6 Brutal Insults Directors Unleashed About Actors

6 William Friedkin Didn’t Give a ‘Flying Fuck into a Rolling Donut’ What Al Pacino Thought

The legendary, recently-departed Friedkin was once asked a question about his film Cruising, with the interviewer prefacing the question by bringing up a quote from its star, Al Pacino. Before he could even finish, Friedkin cut him off, stating, “I don’t give a flying fuck into a rolling donut about what Al Pacino thinks.”

He went on to explain that he would care what the “brilliant, professional” Tommy Lee Jones would have to say. A hilarious comparison, considering that our next entry is about how…

5 Joel Schumacher Had Some Choice Words for Both Val Kilmer and Tommy Lee Jones

Years after making Batman Forever, Schumacher spelled out that he thought that Tommy Lee Jones was “an asshole” and Val Kilmer was “psychotic.” Jones was unnecessarily cruel to Jim Carrey during the filming of Batman Forever, famously telling his co-star, “I hate you. I really don’t like you,” with his reason being, “I cannot sanction your buffoonery.” Meanwhile, Kilmer allegedly put out a cigarette in the face of a cameraman while filming The Island of Doctor Moreau, which admittedly would have made for a much more interesting origin story for Jones’ Two-Face.

We may have mentioned once or twice that Chase is really horrible to work with. Well, Heckerling has echoed this sentiment, telling an interviewer that during the making of National Lampoon’s European Vacation, Chase soured her on directing as an entire profession: “It sort of inspired me to want to stay home and write. I couldn’t go on the set unless I knew I had in my hand a physical ticket to New York so that I could just go at any time. I had to hold it in my hand so I knew that I had a way out.”

3 Paul Schrader Claimed That He Was Lindsay Lohan’s ‘Hostage’

When The Canyons star Lohan failed to show up for the Venice Film Festival press conference promoting the erotic drama, Schrader was actually relieved and even thankful, telling reporters, “Today I am a free man. For the last 16 months, I have been a hostage by my own choosing to a very talented but unpredictable actress.” Which isn’t all that shocking judging from the behind-the-scenes stories about the film’s production.

2 Peter Bogdanovich Said Cher ‘Can’t Act’

The director of Mask (the drama with Cher and Eric Stoltz, not the movie where Jim Carrey turns into a horny psychopath), Bogdanovich, once said in an interview that Cher “can’t act,” which seems a bit harsh considering that she won the Best Actress prize at Cannes for the film. To be fair, after Bogdanovich clashed with the studio, Cher had burned the director, telling reporters, “It’s no surprise to me that Peter would serve his own interest before serving the film’s interest.”

1 No Actor Was Safe From the Wrath of Orson Welles

Orson Welles wasn’t just a talented filmmaker and performer; he was also a master of the put-down. On several occasions, Welles randomly slammed his fellow actors, like Humphrey Bogart — not because he was a bad actor, but because he was a crappy fighter who “was always picking fights in nightclubs, in sure knowledge that the waiters would stop him.”

He also trashed Hollywood legends like Jimmy Stewart, Charlie Chaplin and Spencer Tracy, who he called a “hateful, hateful man.” Of course, his all-time best insult came after former Little Rascal/future accused murderer Robert Blake made the mistake of poking fun at his weight on The Tonight Show: 

It is truly a tragedy that he didn’t live long enough to return to the show and tear Jimmy Fallon a new one.

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