obvious wankers whose work you enjoy

[Bad Ambassador]

yes. putting people's lives in danger like that (several deaths on the set of fitzcarraldo) is fucked up. also the way he sneers at the poor lad on death row in into the abyss, you just feel he doesn't give a shit about his subject, what counts is his own aggrandisement.

No deaths on the set of Fitzcarraldo. One local drowned after borrowing a canoe, but you can hardly blame Herzog for that.

[Ant Farm Keyboard]

There was some local guy who worked on Fitzcarraldo and had to cut his own arm after he had been bitten by a poisonous snake and he realized he couldn't reach a medic in time.

Alejandro Jodorowsky would ad libs in interviews on the extent of damage he would cause to his cast, and it's difficult to find out what's true and what's self-aggrandizing fiction. Nevertheless, bragging in 1972 about actually raping his costar from El Topo during the rape scene isn't something that plays well today. He changed his story a few times, claiming that the sex was real, but consensual, then that it was just a provocation, as surrealist artists tend to do. But of course, there are also the animals that were slaughtered during production of his films, etc.

[Mister Six]

Listening to Room to Dream, the combined biography and memoir of David Lynch (it alternates his rambling anecdotes with the biography's author reading the actual details of his life, including interviews with friends, family and colleagues) it sounds like he's an absolute delight to work with and befriend, but - the one bad aspect of his personality - he's a cunt to date or be married to.

Over the course of the book, which runs up to the broadcast of Twin Peaks: The Return,[nb]I hope they manage to do an update for Wisteria... actually I just hope Wisteria happens.[/nb] he basically whirls around in this cycle of marrying, getting bored, becoming infatuated with someone else, sacking off the old woman and hopping into bed with the new one.

Some of these end amicably, like his first marriage, but his breakup with Isabella Rosselini amounted to him sending her a terse note saying he didn't want to be with her any more, which sounds like it really upset her for a good while. Left a nasty taste in my mouth.

He also retells a story about Dino de Laurentiis having Sammy Davis Jr threatened by gangsters to break up his marriage to a white woman, like it was just an interesting anecdote, without seeming to grasp the horror of that story (Davis, who was forced by the Mafia[nb]Lots of people take credit for this, so it might not actually be de Laurentiis's work.[/nb] into marrying a black woman he didn't know, attempted suicide, although thankfully he got his life together afterwards).

Still fucking love Lynch's cinema though.

[Mr Banlon]

Jonathan Meades.

[Ant Farm Keyboard]

Francis Ford Coppola, who has kept a working relationship with Victor Salva, years after it emerged that he was a convicted pedophile.

[St_Eddie]

Francis Ford Coppola, who has kept a working relationship with Victor Salva, years after it emerged that he was a convicted pedophile.

Jeepers creepers, that's unfortunate!

[Noodle Lizard]

Mel Gibson. I don't think any of his films are perfect, but they're always worth watching and quite unique in their own way. Apocalypto is one of the most fun action films I've seen, and Hacksaw Ridge's battle scenes are especially well-directed. Even The Passion Of The Christ, daft as it is, has some stunningness in it.

No need to explain why he's an obvious wanker.

[chveik]

that lad tom cruise is a bit of a wally but he's made some entertaining stuff

[Sebastian Cobb]

Jonathan Meades.

I thought he was a wanker but now think maybe it's just the fact he's the answer to the question "what's not a tory but feels like a tory".

Robert Altman's made some bloody good films but probably has a bit of a curmudgeonly/misanthropic streak.

[Dusty Substance]

Francis Ford Coppola, who has kept a working relationship with Victor Salva, years after it emerged that he was a convicted pedophile.

I was very taken aback to see Salva's Powder is currently available on Disney Plus.

[rjd2]

Elia Kazan.

On The Waterfront which is him trying to justify selling out so many people in the red scare is magnificent no matter how stupid he tries to tie in the justification to the film.

Gibson is a good shout, horrible person but so many entertaining films.

Also John Wayne who has not been named yet.

[rjd2]

I recall been blown away by Upstream color when I seen it when first released, so also Shane Carruth.

[Jerzy Bondov]

Yeah it's Mel Gibson for me. I also really love the film of The Rules of Attraction but the director Roger Avary went in the jail for killing a woman while driving drunk, which is really beyond the pale.

[Keebleman]

yes. putting people's lives in danger like that (several deaths on the set of fitzcarraldo) is fucked up. also the way he sneers at the poor lad on death row in into the abyss, you just feel he doesn't give a shit about his subject, what counts is his own aggrandisement.

Poor lad?  The one who with his buddy killed three people so he could steal a car?  If there has ever been anybody worth sneering at it would be that 'poor lad', but as I recall Herzog didn't sneer at him at all, either in the face-to-face interview or in the narration or in the editing.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Wooden Allen, of course.

Shame that all those great films scaling the peak of comedy, delving into the human psyche and keeping us on the edge of our seats had to be the a product of someone incapable of living a functional life and who has ruined others lives in the process.

[rue the polywhirl]

Sia. Her current film is complete rum and she's been a bit rum about the whole ordeal but she's done some amazing tracks especially for Zero 7.

[chveik]

Poor lad?  The one who with his buddy killed three people so he could steal a car?  If there has ever been anybody worth sneering at it would be that 'poor lad', but as I recall Herzog didn't sneer at him at all, either in the face-to-face interview or in the narration or in the editing.

I must have confused it with something else. apologies

[zomgmouse]

Robert Altman's made some bloody good films but probably has a bit of a curmudgeonly/misanthropic streak.

A damning account

[Chedney Honks]

Sir David Attenborough

[Retinend]

Mel Gibson. I don't think any of his films are perfect, but they're always worth watching and quite unique in their own way. Apocalypto is one of the most fun action films I've seen, and Hacksaw Ridge's battle scenes are especially well-directed. Even The Passion Of The Christ, daft as it is, has some stunningness in it.

No need to explain why he's an obvious wanker.

I'd nominate him too - Apocalypto is so nail-biting and the society it depicts so horrific that I was fully on board for the Christian ships landing by the time that final scene arrived: I was virtually chanting "onward Christian soldiers" by the time the credits rolled, and then I snapped out of it... yet I always remember this scene when I think of or read about the Mayans and their bloodthirsty culture.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Jerry Lewis was an awful man, but he made some great, inventive comedy films in the 1960s.

[Twit 2]

Can people stop getting Herzog wrong pls? Otherwise I'll have to start another Herzog thread and I've done a lot of that over the years on here.

[phantom_power]

Bing Crosby

[Chedney Honks]

Martin Scorsese

[Jerzy Bondov]

I get a bad vibe off Steven Spielberg to be honest. More of a covert wanker than an obvious one.

[Chedney Honks]

Agnes Varda tops the lot for me.

[Sebastian Cobb]

That clip of Christian Bale losing his rag at some film crew made me think he's a wanker that makes good films.

[Gulftastic]

Gene Kelly made Debbie Reynolds dance till her feet bled and she broke down in tears, but I'll still always love 'Singin In The Rain'

[Chedney Honks]

That clip of Christian Bale losing his rag at some film crew made me think he's a wanker that makes shit films.

[Phil Colons]

David O. Russell has made some decent films but there's enough actual evidence to suggest he's a horrible abusive arsehole. There's youtube clips of him screaming abuse at Lily Tomlin.