Making movies isn’t always fun and games. Actors are often put through the ringer and have to endure extreme conditions. James Cameron famously pushed his actors so hard on the set of The Abyss that they broke down in tears and Ed Harris punched him after a scene in which he almost drowned. Stanley Kubrick was even worse and essentially tortured Shelley Duvall on the set of The Shining. 

For all the torment directors inflict on actors, the tables have been turned several times as well. More than one director has been faced with the desire to throw in the towel entirely after an experience with a film pushed them to the brink.

10. Mike Judge’s Fake Movie Had Him Losing Faith in The Process

Beavis and Butthead creator Mike Judge has only made a few feature films, but they have been cult favorites including Office Space and Idiocracy. The latter was the one that almost pushed the man to the edge, and for an almost unbelievable reason. 

The movie takes place in a future where the human race has steadily gotten dumber and dumber. In one scene, audiences have assembled at a movie theater to watch a movie called Ass, the Movie. The joke is that everything in the future is dumber and audiences would watch a movie which is literally just a closeup of a bare ass, laughing the whole time.

Judge had to film the fake movie which, again, is just bare butts. The production then assembled 200 extras to be the film audience. Much to Judge’s dismay, once the extras were seated and the butt movie started playing, the audience genuinely started laughing as was written in the script. The problem was it wasn’t scripted laughter, they genuinely found it funny. 

It was at this point that Judge began to question why he was making his movie at all since he’d get just as many laughs out of the stupid fake movie. 

9. Chevy Chase Almost Made John Carpenter Give Up Directing

It’s an open secret in Hollywood that Chevy Chase is not well-liked. An entire list could be assembled of the various accusations that have been leveled against him during his career, but suffice it to say he’s difficult to work with.

Legendary horror director John Carpenter discovered how hard Chase was to work with back in 1992 when they joined forces on the film Memoirs of an Invisible Man. If you don’t recall the movie, don’t worry, most people don’t. It was a flop across the board.

Ivan Reitman had been tapped to direct the movie but ended up quitting after not being able to handle working with Chase. Carpenter was called in as a replacement and, though the movie got made, it made Carpenter consider quitting Hollywood altogether. To get an idea of his feelings, he described Chase as “he shall not be named who needs to be killed.” He then went on to suggest he should be set on fire. 

Chase apparently hated wearing the makeup the role required and would often remove it in the middle of a scene, ruining hours of filming in the process. This was in addition to his standard habit of being insulting and walking all over others on set.

8. David Ayer Said Changes to Suicide Squad Broke Him

Comic book movies have been box office titans for well over a decade now thanks to the MCU and, to a lesser extent, the DCEU. DC never really found their footing though and in 2023 the universe was scrapped to be replaced with the cleverly named replacement… DCU. 

The DC slate of movies have their fans, of course, and some did better critically and commercially than others. One much maligned film was David Ayer’s Suicide Squad, which introduced the world to Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn.

Ayer has long teased that there’s a director’s cut of the movie that is much better than the theatrically released movie. Ayer said the movie broke him as the studio completely changed the tone of the movie he was trying to make. 

He said his version was originally a dark and soulful film. But after the studio released Batman V Superman to horrible reviews and Fox released Deadpool to great reviews, the studio flip-flopped and turned his movie into a comedy. 

He called the movie his biggest Hollywood heartbreak but shared that, maybe, the director’s cut would see the light of day, eventually. 

7. Russell Crowe and Johnny Depp May Have Broken Peter Weir

We’ve all heard that some actors are harder to deal with than others. Take Chevy Chase from a few moments ago as an example. He’s far from the only one, however, and not every actor is difficult in the same way. 

According to actor Ethan Hawke, director Peter Weir effectively quit Hollywood despite making hugely popular movies like The Truman Show and Dead Poets Society. The reason? Johnny Depp and Russell Crowe.

Weir stopped making movies after 2010’s The Way Back. Hawke, who starred in Weir’s Dead Poets Society, said Weir used to like making movies but actors got in the way. He specifically called out Russell Crowe, who Weird directed in Master and Commander, and Johnny Depp. 

You may be asking yourself when Weir and Depp made a movie together, and the answer is that they didn’t. Weir was set to direct Depp in a movie called Shantaram but the director and the actor butted heads so badly over the way the film should play out that he quit. 

6. Paul Brickman Hated His Own Success

Many people remember Risky Business as Tom Cruise’s breakout hit that set him on the path to box office domination, all thanks to him sliding into a room in a pair of sunglasses and underwear. It also proved to be a hit for writer and director Paul Brickman. But unlike Cruise, Brickman’s star didn’t keep rising, and that’s mostly because he didn’t want it to.

Brickman has only directed three movies in his career and after Risky Business he waited seven years to do Men Don’t Leave, a comedy starring Kathy Bates and Jessica Lange. It would be another 22 years before he directed again, and that was a short film.

Audiences and critics loved Risky Business, but it was more than Brickman could handle. He didn’t want to be Hollywood’s golden boy, so he moved out of LA and basically became a recluse. Fame just didn’t agree with him and, as he told Salon, “some people like the visibility. I don’t.”

5. Chadwick Boseman’s Death Nearly Caused Ryan Coogler to Quit

The MCU runs the gamut from critically beloved to movies that landed with a shrug. And if you want to use Rotten Tomatoes as a metric for success and quality, then Black Panther is the number one MCU movie. With a Rotten Tomatoes score of 96%, it grossed over $1.3 billion at the box office and even won three Academy Awards, more than any other comic book movie in history. 

Director Ryan Coogler was definitely on a career high after Black Panther’s success until tragedy struck. Chadwick Boseman, the star of the film, died. He had colon cancer which he had not shared publicly, so his death at age 43 came as a huge shock. 

Coogler, who had become close friends with Boseman, nearly gave up filmmaking after the loss. The pain of losing a friend, and the idea of making a sequel without him, caused him to question his future. Obviously Coogler chose to forge ahead, citing a conversation he’d once had with Boseman about the importance of the character as motivation. 

4. Stephen King Thinks Maximum Overdrive Was a Moron Movie 

Stephen King is world renowned as the Master of Horror, and has published almost 100 novels and novellas so far in his career. He’s sold over 350 million books, too. For all of his amazing success as a writer, one thing he didn’t excel at was directing.

King has long had a love/hate relationship with the film adaptations of his novels. And while many people consider Stanley Kubrick’s version of The Shining a classic, King was not among them. He hated that Kubrick changed so much of the novel, but especially how the hotel affected main character Jack Torrance.

Annoyed with how Hollywood handled his work, King decided he would try to direct a movie based on his short story Trucks. This was renamed Maximum Overdrive and it would prove to be one of the most maligned movies of all time. It made King decide to not direct again any time soon. 

King has admitted he had no idea how to direct a movie and that he was incredibly high for most of the production. He was also drunk, too. He chalks it all up to a learning experience which he more or less hated and has no desire to repeat.

3. The Trauma of Schindler’s List Almost Made Spielberg Pack It In

Not many filmmakers rise to the ranks of Steven Spielberg, a titan among directors. But even the biggest name in directing had his moment when he almost gave it and it was his own work that brought it on.

His 1994 film Schindler’s List was critically well-received and is one of the most poignant films ever made about the Holocaust but it almost made him give up. The personal trauma of telling that story made him take a step back from his work and consider ending it. 

In the end he just needed time to come to terms with the experience before he could move on. He was inspired again later and returned to directing with Jurassic Park II.

2. David Fincher Despised Alien 3 

David Fincher has become one of the most popular directors in Hollywood thanks to movies like Gone Girl, Fight Club, and Se7en. But his first movie, Alien 3, nearly ended his career on the spot.

The third Alien film was plagued with so many issues it’s become something of a legend. The original story went through numerous changes and writers. At some point it didn’t even feature Sigourney Weaver’s Ellen Ripley and focused on “the Corporation,” with Corporal Hicks as the main character. 

Sci-fi legend William Gibson wrote one of the scripts that took place at a galactic shopping mall. One version involved monks, one involved a planet made of wood. Writers eventually included David Twohy, Eric Red, David Giler, Gordon Carroll, Walter Hill, Rex Pickett and Vincent Ward. Original director Ridley Scott couldn’t commit and it went to Renny Harlin, then Vincent Ward and eventually to David Fincher, a first timer who was walking into a nightmare.

The studio had already released a trailer for Alien 3 before Fincher even started filming. He had a firm deadline and no idea what the movie was about. He’d get script changes daily and have to scrap the previous day’s work as a result. Actors and the studio hated his penchant for multiple takes as he tried to perfect every scene.

Fincher made his own rewrites and took two years to get the movie done during which he was fired three times. The studio hated it and made numerous reshoots which Fincher had nothing to do with and has disowned the movie. He returned to music videos for a few years before making his next film, Seven.

1. Studio Interference Made Scorsese Consider Quitting

When people rank movie directors, there’s always a lot of debate over who is best, since that’s just a subjective choice. But most everyone agrees that Martin Scorsese ranks among the best. Films like Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Goodfellas, The Departed, and numerous others have met with audience and critical adulation. 

Despite his amazing success, it hasn’t always been easy. Like many directors, Scorsese has to deal with studios that want to make changes to his vision. By the time he was working on the movie Casino in 1995 he was starting to feel he’d done all he could do as a filmmaker. Worse, the studio didn’t like that he kept making long movies and wanted them shortened. 

The same thing happened with 2004’s The Aviator. Scorsese said the studio kept telling him to edit the movie down for a shorter runtime, which he tried to do for weeks before nearly deciding he was done with directing altogether. It was too stressful, and it was not how he wanted to work.

Almost in defiance of what studios had wanted previously, Scorsese would make The Irishman in 2019 for Netflix with a 209 minute runtime.

Making movies isn’t always fun and games. Actors are often put through the ringer and have to endure extreme conditions. James Cameron famously pushed his actors so hard on the set of The Abyss that they broke down in tears and Ed Harris punched him after a scene in which he almost drowned. Stanley Kubrick was even worse and essentially tortured Shelley Duvall on the set of The Shining. 

For all the torment directors inflict on actors, the tables have been turned several times as well. More than one director has been faced with the desire to throw in the towel entirely after an experience with a film pushed them to the brink.

10. Mike Judge’s Fake Movie Had Him Losing Faith in The Process

Beavis and Butthead creator Mike Judge has only made a few feature films, but they have been cult favorites including Office Space and Idiocracy. The latter was the one that almost pushed the man to the edge, and for an almost unbelievable reason. 

The movie takes place in a future where the human race has steadily gotten dumber and dumber. In one scene, audiences have assembled at a movie theater to watch a movie called Ass, the Movie. The joke is that everything in the future is dumber and audiences would watch a movie which is literally just a closeup of a bare ass, laughing the whole time.

Judge had to film the fake movie which, again, is just bare butts. The production then assembled 200 extras to be the film audience. Much to Judge’s dismay, once the extras were seated and the butt movie started playing, the audience genuinely started laughing as was written in the script. The problem was it wasn’t scripted laughter, they genuinely found it funny. 

It was at this point that Judge began to question why he was making his movie at all since he’d get just as many laughs out of the stupid fake movie. 

9. Chevy Chase Almost Made John Carpenter Give Up Directing

It’s an open secret in Hollywood that Chevy Chase is not well-liked. An entire list could be assembled of the various accusations that have been leveled against him during his career, but suffice it to say he’s difficult to work with.

Legendary horror director John Carpenter discovered how hard Chase was to work with back in 1992 when they joined forces on the film Memoirs of an Invisible Man. If you don’t recall the movie, don’t worry, most people don’t. It was a flop across the board.

Ivan Reitman had been tapped to direct the movie but ended up quitting after not being able to handle working with Chase. Carpenter was called in as a replacement and, though the movie got made, it made Carpenter consider quitting Hollywood altogether. To get an idea of his feelings, he described Chase as “he shall not be named who needs to be killed.” He then went on to suggest he should be set on fire. 

Chase apparently hated wearing the makeup the role required and would often remove it in the middle of a scene, ruining hours of filming in the process. This was in addition to his standard habit of being insulting and walking all over others on set.

8. David Ayer Said Changes The Suicide Squad Broke Him

Comic book movies have been box office titans for well over a decade now thanks to the MCU and, to a lesser extent, the DCEU. DC never really found their footing though and in 2023 the universe was scrapped to be replaced with the cleverly named replacement DCU. 

The DC slate of movies have their fans, of course, and some did better critically and commercially than others. One much maligned film was David Ayer’s Suicide Squad, which introduced the world to Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn.

Ayer has long teased that there’s a director’s cut of the movie that is much better than the theatrically released movie. Ayer said the movie broke him as the studio completely changed the tone of the movie he was trying to make. 

He said his version was originally a dark and soulful film. But after the studio released Batman v Superman to horrible reviews and Fox released Deadpool to great reviews, the studio flip-flopped and turned his movie into a comedy. 

He called the movie his biggest Hollywood heartbreak but shared that, maybe, the director’s cut would see the light of day, eventually. 

7. Russell Crowe and Johnny Depp May Have Broken Peter Weir

We’ve all heard that some actors are harder to deal with than others. Take Chevy Chase from a few moments ago as an example. He’s far from the only one, however, and not every actor is difficult in the same way. 

According to actor Ethan Hawke, director Peter Weir effectively quit Hollywood despite making hugely popular movies like The Truman Show and Dead Poets Society. The reason? Johnny Depp and Russell Crowe.

Weir stopped making movies after 2010’s The Way Back (not to be confused with Ben Affleck’s 2020 film of the same name). Hawke, who starred in Weir’s Dead Poets Society, said Weir used to like making movies but actors got in the way. He specifically called out Russell Crowe, who Weir directed in Master and Commander, and Johnny Depp. 

You may be asking yourself when Weir and Depp made a movie together, and the answer is that they didn’t. Weir was set to direct Depp in a movie called Shantaram but the director and the actor butted heads so badly over the way the film should play out that he quit. 

6. Paul Brickman Hated His Own Success

Many people remember Risky Business as Tom Cruise’s breakout hit that set him on the path to box office domination, all thanks to him sliding into a room in a pair of sunglasses and underwear. It also proved to be a hit for writer and director Paul Brickman. But unlike Cruise, Brickman’s star didn’t keep rising, and that’s mostly because he didn’t want it to.

Brickman has only directed three movies in his career and after Risky Business he waited seven years to do Men Don’t Leave, a comedy starring Kathy Bates and Jessica Lange. It would be another 22 years before he directed again, and that was a short film.

Audiences and critics loved Risky Business, but it was more than Brickman could handle. He didn’t want to be Hollywood’s golden boy, so he moved out of LA and basically became a recluse. Fame just didn’t agree with him and, as he told Salon, “Some people like the visibility. I don’t.”

5. Chadwick Boseman’s Death Nearly Caused Ryan Coogler to Quit

The MCU runs the gamut from critically beloved, to movies that landed with a shrug. And if you want to use Rotten Tomatoes as a metric for success and quality, then Black Panther is the number one MCU movie. With a Rotten Tomatoes score of 96%, it grossed over $1.3 billion at the box office and even won three Academy Awards, more than any other comic book movie in history. It’s also the only MCU film, to date, to have been nominated for Best Picture.

Director Ryan Coogler was definitely on a career high after Black Panther’s success until tragedy struck. Chadwick Boseman, star of the film, died. He had colon cancer which he had not shared publicly, so his death at age 43 came as a huge shock. 

Coogler, who had become close friends with Boseman, nearly gave up filmmaking after the loss. The pain of losing a friend, and the idea of making a sequel without him, caused him to question his future. Obviously Coogler chose to forge ahead, citing a conversation he’d once had with Boseman about the importance of the character as motivation. 

4. Stephen King Thinks Maximum Overdrive Was a Moron Movie 

Stephen King is world-renowned as the Master of Horror, and has published almost 100 novels and novellas so far in his career. He’s sold over 350 million books, too. For all of his amazing success as a writer, one thing he didn’t excel at was directing.

King has long had a love/hate relationship with the film adaptations of his novels. And while many people consider Stanley Kubrick’s version of The Shining a classic, King was not among them. He hated that Kubrick changed so much of the novel, but especially how the hotel affected main character Jack Torrance.

Annoyed with how Hollywood handled his work, King decided he would try to direct a movie based on his short story “Trucks.” This was renamed Maximum Overdrive, and it would prove to be one of the most maligned movies of all time. It made King decide to not direct again any time soon. 

King has admitted he had no idea how to direct a movie and that he was incredibly high for most of the production. He was also drunk, too. He chalks it all up to a learning experience, which he more or less hated and has no desire to repeat.

3. The Trauma of Schindler’s List Almost Made Spielberg Pack It In

Not many filmmakers rise to the ranks of Steven Spielberg, a titan among directors. But even the biggest name in directing had his moment when he almost gave up, and it was his own work that brought it on.

His 1994 film Schindler’s List was critically well-received and is one of the most poignant films ever made about the Holocaust, but it almost made him quit the profession. The personal trauma of telling that story made him take a step back from his work and consider ending it. 

In the end, he just needed time to come to terms with the experience before he could move on. He was inspired again later and returned to directing with Jurassic Park II.

2. David Fincher Despised Alien 3 

David Fincher has become one of the most popular directors in Hollywood thanks to movies like Gone Girl, Fight Club, Zodiac, and Se7en. But his first movie, Alien 3, nearly ended his career on the spot.

The third Alien film was plagued with so many issues it’s become something of a legend. The original story went through numerous changes and writers. At some point it didn’t even feature Sigourney Weaver’s Ellen Ripley and focused on “the Corporation,” with Corporal Hicks as the main character. 

Sci-fi legend William Gibson wrote one of the scripts that took place at a galactic shopping mall. One version involved monks, one involved a planet made of wood. Writers eventually included David Twohy, Eric Red, David Giler, Gordon Carroll, Walter Hill, Rex Pickett, and Vincent Ward. Original director Ridley Scott couldn’t commit and it went to Renny Harlin, then Vincent Ward and eventually to Fincher, a first timer who was walking into a nightmare.

The studio had already released a trailer for Alien 3 before Fincher even started filming. He had a firm deadline and no idea what the movie was about. He’d get script changes daily and have to scrap the previous day’s work as a result. Actors and the studio hated his penchant for multiple takes, as he tried to perfect every scene.

Fincher made his own rewrites and took two years to get the movie done during which he was fired three times. The studio hated it and made numerous reshoots which Fincher had nothing to do with and has disowned the movie.He returned to music videos for a few years before making his next film, Se7en.

1. Studio Interference Made Scorsese Consider Quitting

When people rank movie directors, there’s always a lot of debate over who is best, since that’s just a subjective choice. But most everyone agrees that Martin Scorsese ranks among the best. Films like Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Goodfellas, The Departed, and numerous others have been met with audience and critical adulation. 

Despite his amazing success, it hasn’t always been easy. Like many directors, Scorsese has to deal with studios that want to make changes to his vision. By the time he was working on the movie Casino in 1995 he was starting to feel he’d done all he could do as a filmmaker. Worse, the studio didn’t like that he kept making long movies and wanted them shortened. 

The same thing happened with 2004’s The Aviator. Scorsese said the studio kept telling him to edit the movie down for a shorter runtime, which he tried to do for weeks before nearly deciding he was done with directing altogether. It was too stressful, and it was not how he wanted to work.

Almost in defiance of what studios had wanted previously, Scorsese would make The Irishman in 2019 for Netflix with a 209 minute runtime.

Famous people seem to have it all, the reputation, the money, and the glamorous lifestyle. Of course, on top of this is that they get to call Hollywood home. For most fans, the lives of these celebrities are so interesting because they can do whatever they want and still manage to look fancy. But, while the grass always seems greener for famous people, the sad reality is that they are still human. Beneath all the glamour, flashlights, and record-breaking paychecks, things can still go asunder.

Just like the rest of us, famed people make costly mistakes that rob them of their hard-earned wealth. It only goes to show us that stars can also suffer from debt, drugs, and bad luck. These are the top 10 famous people who died broke.  

10 Marvin Gaye

In the world of classic R&B, Marvin Gaye is not just a legend; he is a god. Each time he went into the studio, he churned out one chart-topper after another. As a pro singer, Gaye recorded hits like “Sexual Healing,” “I Heard It Through The Grapevine,” and “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You).” These tracks are timeless for old and young fans alike, and new artists can’t resist sampling them. Yet, despite being a musical genius, the Grammy winner’s story is completely different where money is involved.

By the end of his life, Gaye was at least $9.2 million in debt. Before that, he had escaped to Europe to avoid paying the IRS at least $4.5 million in back taxes. The main causes of Gaye’s financial troubles were the settlements from his two divorces, alimony, and an unfortunate cycle of drug abuse. Tired of running from his life, Gaye moved back with his parents in the end, a decision that led to his death. On a fateful night, his father, Marvin Gay Sr., a Pentecostal minister, shot him to death.

While he was never able to personally pay his debts, Gaye’s lawyers turned the royalties to his songs, image, and story rights into profit after his death. In the end, Gaye’s legacy became a lifeline for his three children, but he never got to enjoy it while he was alive.

9 Judy Garland 

Judy Garland is best known as Dorothy from the timeless classic, “The Wizard of Oz,” and she was a fascinating personality for millions. Her incredible talents on the silver screen and her sweet vocals were beloved, and to many, her star shone brightly. However, behind the scenes, Garland was a victim of embezzlement after her managers mismanaged her cash.

While her success on screen made her millions, Garland suffered from financial woes and a struggle with drug addiction. By the time she died from an overdose at 47, Garland had sold off her fancy Bel-Air home for cheap and even had $4 million in unpaid debts. Her sudden death caused much controversy since even her inheritances could not be fulfilled.

In a wonderful turn of events, Liza Minelli, Garland’s daughter, was able to settle her debts. With the assistance of Frank Sinatra, a family friend, Garland’s legacy was kept intact. In the end, she was remembered fondly.

8 Mickey Rooney

Mickey Rooney is one of the most prolific actors of all time, whose legacy is almost unmatched. Unlike most actors, Rooney could brag that he had a 90-year-long career where he starred in over 300 films. But, despite his illustrious career, the “Breakfast At Tiffany’s” star just couldn’t keep money in his pocket.

Throughout his career, Rooney was called “the original Hollywood train wreck,” and his story was simply a tragedy. Struggling with alcoholism and an addiction to prescription pills, Rooney’s personal and public life was action-packed. Between instances of mismanagement and a total of 8 divorces, Rooney’s finances suffered heavily.

When he died of natural causes in 2014, reports claimed that his family members had drained his finances. In a classic Hollywood disaster story, after a long and successful career, Rooney left behind medical bills and back taxes. When his $18,000 estate was settled, the remainder was not even enough for a public funeral. Rooney’s family had to seek public assistance to lay him to rest. So unfortunate.

7 Corey Haim

The 1980s were incredible for film, and Corey Haim was synonymous with the silver screen. Starting as a teen actor, Haim starred in high-grossing films like “Silver Bullet,” “The Lost Boys,” and “Lucas.” But, with great fame comes great pain.

At the height of his fame, Haim was troubled by persistent financial management and drug-related issues. Haim’s drug habits were a challenge, but his troubles started when his insurers sued him for failing to disclose his drug addiction. After a $375,000 loss, acting jobs got scarce for the actor, and in 1997, he filed for bankruptcy.

Just before he died, Haim had moved back in with his mother. After succumbing to pneumonia at only 38, he had nothing. His family sought help from fans to cover the funeral expenses, ending a sad story of a fall from grace.

6 Nikola Tesla

Elon Musk’s Tesla is a successful company, but the man whom it’s named after, Nikola Tesla, was one of the most incredible inventors in history. Tesla, who rubbed shoulders with Thomas Edison, gifted the world with some incredible things. He’s responsible for alternative current (AC), wireless technology, X-Rays, and neon lamps. Still, this famed innovator somehow died broke.

Tesla’s financial problems were caused by his failures in business and poor money management. One of the most popular blunders by Tesla was his failure to get a $50,000 bonus offer from Thomas Edison for his work. Similar unfortunate and unwise dealings trailed Tesla for most of his life.

In his last years, Tesla had meager savings that forced him to live in a series of New York hotels. After passing away in 1943, Tesla left a string of unpaid bills, a legacy that belittled his achievements.

5 Billie Holiday

Billie Holiday was one of the most influential jazz vocalists of all time. The “Strange Fruit” singer was so popular that her autobiography was made into a film titled “Lady Sings the Blues.” Yet despite her fame, Holiday’s life was filled with trouble from her early life.

Raised by a single parent, Holiday had a difficult upbringing and, as a child, and was a victim of sexual assault. The pain and grief from her formative years caused grief for the young star. She subsequently found solace in drugs and alcohol. Yet, despite addiction, the artist experienced great success as a signed artist who was renowned both locally and overseas.

By the time she died from drug complications, Holiday had just $750 to her name. In 2000, her contributions to music were recognized as she was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

4 Gary Coleman

Gary Coleman started as a childhood star on the famed American sitcom “Diff’rent Strokes.” For his stellar performance as Arnold Jackson, Coleman was easily one of NBC’s highest-paid comedy stars. Reports had it that per episode, Coleman was making $100,000, an impressive payday by any standards.

However, the success on-screen led to troubles for the young star. In 1993, Coleman sued his parents, lawyers, and agents for mismanaging his estate and won. Yet, the $1.3 million wins did not make life any easier for Coleman, who suffered other financial mistakes and persistent health problems. In 1999, Coleman filed for bankruptcy.

In the 2000s, the anguished star even started an online auction titled “Save Me,” where he sold his signature objects. Selling his pimp suit, couch, and even pants, Coleman was forced to rely on goodwill. When he died in 2010, Coleman was dead broke, with about $70,000 in debt. A very sad ending.

3 Bela Lugosi

We all know and love “Dracula,” a horror classic, and Bela Lugosi’s role in the film made him an instant superstar. After his stunning performance as Count Dracula, Lugosi’s star shone bright, but soon, his success proved to be a curse.

Because of his huge success as Count Dracula, Lugosi was unable to land other roles in film, and after five divorces, he was losing cash fast. In addition to the pressures of being a star, Lugosi’s fame also invited an addiction problem. The fancy lifestyle and partying made alcohol and drugs major weaknesses for Lugosi.

The high costs of being a celebrity led Lugosi to low-budget films that he relied on to survive. Sadly, when he died, Lugosi had little to show for his work as an actor, leaving just $1,900 in the bank and $1000 in real estate. What started as a promising career became a sad story of disgrace and bad luck.

2 Joe Louis

Joe Louis, aka “The Brown Bomber,” was one of the greatest American professional boxers. Joe Louis was so talented that he’s considered the finest heavyweight champion to ever live in the history of boxing. However, while Louis made millions from his fame and performance in the ring, he left little behind.

Louis was a generous man and after splitting his winnings with his handlers, he lavishly gifted it to relatives, friends, and spent the spare on poor investments. Estimates indicate that out of the $4.7 million he ever made boxing, he only ended up with about $800,000, a small sum that he still gave away. After retirement, Louis even worked as a greeter at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas to earn some extra cash.

Like other celebrities, Joe Louis’ woes were made worse by his debts to the IRS that rose to the tune of $1 million. Louis’ woes were so severe that his rival Max Schmeling and Frank Lucas, a mobster, joined hands to assist him. In the end, ‘The Brown Bomber’ died a humble man who did not enjoy the toils of his youth.

1 Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson, The King of Pop, was one of the most celebrated musicians of all time. As an artist who started his career with the Jackson 5, Jackson’s career was bright and by the time he decided to go solo as an artist, he was unstoppable. Garnering 13 Grammy awards among other prestigious accolades, the ‘Thriller’ singer lived a most thrilling life.

However, while he sold an impressive 750 million albums, behind the scenes, Michael Jackson’s life was marked by lavish spending and tax debt. When he died in 2009, the world learned that the star owed the IRS $500,000 and for a short time, his estate was bankrupt. As millions around the world mourned his legacy, MJ’s estate managers looked for ways of solving the financial woes in his estate.

As luck would have it, MJ’s passing sparked new sales that made him the first artist in history to sell over 1 million tracks in a single week! Posthumously, Michael Jackson’s legacy turned into profit, and when Sony paid $250 million to extend the artist’s back catalog, his debts were more than solved. In death, Michael Jackson returned to his throne as one of the greatest artists of all time.

Founded by Daniel Katz, David Fenkel, and John Hodges as a film distribution company back in 2012, A24 has been something of a mission over the past decade to champion unique, quirky, and award-winning films with an independent mandate. Moving into the production game in 2016, the company has led the charge in putting out exciting films that seek to alter the status quo, defy audience expectations, and in many ways, flip the bird at the stagnant and repetitive Hollywood system, whose preoccupation with capes and spandex has stifled the kind of creative filmmaking A24 is all about.

Most of the films they put out are not just good but actively shift our expectations of cinema and what it is capable of. Thus, each of the following films takes a sledgehammer to the filmmaking mold and speaks to the true extent of A24’s input in the industry in recent years.

10 Eighth Grade (2019)

Bo Burnham’s coming-of-age comedy Eighth Grade may sound like a setup for your typical teen movie—awkward eighth grader transitions from middle to high school while navigating the trials of mean girls, pool parties, and social media—but it is anything but.

Subversive from beginning to end, Eighth Grade is an anti-teen movie, eschewing plots about ugly ducklings, virginity pacts, and the Spring Break party to end all Spring Break parties, to prioritize authentic relationships. Courting realism, Burnham rooted his research in the least-viewed YouTube vlogs of eighth graders, building their personalities, mannerisms, vocabularies, and expressions into his script. He also cast actual eighth graders, including star Elsie Fisher in environments that neither play up the bullies nor play down the flaws in painting a cringingly accurate portrayal of such a pivotal time of life.

But all this effort to represent the struggles of being a teen was almost wasted when the MPAA gave Eighth Grade an R rating. In response, A24 and Burnham arranged one-off free screenings in every U.S. state, bypassing the censor’s ratings to reach their target audience.^[1]

9 Hereditary (2018)

A24 has played a huge part in revolutionizing, modernizing, and re-popularizing horror, helping guide and sustain a renaissance for the genre that has seen it transformed from the cheap thrills of the ’00s to the mainstream artform we know today. And one of its standard bearers comes in the unassuming form of Ari Aster, whose feature-length debut Hereditary might be the scariest popular horror of all time.

Foregoing jump scares and many other cliches and cheap tricks we associate with the genre, Hereditary builds its tension around a family of four and the many bizarre tragedies that befall them, leaving audiences guessing until late on whether there is any supernatural involvement. But the key element to the whole picture is the sound. Avant-garde composer Colin Stetson was tasked by Aster to produce a score that acted as its own character in the film, a looming evil presence that would fill the absence of a visual one. And he did—Stetson created a dark and haunting 85-minute soundscape (covering 66% of all screen time) whose primary instrument was, of all things, his own voice.^[2]

8 The Lighthouse (2019)

Robert Eggers’s second feature-length film The Lighthouse was also his second film with A24, and it exemplifies the kind of risks the company is willing to take in order to bring an auteur’s vision to life. The Lighthouse is the tale of two nineteenth-century lighthouse keepers (“wickies”), played by Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe, who gradually lose touch with reality while marooned for months on a small island off the New England coast.

Nothing about The Lighthouse is conventional, whether this is the fact it is presented in black and white or uses the 1.19:1 Movietone aspect ratio (a square format prevalent in the 1920s). Or maybe it is that it was filmed on location in Cape Forchu, where the wind, rain and cold were as real as they look onscreen. But the over-the-top attention to authenticity doesn’t end there, as Eggers had Pattinson and Dafoe speak in often incomprehensible nineteenth-century wickie dialogue while working in very tight spaces (squeezing all scenes into a narrow aspect ratio), living in filth, and throwing up and wetting themselves on camera.^[3]

7 Moonlight (2016)

The very first film produced by A24, Barry Jenkins’s Moonlight, tells the story of a young homosexual Black man, Chiron, through his childhood, adolescence, and the beginnings of adulthood, exploring the challenges associated with his sexuality and identity.

The film breaks narrative convention by having three different actors (Trevante Rhodes, Ashton Sanders, and Alex Hibbert) portray Chiron, with each section touching on pivotal moments that influence his development in the next. To achieve a distinctive visual style in keeping with the time and setting, colorist Alex Bickel also edited each chapter to emulate different film stock—Fuji, Kodak, and Agfa.

Much more than unusual narrative and visual styles, however, Moonlight presents a thoughtful intersection of Black masculinity, vulnerability, and homosexuality, the first of its kind to be recognized globally. Support for the film and its work in bringing the struggles and nuance of the gay Black community to such a large audience was so great it even won the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture and the Academy Award for Best Film.^[4]

6 Midsommar (2019)

Leading with a horrific string score/human scream match cut, Ari Aster’s sophomore feature Midsommar opens on the literal and metaphorical darkness of a double murder-suicide in winter, as protagonist Dani Ardor’s (Florence Pugh) entire immediate family is killed in one fell swoop. This inspires her to get away for a while on a trip to a remote Swedish village with her boyfriend and his college classmates, where the villagers are celebrating a midsummer festival that occurs once every 90 years.

Once Dani has left the U.S. behind, the whole film plays out in broad daylight as the mysterious Swedes’ ploy to collect nine human sacrifices becomes apparent. On paper, Midsommar shouldn’t work. Not only is daylight not scary, but there is no discernible villain; the villagers operate together and have nothing but joy and solidarity to spread among their surviving guests. Yet, in breaking the most fundamental rules of the horror playbook, the film still comes out on top. And, as if that wasn’t enough, it gambles everything on a pre-credit tapestry that spoils the entire plot.^[5]

5 Uncut Gems (2019)

Known for their innovative approach to filmmaking, taking risks, and creating the space for established actors and non-actors alike to try something new, the Safdie brothers struck cinematic gold with their New York-set fifth feature, Uncut Gems. And the innovation of this street-level crime thriller is twofold, casting Adam Sandler in a serious dramatic role and generating a breakneck tension that makes the film viscerally stressful to watch.

The film sees Sandler perfectly cast against type as Howard Ratner, a jeweler and gambling addict who pushes himself, his wife, and the audience to the absolute breaking point of pure, unadulterated anxiety as he makes bad call after bad call. Using sheer will and determination, the Safdies got a nuanced performance out of Sandler quite unlike anything audiences have seen from him before. Still, their tactile visual claustrophobia took a little more technical graft. To achieve this effect, the brothers directed cinematographer Darius Khondji to break from his typically elegant style and use garish lighting, sharp angles, overcrowded compositions, and high contrast while moving from conflict to conflict in a continuous stream of terror.^[6]

4 The Green Knight (2021)

In a left-field move even by A24 standards, director David Lowery chose to rejuvenate a 14th-century poem that most people without a degree in English literature have never heard of: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. A coming-of-age tale set in Arthurian times, The Green Knight stars Dev Patel as King Arthur’s hapless, luckless, story-less nephew, who must cease his drinking and louting and go on a quest to find the mysterious Green Knight.

Casting Patel (a mixed-race actor) in a role and period that is traditionally cast all-white was a bold yet striking choice, adding to an overarching visual style that helps make such an old text relevant to a contemporary audience. Underpinned by a rich and mesmeric color palette, The Green Knight is a wonder to watch, taking the medieval setting and making it vibrant yet believable. But what went on behind the camera was equally as important, as this was the first vegan medieval fantasy film. Owing to Lowery’s veganism, the production designers made every piece of leather and clothing seen onscreen from non-animal materials.^[7]

3 Men (2022)

Though best known for his 2015 sci-fi debut Ex Machina, a deep, dark musing on free will, Alex Garland brutalized screens under the A24 banner again in 2022 with the folk horror film Men. Set in a village deep in the English countryside, a grieving woman (Jesse Buckley’s Harper) escapes the city for some solitude and reflection, only to find herself stalked and victimized by a town of eerily similar and ever-more antagonistic men.

While this setup is enough to send chills to the core of any woman holidaying alone, the film’s greatest horrors stem from its unprecedented approach to casting. Rory Kinnear stars opposite Buckley as, well, everyone: He plays all the village’s occupants, including the vicar, the police, the publican, and even a young boy. Often appearing as multiple different iterations of himself in each scene, Kinnear was able to drop in and out of the different characters, having prepared for the part by composing extensive biographies, which were subsequently used by hair and makeup to help bring each man to life.^[8]

2 The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021)

Few citizens of the Western world are not familiar with William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, but equally, few have conceived of it in quite the way Joel Coen did in The Tragedy of Macbeth. It was a bold decision for a director known for contemporary comedy to bring a 17th-century tragedy to the screen in black and white, with a 4:3 aspect ratio, using Shakespeare’s original language. Bolder still, perhaps, is the color- and culturally-blind casting of Denzel Washington, who plays the titular Scottish lord with an American accent.

What really makes the film different, however, is its staging, lighting, and visuals. Cinematographer Bruno Delbonnel’s famously rich color palettes (Amelie, Big Eyes) are utilized in Macbeth to make the black and white pop. But production designer Stefan Dechant had the largest hand in bringing Coen’s vision to life, building soundstage sets replete with optical illusions designed to break down the boundaries between up and down, day and night, interior and exterior. The result is fittingly a disorienting adaptation unlike any other, which leaves viewers immersed in the horrors of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedy.^[9]

1 Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)

Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert’s (known as “Daniels”) genre-smashing breakthrough Everything Everywhere All at Once is the jewel in A24’s crown, as both a runaway critical success and their highest earning title at the box office. Embracing Asian-American culture and the trials faced by second-generation immigrants, the film is set in a surreal world of multiverses where characters use earpieces and trigger actions to shift into other realities, personas, and skill sets.

Everything Everywhere blends influences from across the cinematic canon, winkingly referencing everything from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (which also featured the film’s star Michelle Yeoh) with extensive martial arts sequences to the MCU with dimension-hopping antics and sci-fi visuals to Ratatouille—or should that be Raccaccoonie? Bending the public’s preoccupation with multiverses and metafiction to the absolute extreme, there are no film boundaries this picture doesn’t trample, including a fake-out ending with credits.

As if that wasn’t enough, it was all made on a budget of $25 million. And it had only a five-person effects team using old-school techniques and filmmaking tricks, such as wires, puppets, and basic green screens, to give the experience of a far more expensive production.^[10]