who Killed Don Quixote. Initially planned in 1989, the film—inspired by Miguel de Cervantes’ novel Don Quixote—endured a tumultuous journey to completion, plagued by frequent cast changes, financial woes, legal disputes, halted productions, and prolonged insurance battles.
“I believe films can—to put it bluntly—ruin people’s lives, and that’s a central theme of this one,” Gilliam has remarked about the film. After an incredible 29 years in the making, the movie finally premiered in 2018, earning mostly positive reviews.
3. Playtime (1967)
French director Jacques Tati is frequently celebrated in top director rankings. Playtime stands out as a masterpiece in Tati’s career, yet it also caused him significant personal struggles. The film, which tracks two characters exploring Paris and repeatedly crossing paths in a series of humorous encounters, is an extended and charming visual comedy.
The production spanned an astonishing nine years, during which Tati constructed a massive set covering nearly 15,000 square meters (dubbed Tativille), complete with two operational mini-skyscrapers. As costs soared, Tati took out multiple loans, but the film failed to recover its expenses, leaving him bankrupt. He lost the rights to his earlier works, which he sold to settle debts, and even his family home in the process.
4. Fitzcarraldo (1982)
German filmmaker Werner Herzog, arguably the most unconventional director on this list, subjected himself, his cast, and crew to extreme conditions to bring Fitzcarraldo to life. This 1982 historical epic follows Irishman Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald’s ambitious quest to access profitable rubber resources in the Amazon Basin.
Inspired by the true story of Peruvian rubber magnate Carlos Fermín Fitzcarrald, the film was shot across multiple South American locations. The production famously involved manually dragging a 320-ton steamship up a steep hill, leading to numerous injuries and even fatalities, particularly among the indigenous extras.
Despite facing fires, illnesses, two plane crashes, and snake bites—one of which forced a Peruvian logger to amputate his own foot with a chainsaw to stop venom from spreading—the production, and Herzog, endured. In the 1982 documentary Burden of Dreams, Herzog remarked, “I shouldn’t make movies anymore. I should go to a mental institution.”
5. Roar (1981)
Over time, Roar has gained a cult following, cementing its status as one of the most reckless and chaotic productions in cinematic history. Directed and written by Noel Marshall, who previously found success as an executive producer for The Exorcist, the film centers on a wildlife conservationist and his family, portrayed by Marshall, his then-wife Tippi Hedren (of Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds fame), Hedren’s daughter Melanie Griffith, and Marshall’s sons John and Jerry. The family faces relentless attacks from lions, tigers, jaguars, and other big cats throughout the film.
The production spanned 11 years, during which at least 70 cast and crew members were injured due to the untamed big cats used on set. Combined with a feline virus and severe flooding, it’s clear why Roar was marketed as “the most dangerous movie ever made.” While the film claimed that “no animals were harmed during production,” three lions were shot by authorities after escaping from the set. Marshall, who endured numerous bites and eventually developed gangrene, never directed another film.
6. It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
Frank Capra’s cherished holiday classic surprisingly faced significant struggles upon its release, becoming a box office flop. Reviews at the time were largely mixed, and the film incurred a $525,000 loss against its $2.3 million budget, leading to the sale of Liberty Films, its production company.
Capra never fully regained his professional footing, directing a few more films but never securing comparable financial support. It's a Wonderful Life also drew criticism from the House Un-American Activities Committee, which accused it of “communist sympathies.” Its reputation only grew over the years, thanks to frequent television broadcasts during the holiday season.
7. Rollerball (2002)
By this stage in his career, director John McTiernan had delivered several blockbusters, including Predator (1987), Die Hard (1988), and Last Action Hero (1993). He was considered a highly reliable figure in the industry, but Rollerball turned into both a financial and personal catastrophe for him. The film flopped, earning around $25 million against a $70 million budget. To make matters worse, McTiernan was later arrested and jailed for lying to an FBI agent about hiring a private investigator to illegally wiretap Rollerball's co-producer, Charles Roven. During his imprisonment, McTiernan filed for bankruptcy. After a long hiatus, he is now directing his first film in over two decades.
8. It's All True (1942)
It’s difficult to believe that a studio would lose confidence in the legendary Orson Welles, but that’s precisely what occurred with this unfinished 1942 project. RKO Pictures abruptly halted production while Welles was filming in Brazil. Despite his desperate efforts to complete the movie, he failed. Welles later speculated that the film was cursed by a voodoo practitioner, whom he blamed for his subsequent decline in Hollywood. Decades later, some of the It’s All True footage was found in the archives of Paramount Studios.
9. Joe Versus the Volcano (1990)
John Patrick Shanley, celebrated for writing Moonstruck (1987), was hailed as a visionary, which made Joe Versus the Volcano (which he both wrote and directed) highly anticipated. However, the film, starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, turned out to be too eccentric to achieve commercial success.
While praised by some, including renowned critic Roger Ebert, the film was overwhelmingly criticized upon release, prompting Shanley to return to theater. It took 18 years before he wrote and directed another movie. Doubt (2008), adapted from his Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning play, received numerous accolades and Oscar nominations. Though it took time, Shanley ultimately restored his reputation in the film industry.
10. Gigli (2003)
In the early 2000s, director Martin Brest was riding a wave of success with hits like Beverly Hills Cop (1984), Midnight Run (1988), and Scent of a Woman (1992). His subsequent film, Meet Joe Black (1998), didn’t achieve the same acclaim, but it was Gigli (a project he initially wrote and directed before the studio took over) that marked the end of his career. The romantic-comedy/crime thriller earned just $7.2 million globally against a $75.6 million budget, becoming one of the most costly box-office failures in history. The film also won six Golden Raspberry Awards, including Worst Picture and Worst Screenplay of 2003.
