10 Directors Who Were Fired While On Set

The process that filmmakers must undertake to develop a film can be extremely time-consuming and exhausting. As with any other project, a movie can be exposed to any number of setbacks, whether they are financial issues that jeopardize the budget, disagreements between different parties, problems with the cast, on-set accidents, or even external factors, among many other things. These factors can affect projects to the point of delaying them considerably or, in some cases, canceling them altogether.

However, there is one scenario that, were it to happen, can completely transform a film’s destiny: when a director is replaced. Surprisingly, this happens quite often. Sometimes it is simply a matter of compatibilities: a director is chosen for a project and eventually decides to step aside for another film or series. On other occasions, however, it is a much trickier scenario in which the producers or the company end up firing the director for different reasons, even when said director has already worked on the film for a long time. We all know how important the director’s perspective is in a cinematographic project, and how much a film can change according to who directs it. Here are ten directors who were fired while on set and the way their departures affected each film.

10 Anthony Mann – Spartacus

     Universal International  

Spartacus is a 1960 epic historical drama directed by Stanley Kubrick. However, this project initially fell into the hands of another director: Anthony Mann, who had a lot of experience in the Western genre. However, after only a few days of shooting, Kirk Douglas, the film’s star and executive producer, considered that Mann’s approach was not up to the task, and that he seemed intimidated by the cast and scope of the project. For that reason, he fired him and hired Kubrick instead.

9 Richard Stanley – The Island of Dr. Moreau

     New Line Cinema  

The 1996 film The Island of Dr. Moreau was one of the most troubled productions in the history of cinema. Adapting H.G. Wells’ novel to film was among Richard Stanley’s greatest dreams, and he worked for several years on the project before making a deal with a company. Eventually, he formed a partnership with New Line Cinema, but there were many creative differences between them. On top of this, Val Kilmer, one of the stars of the production, behaved very poorly on set, and the studio considered that Stanley had no control over the situation, so they fired him and put John Frankenheimer in his place. Still, the film was a box office and critical flop.

8 Brenda Chapman – Brave

     Walt Disney Pictures  

With Brave, Brenda Chapman was about to go down in history as Pixar’s first woman director. She was the mastermind behind this film, inspired by her relationship with her own daughter, and worked for several years on the project. However, due to creative differences, Pixar decided to replace her with Mark Andrews and credit both of them as directors. Naturally, Chapman was devastated by this decision, but after watching the film, she stated that she was happy with it, and that the final version was very much aligned with her original vision.

7 Paul Schrader – Exorcist: The Beginning

     Warner Bros.  

Before reaching Paul Schrader, Exorcist: The Beginning underwent directors Tom McLoughlin and John Frankenheimer, but they both walked away from the project for different reasons. Schrader then took over, but expectations were too high following The Exorcist’s success, so his final version did not meet Morgan Creek Productions’ standards. After editing the material several times, and failing to satisfy the studio, Schrader was let go and Renny Harlin was hired to replace him. However, this 2004 production turned out to be a box-office flop that earned poor reviews.

6 Richard Thorpe – The Wizard of Oz

     Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer  

The Wizard of Oz is one of the greatest Hollywood classics, released in 1939 and based on the children’s novel by L. Frank Baum. But this film is also regarded as one of the most accidental ones in history. At first, Norman Taurog headed the production, but he was replaced by Richard Thorpe shortly thereafter. Thorpe’s work, however, failed to impress the film’s producer, Mervyn LeRoy, who decided to fire him and put George Cukor in charge of the production temporarily. Cukor served as creative advisor until Victor Fleming took over as director.

5 James Cameron – Piranha II: The Spawning

     Columbia Pictures  

Not many people associate James Cameron with the Piranha film series, but that is where he took his first steps as a director. Cameron was chosen to helm Piranha II: The Spawning, a sequel to the 1978 film that was to be his directorial debut. His journey on this film was rather troubled: after only a few weeks on the project and due to creative differences with producer Ovidio Assonitis, Cameron was cut from the movie. However, for contractual reasons, he was still credited as director (via Screen Rant).

4 Steven Soderbergh – Moneyball

     Sony Pictures Releasing  

Moneyball is a 2011 film starring Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill. While directed by Bennett Miller, the filmmaker who was originally supposed to handle the project was Steven Soderbergh. He intended to do a documentary-style production that would feature real-life interviews, but Sony wasn’t happy with that approach. After much back and forth and unbridgeable creative issues, the studio decided to take an alternative approach and replaced Soderbergh with Miller.

3 Bryan Singer – Bohemian Rhapsody

     20th Century Fox  

Bryan Singer is credited as the director of the 2018 film Bohemian Rhapsody, Freddie Mercury’s biopic. However, he was fired just weeks before the end of production, with Dexter Fletcher taking over and wrapping up the project. The reasons behind Singer’s dismissal had to do with his behavior on set, his conflicts with several stars of the cast, and his frequent absences. Still, he was credited as the production’s director.

2 Ted Griffin – Rumor Has It

Rumor Has It is a 2005 film starring Jennifer Aniston, Kevin Costner, Shirley MacLaine and Mark Ruffalo. The screenplay for this production was written by Ted Griffin, who was in fact the original director of the film, which was to be his directorial debut. But as the project was moving very slowly, and Griffin’s on-set choices did not please the producers, they ended up replacing him with Rob Reiner.

1 Dick Richards – Jaws

     Universal Pictures  

This is one of the most puzzling entries on this list, as the 1975 film Jaws is strongly related to Steven Spielberg. Yet, this filmmaker was the second one to sit in the director’s chair: initially, the project was headed by Dick Richards. However, a minor detail on his part disturbed the producers: Richards constantly referred to the shark as a “whale.” Because of this, Dick was replaced by Spielberg, and the rest is history.