In the cutthroat world of big business, even the mightiest companies can stumble—and when they do, the results can be spectacularly costly. These aren’t just minor errors; they’re monumental blunders that incinerate billions of dollars, turning what seemed like brilliant strategies into legendary failures.

In this list, we’ll explore ten of the most staggering examples of companies that set cash on fire. These stories aren’t just about financial losses—they’re about the hubris, miscalculations, and unforeseen challenges that can derail even the best-laid plans. As you read, you’ll see how quickly things can go wrong when billions are on the line and how these colossal mistakes are powerful lessons in the unforgiving arena of global business.

Related: 10 Legitimate Business Industries That Seem Like Scams

10 Gateway’s Rapid Expansion

Gateway Inc., once a household name in the personal computer industry, offers a classic example of how rapid growth can spiral into a costly mistake. Founded in 1985, Gateway quickly captured the market’s attention, with sales skyrocketing to over $1.1 billion by 1992 and revenue peaking at $6.29 billion in 1997. But in its race to grow, Gateway stumbled. The company’s aggressive expansion led to sprawling manufacturing facilities and a bloated executive team, all while quality control took a backseat.

As Gateway continued to push for growth, the cracks became impossible to ignore. Shipping delays, poorly assembled products, and frustrated customers began to tarnish its reputation. Adding to its troubles, Gateway’s misguided attempt to break into the consumer electronics market only stretched its resources thinner, leaving the company vulnerable as rivals like Dell and HP capitalized on the booming laptop market.

In a desperate bid to stay afloat, Gateway acquired eMachines in 2004, but by then, the damage was done. The company was sold to Acer in 2007 for a fraction of its former glory. Gateway’s story is a powerful reminder of how unchecked growth and strategic missteps can turn success into a financial disaster.^[1]

9 Xerox’s Squandered Opportunity

Xerox’s Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) was a cradle of innovation, developing groundbreaking technologies like the graphical user interface (GUI) and the computer mouse. These inventions had the potential to revolutionize the tech industry and could have positioned Xerox as a leader in personal computing. However, despite having a goldmine of ideas, Xerox failed to turn these innovations into commercial successes, effectively letting billions slip away.

The disconnect between PARC and Xerox’s headquarters in New York—roughly 2,500 miles (4,023 kilometers) away—played a significant role in this missed opportunity. While the engineers at PARC were pushing the boundaries of technology, Xerox’s leadership was deeply rooted in their core photocopier business. This gap in focus and vision prevented Xerox from seeing how these innovations could be the future of computing.

In the end, companies like Apple capitalized on the technologies Xerox pioneered. Steve Jobs famously recognized the potential of the GUI and incorporated it into the first Macintosh, a move that helped shape the future of personal computing. Xerox’s failure to execute on its own innovations stands as one of the most significant billion-dollar blunders in tech history—a cautionary tale of how even the best ideas can fall flat without the right strategy and vision.^[2]

8 Iridium: From $5 Billion Blunder to Surprising Salvation

Iridium’s tale is one of colossal ambition, monumental failure, and an unexpected second chance. Launched by Motorola in the 1980s, the $5 billion Iridium satellite network was supposed to revolutionize global communications with its 66 low-Earth-orbit satellites. But by the time it debuted in 1998, the technology was already outdated. The phones were bulky, the call rates sky-high, and the timing couldn’t have been worse. Iridium quickly became a textbook example of a billion-dollar blunder, leading to its bankruptcy in 1999.

Just as Iridium was about to be scrapped, aviation executive Dan Colussy saw an opportunity where others saw only failure. With a little help from the Pentagon, which recognized Iridium’s unique value for military use, Colussy bought the entire system for just $25 million. Instead of letting it crash back to Earth, he repositioned Iridium as a niche service for remote and military communications, turning what was nearly a total loss into a strategic win.

Iridium’s revival is a rare case of a billion-dollar mistake being salvaged and repurposed. What started as an enormous financial misstep ended up becoming a valuable tool for specialized markets, proving that even the biggest blunders can sometimes be saved with the right vision and a bit of luck.^[3]

7 Zynga’s $200 Million Misfire

In 2012, Zynga made a splash by acquiring OMGPOP, the creators of the hit game Draw Something, for $200 million. At the time, Draw Something was the talk of the town, and Zynga saw it as a perfect addition to its gaming portfolio. But the timing couldn’t have been worse. By the time the deal closed, the game’s popularity was already declining, turning what seemed like a brilliant move into a costly misfire.

The acquisition quickly ran into trouble. Cultural clashes between Zynga and OMGPOP created internal friction, and what should have been a smooth integration became a struggle. Less than a year after the acquisition, Zynga shut down OMGPOP, laying off most of the staff and closing the New York office. While Zynga retained some assets and intellectual property, the deal ultimately failed to deliver the expected returns.

Zynga’s experience with OMGPOP is a cautionary tale of how even well-intentioned acquisitions can go wrong if the timing and execution are off. The $200 million gamble didn’t pay off, highlighting the risks involved in chasing the next big thing in the fast-moving tech world.^[4]

6 Microsoft’s $1 Billion Kin Catastrophe

In 2010, Microsoft launched the Kin One and Kin Two, two phones that were supposed to redefine social media for teens. Billed as “the next generation of social phones,” the Kin was meant to capture a new market segment. But just six weeks after hitting the shelves, Microsoft pulled the plug, marking one of the biggest and quickest flops in cell phone history. The Kin ended up costing Microsoft nearly $1 billion, making it a textbook case of setting cash on fire.

The Kin’s downfall was a mix of bad timing, internal power struggles, and strategic missteps. Originally part of “Project Pink,” the Kin phones were supposed to run on a unique operating system. However, after internal conflicts, Microsoft forced a version of the Windows Phone OS onto the devices, leading to delays and a final product that didn’t impress. Add to that a confusing pricing model and lackluster features, and it’s no wonder the Kin failed to find its audience.

Microsoft’s Kin debacle wasn’t just a financial disaster—it also led to the departure of key executives and tarnished the company’s reputation in the mobile market. It’s a stark reminder that even a tech giant can burn through a billion dollars in the blink of an eye if the execution isn’t right.^[5]

5 Groupon’s $6 Billion Blown Deal

In 2010, Groupon had the chance to make tech history by accepting a $6 billion offer from Google. But in a move that left many stunned, founder Andrew Mason turned it down, convinced that Groupon had even greater potential on its own. At the time, the daily deals site was riding high, and Mason’s decision seemed like a bold bet on the future. However, what looked like confidence soon turned into one of the biggest billion-dollar blunders in tech.

As competitors crowded into the daily deals space and the initial excitement around Groupon faded, the company struggled to maintain its momentum. The market was saturated with similar services, and Groupon’s growth began to stall. Meanwhile, the $6 billion offer from Google became a what-if scenario that haunted the company as its stock value plummeted and its early promise dwindled.

Rejecting Google’s offer, which could have been a financial windfall, ended up costing Groupon dearly. Instead of capitalizing on the moment, the company’s refusal to sell marked the beginning of its decline. It’s a stark reminder that sometimes the biggest mistake isn’t the deal you make—it’s the one you walk away from.^[6]

4 Webvan’s $800 Million Slip Up

In the late 1990s, Webvan set out to revolutionize grocery shopping with its bold vision of home delivery. Backed by a staggering $800 million in capital, the company was determined to bring groceries straight to your door. But instead of becoming the next big thing, Webvan went down in flames, becoming one of the most infamous disasters of the dot-com bubble. This billion-dollar blunder resulted from a perfect storm of poor decisions and misguided ambition.

Webvan’s first mistake was trying to be everything to everyone. They targeted a mass-market audience with premium services, hoping to outprice competitors like Safeway while offering Whole Foods-level quality. But that strategy attracted price-sensitive customers who weren’t willing to pay for the luxury. Next, Webvan sunk millions into building a complex, high-tech infrastructure from scratch—distribution centers, conveyor belts, delivery algorithms—you name it. It all sounded impressive, but it was a money pit that never paid off.

The final nail in the coffin was Webvan’s rapid, reckless expansion. Before they had even figured out how to make it work in their own backyard, they were rolling out in cities across the country, burning through cash faster than they could make it. By 2001, the dream was dead, and Webvan was bankrupt, its assets being sold for pennies on the dollar. Webvan’s story is a classic example of how to set $800 million on fire—one bad decision at a time.^[7]

3 LeEco’s Billion-Dollar Gamble

LeEco, the Chinese tech giant, once set its sights on outshining Netflix, Tesla, and Apple. Under the ambitious leadership of founder Jia Yueting, the company aggressively expanded into streaming services, smartphones, electric cars, and smart TVs. With billions of dollars at its disposal, LeEco appeared poised to dominate the global market. But instead of building a tech empire, it found itself engulfed in financial chaos, burning through billions in what became a textbook case of overreach.

LeEco’s downfall wasn’t just about overambition—it was a perfect storm of poor planning, increased competition, and regulatory hurdles. The company spread itself too thin, investing heavily in various sectors without securing a solid financial foundation. Despite the bold vision, LeEco’s financial house of cards quickly collapsed. By 2017, the company faced massive layoffs, plummeting stock prices, and creditors demanding payment, leaving its grand dreams in ashes.

LeEco’s billion-dollar blunder serves as a stark reminder that even with deep pockets, unchecked ambition without a clear strategy can lead to spectacular failure.^[8]

2 Daimler-Benz’s $36 Billion Misstep with Chrysler

In 1998, Daimler-Benz made headlines by acquiring Chrysler for a staggering $36 billion, aiming to create an automotive giant that could rival the world’s best. But what was supposed to be a match made in corporate heaven quickly unraveled into one of the most notorious billion-dollar blunders. The two companies were as different as oil and water—Daimler-Benz, a symbol of German luxury, and Chrysler, a scrappy American carmaker known for its affordable vehicles. The cultural and operational chasm between the two was too vast to bridge, leading to a merger that never found its footing.

Instead of realizing the anticipated synergies, the merger became a textbook case of corporate incompatibility. Daimler-Benz was reluctant to integrate its premium components with Chrysler’s more budget-conscious offerings, fearing it would tarnish the Mercedes-Benz brand. Meanwhile, Chrysler struggled with its own issues, including rising costs and declining demand, which only deepened the financial woes of the union.

By 2007, the once-celebrated merger had deteriorated so badly that Daimler was forced to offload Chrysler for less than $5 billion, a fraction of the original purchase price. What was intended to be a bold step towards global domination ended up as a costly lesson in the perils of mismatched corporate marriages.^[9]

1 Microsoft’s High-Stakes AI Investment

In a bold move, Microsoft poured $19 billion into artificial intelligence within just three months, with much of that going toward building and leasing data centers. This massive investment highlights the company’s commitment to leading the AI revolution. However, the financial return on this gamble remains uncertain, and the lack of immediate, significant revenue has some investors questioning the strategy.

Microsoft’s leadership has been upfront about the challenges, emphasizing that AI is a long-term play rather than a quick win. While they remain confident in the transformative potential of AI, the sheer scale of the investment has raised concerns about whether the company can maintain investor confidence in the interim. Despite these concerns, Microsoft’s broader AI strategy, which includes various investments and acquisitions, continues to be a central focus for the tech giant.

Only time will tell if Microsoft’s ambitious AI bet will reshape the industry or serve as a reminder of the risks inherent in such large-scale investments.^[10]

Ah, Los Angeles! Home to Hollywood, once the mecca of all things movie-related. One of the most cinematic cities on the planet, L.A. has inspired great filmmakers across the globe for decades. From the dreamy Sunset Boulevard to the mysterious Mulholland Drive, Los Angeles has provided the perfect backdrop to some of the most iconic films in history. Today, the sun may be setting on Hollywood, but that doesn’t meant there aren’t still flashes of brilliance to be seen. Read our spoiler-free list with pleasure!

Top 10 Dark Secrets That Expose The Truth About Hollywood

10 Once Upon A Time…In Hollywood (2019)

Writer and director, Quentin Tarantino, provides an original take on the altercation involving Roman Polanski, Sharon Tate, and members of the infamous Manson Family.

The film follows famous Hollywood actor, Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio), and his longtime best friend and stunt double, Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt). Multiple storylines intersect in this modern fairy tale that pays tribute to the classic age of Hollywood, and nothing screams Tarantino like the epic climax of the film that will leave the viewer speechless.

The New Yorker film critic Richard Brody applauds Tarantino’s take on this important era. “The movie draws a very clear line regarding the end of that classic age: it’s set in 1969, at a time when the studios were in financial crisis owing to their trouble keeping up with the changing times, and its plot involves the event that’s widely cited as the end of an era, the Manson Family killings of Sharon Tate and four others at the house she shared with her husband, Roman Polanski.”^[1]

9 Nightcrawler (2014)

Dan Gilroy’s neo-noir thriller, Nightcrawler, stars Jake Gyllenhaal as Louis Bloom, a narcissistic sociopath and loner who works as a stringer, recording violent events that take place late at night in Los Angeles. Louis sells these videos to news channels that pay top dollar for the most gruesome, graphic footage. Void of any ethics and morals, Louis will stop at nothing when he becomes obsessed with obtaining the “money shot.” Gilroy snagged an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.^[2]

8 The Neon Demon (2016)

Another film from Nicolas Winding Refn, this 2016 psychological horror follows Jesse (Elle Fanning), a beautiful 16-year-old girl who moves to Los Angeles to pursue a modeling career. Jesse is quickly seen as the “next big thing” and proceeds to take the fashion world by storm. This positions her as a target for fellow members of the cutthroat industry who despise Jesse’s natural beauty and seek to destroy her at all costs. What happens next isn’t pretty.

Refn, who stated that he visualized the film as an “adult fairy tale,” shot The Neon Demon in L.A. because it’s the only city to which his wife was willing to accompany him “if we had to travel out of Copenhagen.”^[3]

7 Lost Highway (1997)

Two stories intertwine in this 1997 neo-noir film from David Lynch. Fred (Bill Pullman) is a jazz musician living in Los Angeles. He receives an ominous message over his home intercom one day saying, “Dick Laurant is dead.” The next day, Fred’s wife, Renee (Patricia Arquette), finds a VHS tape on their porch. Fred and Renee play the tape to find that it is a video recording of their house. Over the next few days, they receive more tapes. Eventually, the footage is inside the house of the couple in bed.

The police arrive but are no help. To distract themselves, Fred and Renee attend a party being thrown by Renee’s friend, Andy, with whom Fred believes she is having an affair. Another tape arrives the following day, but Renee is nowhere to be found, so Fred watches it alone. To his horror, the tape shows Fred standing over Renee’s dead body.

Fred is sentenced to death for his wife’s murder. While on death row, he vanishes from his cell and is replaced by a young auto mechanic named Pete (Balthazar Getty) who falls in love with a mysterious woman named Alice also played by Patricia Arquette.

In her New York Times piece Eerie Visions With a Mood of Menace, film critic Janet Maslin writes, “[Lost Highway] constructs an intricate puzzle out of dream logic, lurid eroticism, violence, shifting identities, and fierce intimations of doom.”^[4]

6 Sunset Boulevard (1950)

Sunset Boulevard, the classic 1950 film noir from director Billy Wilder, does not disappoint. An aging silent film star, the iconic Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson), hires a young screenwriter, Joe Gillis (William Holden), to write the screenplay for what she believes will be her cinematic comeback. Desperate for money and a place to stay, Joe takes the job and moves in with Norma at her Hollywood mansion. He underestimates, however, the fragile mental state and instability of the has-been actress who spirals into madness in a desperate attempt to grasp at any final straws that will allow her to remain relevant.

Film critics agree that the film brilliantly illustrates the truth behind the glimmer of Hollywood:

“Sunset Boulevard isn’t only Billy Wilder at his finest, but the film is easily the best film ever made about Hollywood in cinematic history.” Danielle Solzman, Solzy at the Movies

“Sunset Boulevard, the blackest of Hollywood’s self-portraits, is an old dark house of a ghost story inhabited by the living shadows of its discarded stars.” Sean Axmaker, Seanax.com

“Rarely is fiction shot through so glitteringly with real life.” Marc Lee, Daily Telegraph

“One of Wilder’s finest, and certainly the blackest, of all Hollywood’s scab-scratching accounts of itself.” Geoff Andrew, Time Out

“Still the best Hollywood movie ever made about Hollywood.” Andrew Sarris, Observer^[5]

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5 La La Land (2016)

Somewhat overshadowed by the infamous mishap that occurred at the 2017 Academy Awards when it was mistakenly awarded the Oscar for Best Picture instead of Moonlight, La La Land still remains one of the most highly regarded movie musicals of the 21st century. Written and directed by Damien Chazelle, this romantic comedy features a jazz musician (Ryan Gosling) and an aspiring actress (Emma Stone) who fall in love while pursuing their dreams in Los Angeles, known for making or breaking artists.

While it didn’t win the Best Picture Oscar, La La Land received a record-breaking number of awards and nominations. The film won all seven of its Golden Globes nominations, five British Academy Film Awards (including Best Film), and six of its fourteen Academy Awards nominations (including Best Director for Chazelle and Best Actress for Stone.)^[6]

4 Under The Silver Lake (2018)

Under The Silver Lake is a lot of things. It’s hard to pinpoint just one genre. This 2018 neo-noir, black comedy, conspiracy, mystery/crime thriller was written and directed by David Robert Mitchell, following hot on the heels of his film It Follows, one of the best horror movie in decades. It stars Andrew Garfield as Sam, an unemployed, disenchanted young man living in Silver Lake, Los Angeles. Sam spends his days smoking cigarettes, reading underground comic books, and spying on neighbors while they swim in the pool.

Sam finally introduces himself to one of his swimming neighbors, Sarah (Riley Keough), who invites him inside. The two hit it off and make plans to see each other again. But when Sam shows up to her apartment the next day, he finds that she has vanished. This sends him on a journey through the City of Angels, as he starts to put pieces together and discovers that all of this may have to do with the latest comic he has been reading, Under The Silver Lake.

In his review for Variety, Owen Gleiberman writes of the film’s “Old Los Angeles” view of the world, going back to masters of noir fiction Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, “to Chinatown and Altman’s The Long Goodbye, to Mulholland Drive and Kiss Me Deadly and Inherent Vice.”^[7]

3 Drive (2011)

Drive is one of writer/director Nicolas Winding Refn’s most acclaimed films. Based on the 2005 James Sallis novel, this neo-noir action drama from 2011 is set in Los Angeles. It follows an unnamed Hollywood stuntman (Ryan Gosling) who moonlights as a getaway driver for criminals. After getting close with his neighbor (Carey Mulligan) and her son, the driver agrees to take part in a heist organized by the neighbor’s husband, who has just been released from jail.

The job goes horribly wrong, however, and the driver must risk his life to protect his neighbors. Rotten Tomatoes gives this R-rated flick a 92%, but buckle up: the violence is graphic!^[8]

2 Nocturnal Animals (2016)

Tom Ford has more than a brilliant fashion sense up his luxury-brand sleeve. In 2016, seven years after the designer made his brilliant directorial debut with A Single Man, Ford electrified audiences with neo-noir psychological thriller Nocturnal Animals.

Nocturnal Animals centers around Susan (Amy Adams), a successful Los Angeles art gallery owner who receives a manuscript written by her ex-husband (Jake Gyllenhaal), whom she has not seen in years. The film then diverges into three parts, flashbacks of the past involving Susan’s relationship with her ex-husband; the present, which is Susan’s life now with her current husband; and the dark, twisted world of the story her ex-husband wrote that forces Susan to examine how it parallels her own life and past.

At Roger.Ebert.com, critic Glenn Kenny praises a sequence “that’s one of the most discomfortingly suspenseful in a Hollywood film since, maybe, Blue Velvet.” Adams and Gyllenhaal are outstanding, as usual, but Michael Shannon and Aaron Taylor-Johnson will blow your socks off.^[9]

1 Mulholland Drive (2001)

David Lynch’s 2001 masterpiece, Mulholland Drive, is considered by many to be one of the greatest films of all time. In 2016, a BBC poll of film critics worldwide named it the best film of the new millennium. In this surreal neo-noir mystery, we are introduced to a brunette amnesiac (Laura Harring) who takes refuge at an apartment on Sunset Boulevard after stumbling down from a car accident that occured on Mulholland Drive.

There, she meets the blond and wholesome Betty (Naomi Watts), who is staying at the apartment (her aunt’s) and seeking fame as an actress. The amnesiac introduces herself as Rita but doesn’t actually remember who she is. Together, the two women try to piece together the mystery of her identity and what happened that night. The plot is otherwise impossible to summarize, as narrative twists leave it open to interpretation as to what is a dream and what is reality.

“Like a lot of critics who adore the movie, none of us got it the first time,” said Los Angeles Times film critic Justin Chang. “Any person who says they did is lying.” Of the film’s timeless quality, Chang says, “It very lovingly recreates the grand old Hollywood of yesteryear and yet it’s a movie about the evils underlying the industry and particularly what it does to actresses and to women who dream of working in the business. It’s about the allure and also the toxic underbelly of the dream factory.”^[10]

See Also: Top 10 Ways Hollywood Ruined Your Favorite TV Shows

New York City: the home of gritty, groundbreaking, independent film. Unlike Los Angeles, New York offers filmmakers more artistic freedom with their work. Here, they are not bound by the pressure from major Hollywood studios; and while budgets may be lower, the results of financial restraints are often rewarding. Many hip, young directors draw inspiration from this exhilarating, fast-paced city and use it as the backdrop for some of the most nightmarish and anxiety-inducing films ever made.

10 Nightmares Lurking Just Behind History

10 Requiem For A Dream

This 2000 psychological drama from director Darrren Aronofsky doesn’t hold back in its portrayal of the devastating consequences of addiction. Featuring standout performances from Jennifer Conelley, Jared Leto, Ellen Burnstyn, and Marlon Wayans, this modern day fable follows four addicts living on Coney Island whose lives spiral out of control as they will stop at nothing to get their fix. This film is an examination of just how strong a hold drugs and other stimuli have on those who fall prey to their allure.

The late, great Roger Ebert described Aronofsky’s ability to portray the various mental states of his addicts as “fascinating.” Of the movie’s “worthless” NC-17 rating he said, “Anyone under 17 who is thinking of experimenting with drugs might want to see this movie, which pays like a travelogue of hell.”^[1]

9 Rosemary’s Baby

Groundbreaking for its time, this 1968 psychological horror film written and directed by Roman Polanski is a haunting chronicle of a woman’s pregnancy. Rosemary (Mia Farrow) and Guy (John Cassavetes) are a young couple who have just moved into their first apartment in New York City. Before long, Rosemary becomes pregnant. Alone and confined to their apartment, she becomes increasingly skeptical of an elderly couple living next door. As Rosemary’s paranoia grows, she becomes convinced that they are part of an evil cult that wants to take away her baby and use it for their rituals.

Polanski’s screenplay was based on Ira Levin’s 1967 novel of the same name. In 1980, a “quiet, pensive, and insecure” Levin said of his childhood horror inspirations, “I don’t recall being scared at all. Now, I’m terrified,” according to a Vanity Fair article calling Rosemary’s Baby “the most cursed hit movie ever made.”^[2]

8 The Devil’s Advocate

Keanu Reeves stars as Kevin Lomax in this supernatural thriller/horror film from 1997, directed by Taylor Hackford. Kevin is a defense lawyer living in Florida with his wife, Mary Ann (Charlize Theron). The couple relocate to New York City after Kevin is offered a high-paying job at a law firm, led by the charismatic John Milton (Al Pacino).

While Kevin is swept up with work and indulges in the many perks of the job, Mary Ann starts to experience frightening visions and begins to unravel. As his wife’s mental health deteriorates, Kevin realizes that his boss may, in fact, be satan, himself.

Fun Fact: Donald Trump’s private apartment at Trump Tower–featuring gold decor and a view of Central Park–was used as the home of Kevin’s client, Alex Cullen (Craig T. Nelson).^[3]

7 Fatal Attraction

Adrian Lyne’s iconic 1987 thriller is a tale of love, lust, and obsession. Dan (Michael Douglas) is a happily married Manhattan lawyer, living and working in New York City while raising a daughter with his wife Beth (Anne Archer). Everything changes when Dan meets Alex (Glenn Close), an editor for a publishing company. The two have a casual weekend affair while Dan’s wife and daughter are out of town. Alex, however, wants more than just a fling and manipulates Dan into spending more time with her.

When his family returns, Dan stops spending time with Alex, who has become obsessed with him. Dan makes it clear that he does not wish to continue the affair, but Alex refuses to accept that. She becomes increasingly aggressive and begins to stalk him and harass his family. As her behavior escalates, Dan realizes that his top priority is no longer to try and hide the affair but to protect his family whose safety is now at risk.

Producer Sherry Lansing wanted Barbara Hershey for the role of Alex, but Hershey was unavailable. Also on Lansing’s wishlist were Melanie Griffith, Jessica Lange, Michelle Pfeiffer, Susan Sarandon, and Debra Winger.^[4]

6 Dressed To Kill

This 1980 neo-noir slasher film was written and directed by Brian De Palma. New York City prostitute Liz (Nancy Allen) witnesses the brutal murder of housewife Kate (Angie Dickinson). While the police suspect Liz to be the murderer, the true killer seeks to kill Liz, as she is the only witness to the crime. Kate’s son is the only one who believes Liz, and the two of them team up to uncover the truth about his mother’s murder.

Making the film in the city was “pretty terrific” for De Palma, who’s from New York. “It’s so amazing to shoot all over the city and in different places. Of course, they did the interior of the museum in Philadelphia, but the film was shot in New York, so that was really cool.”^[5]

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5 American Psycho

Christian Bale is Patrick Bateman in this 2000 black comedy psychological horror film co-written and directed by Mary Harron. A handsome, young New York City investment banker by day, Patrick’s life revolves around maintaining his appearance and social status and striving endlessly to be the most respected among his coworkers. By night, however, Patrick indulges in his sinister desire to torture, kill, and sometimes even consume any helpless victim who may be unfortunate enough to cross his path.

What starts out as the portrait of the day-to-day life of a narcissistic serial killer turns out to be a psychological whirlwind as reality begins to blur, and Patrick attempts to cover up his tracks that may or may not have even been left behind in the first place.

Because the studio thought Bale might not be famous enough to play Bateman, there was a moment where it looked like American Psycho would become an Oliver Stone film starring Leonardo DiCaprio. But activist Gloria Steinem reportedly steered DiCaprio away from the project to protect his Titanic appeal among young female fans. In a weird turn of events, Steinem married David Bale five months after the release of American Psycho and became Bale’s stepmother!^[6]

4 Eyes Wide Shut

1999’s Eyes Wide Shut was the last film ever made by Stanley Kubric, one of the most renowned directors in cinematic history. This erotic mystery psychological thriller tells the story of upperclass New York City couple Bill (Tom Cruise) and Alice (Nicole Kidman) Hartford. Bill is a medical doctor, and Alice is a stay-at-home mom to their daughter. One night, after smoking some weed, Alice tells Bill that she once had sexual fantasies about a man that were so strong, she would have abandoned their family.

This revelation sparks something in Bill, who had previously claimed to have never been the jealous type. Bill is tormented by this information, obsessively visualizing the scenario in his head. He embarks on a late-night adventure through New York City where he attends a masked party of a secret society. The next day, after returning to his normal life, he discovers that a woman whom he met at the party has been found dead.

“Life goes on,” one character says cynically. “It always does until it doesn’t.” Kubrick died four days after completing the film.^[7]

3 Black Swan

Darren Aronofsky’s iconic psychological horror film from 2010 is a nonstop roller coaster ride that never lets up. Every aspect of this film showcases impeccable writing, filmmaking, and performances across the board. Natalie Portman stars as Nina Sayers, a dancer at a New York City ballet company who still lives at home with her overbearing mother, played by Barbara Hershey. The innocent and naive Nina is elated when the company’s artistic director Tomas (Vincent Cassel) chooses her to play the highly coveted role of the Swan Queen in the company’s upcoming production of Swan Lake.

The role of the Swan Queen, however, requires the dancer to portray both the virginal White Swan, which Nina perfectly embodies, and the evil, sensual Black Swan, for which fellow dancer Lily (Mila Kunis) is more suitable. As a rivalry emerges between the dancers, the competition and pressure to not only keep her role but to give a perfect performance sends Nina on a downward spiral of self-destruction into madness.

Aronofsky had considered combining ballet into the plot of The Wrestler, making it the story of a love affair between a wrestler (the epitome of “low art”) and a ballerina (the epitome of “high art”). But the director realized that wrestling and ballet were too big for just one film.^[8]

2 Jacob’s Ladder

This 1990 psychological horror film was directed by Adrian Lyne. War veteran, Jacob (Tim Robbins), awakens in a New York City subway after returning home from Vietnam. He is now working as a postal clerk and living in brooklyn with his girlfriend.

Jacob is mourning his old life and the death of his child while simultaneously experiencing vivid flashbacks and hallucinations. His world starts to fall apart around him as people and things begin to morph into the most disturbing and horrific images.

Lyne considered several big stars to play the leading character. Richard Gere, Dustin Hoffman, and Al Pacino were all interested in the role. Don Johnson and Mickey Rourke each turned it down.^[9]

1 Taxi Driver

Robert De Niro stars as Travis Bickle in this 1976 psychological drama, directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Paul Shrader. Travis is a loner and insomniac who works nights as a New York City cab driver. After meeting a campaign worker named Betsy (Cybill Shepherd), Travis hatches a plot to kill a presidential candidate. Narrowly escaping a campaign event, to which he brought a gun, Travis then turns his attention to a 12-year-old prostitute named Iris (Jodie Foster), whom he feels obligated to save.

Fun Fact: Since Foster was only 12 years old during filming, she was not permitted to participate in the most explicit scenes. Her old sister Connie, who was 19, agreed to be Jodie’s body double.^[10]

10 Real Places Straight Out Of A Nightmare

Isn’t it always enjoyable to watch actors fighting with bad guys on screen to rescue their girlfriends or daughters or for any good reason? But, what if they fight in real life, and that too, on film set itself, with co-actors or crew-members? We all enjoy the videos or news of the paparazzi getting beaten by some actors or actresses and making a sensation on Twitter or any other social media.

But that’s not all; some actors are famous more for their controversies than their acting skills. This time the countdown will be for the on film-set rivalries between actors and other members of the film’s team. Some nasty but epic moments below will definitely make you think twice before you want to have a date with them in your dreams again, like you always think of going to the Hawaii Islands with your favorite star.

Yes, they can also creep you out instead of making your “once in a lifetime evening” wonderful if they carry the same mood they pursue on sets. So have a glass of your favorite cola with some cheese popcorn to enjoy reading the way some actors behave on the set. And here is the list of actors who are outrageously infamous because of their bizarre behavior on film set.

The 10 Bizarre Behaved Celebrities On Film Set:

10. Steven Seagal

True Godfather of mixed martial arts, Sensei Steven Seagal, is famous for treating co-stars and stuntmen like a bully. Kicking stuntmen in between thighs is a normal thing for him, just to see if they’re wearing cups or not. On the set of Executive Decision, 1996, he attacked John Leguizamo, who is just a tom thumb with 5′ 8″ 70 kg in front of the Himalayan build of Seagal, just to prove who the real lion on the set was.

When everyone was rehearsing for the film where John Leguizamo was playing role of Seagal’s Master Sergeant, Seagal suddenly appeared and declared making some new laws on set, according to his wish, just to prove that he’s in command. Knowing about his characteristic behavior, no one objected other than John. When Leguizamo laughed at him for the absurd attitude Seagal had shown a minute ago, the Sensei Seagal Taekwondo’ed John’s bum against the brick and hit him hard with his elbow.

9. George Clooney

The salt and pepper guy from “Ocean’s 13”, George Clooney, got into a royal rumble with director David O. Russell during a shoot for “Three Kings”, 1999. American film director, screenwriter, and producer, David Owen Russell is pretty well-known for his back to back three-time academy nomination and also for his bad behavior with stars like Lily Tomlin.

Five years before Russell fought a heavy fight with Lily Tomlin, he inaugurated his ‘fight with stars’ syndrome with Clooney. When the “Three Kings” shooting was going on a meagre budget, Russell reportedly took his frustration out on crew-members. The silent fight between Clooney and Russell saw an outburst on the last day of filming after Russell grabbed his walkie-talkie and threw it on the ground to show his anger at Clooney.

According to Sharon Waxman, the fight was so intense that the second assistant director quit right there. Russell started banging Clooney with his head and invited Clooney for a hand on fight encounter. Experienced Clooney then replied by grabbing his throat and made him choke like hell till other crew-members had to drag him the other way.

See also: The 20 most handsome men in the world.

8. Faye Dunaway

The drop-dead beauty Dunaway did something hilarious on the set of Polanski’s 1974 masterpiece, Chinatown, in which Faye Dunaway acted great against Jack Nicholson. During shooting, when stray hairs of the actress threatened to disturb a shot, Polanski solved it quickly by plucking away the offending strands from Dunaway’s head without even calling the make-up guys.

Moreover, Dunaway lost her calm when her director refused to let her go to the toilet. With so much disgrace, and shivering with humiliation, she urinated in a coffee cup and threw it at the Director’s face. Polanski’s later memorized her by calling her “a gigantic pain in the ass” for the awful behavior he receives from Dunaway.

See also: 20 sexiest women alive.

7. Gene Hackman

While shooting “The Royal Tenenbaums”, 2001, Oscar winning American actor and novelist, Gene Hackman, was not so easy to deal with. In his five-decade career, he had proven himself as a pretty much high-maintenance actor. in a heated moment on the set, Gene endowed upon screenwriter Noah Baumbach a very colourful profanity, and shouted at director, Wes Anderson, to ‘pull up his pants and act like a man’.

During a chat session after the 10th anniversary screening in New York, cast and crew members recalled their memories about how Hackman was pretty hard talent to handle. His colleagues in that movie, Anderson and Gwyneth Paltrow, both admitted, they were pretty scared to work with Hackman.

In that session, Anjelica Huston also admitted that even she was extremely scared as a co-star. She also expressed she was more concerned with protecting Wes, and said that no one involved with that film had again ever heard or seen of Gene since that movie.

6. Marlon Brando

“The Score”, 2001, was one of the best from Frank Oz. The god of gripping realism, Marlon Brando, got offended by Frank Oz’s direction because his performance as a homosexual crime master was too effeminate in that film. He refused to wear pants on the set and forced the crew to shoot him only above the waist in all the scenes.

Also, he addressed the director as “Miss Piggy” with his childish counter on the set. He even brought a note from his medical assistant doctor, claiming Brando was too allergic to Oz. Oz, just to continue the shooting peacefully, sat in a different room and gave direction through co-star Robert De Niro in an ear piece.

In 1996′s “The Island of Dr. Moreau”, Brando refused to remove an ice bucket hat from his head. He had also put on an earpiece for crew-members to feed him lines and queues while shooting.

5. Julia Roberts

Directed by procreator of dinosaurs, The Steven Spielberg, “Hook” of 1991 was a huge success in box office and also acclaimed by critics. Gorgeous Julia Roberts messed up on set with Mr. Spielberg when she was aged just 23.

According to the New York Times, she fought a heavy battle on the set with Steven, which many people believe was her emotional outburst for a cocktail of drugs, followed by repeated nervous breakdowns after her heart-breaking separation with Kiefer Sutherland.

At that time People Magazine suggested that all the celebrity to visit the set of “Hook” which included Tom Cruise, Mel Gibson, Michelle Pfeiffer and Prince, just to check if Julia was seriously as emaciated and emotionally fragile as she was rumored to be. The crew-members of that film gave her the nickname of “Tinkerhell” during shooting.

See also: 20 hottest women in the world.

4. Jennifer Lopez

“What to Expect When You’re Expecting”, 2012 is a fun-to-watch flick for couples, directed by English film director and screenwriter, Kirk Jones. Our favorite Jennifer Lopez did a splendid job as Holly at the age of 42 years. While shooting that movie, she, without any good reason, refused to speak to anyone while filming, which spread rumors and anxiety in the entire movie-making process.

After the ‘couple a while ago’ break-up with his boyfriend, Marc Anthony, she was her best to make herself out of reach of the paparazzi attention by adopting the mysterious no-talking-to-anyone way, as she told to media later on. But, just to continue the shooting and her career, she brought “personal handler” so that the crew could communicate with her.

So, if you wanted to speak to J-Lo wearing an unwritten tag of “I don’t talk to anyone on this freaking earth” on the set of that movie, then you just had to talk to her personal handler.

3. Christian Bale

The Dark Knight, Christian Bale, is known as a method actor. While shooting for “Terminator Salvation” in 2009, directed by Michigan-born Joseph McGinty Nichol aka McG, he made Shane Hurlbut famous by behaving very rudely with him.

Everyone got to know about the heated verbal exchange on the set of that movie, thanks to some of the sneaky paparazzi. But, here is the catch: Hurlbut is the man he was assaulting with profanities. Bale later talked about the director of photography, Hurlbut, of how he broke Bale’s yogi-like concentration twice by walking on set during a scene.

Bale shouted and threatened everyone to quit the movie if Hurlbut repeated the offense. Later, Warner Brothers’ executives sent the entire videotape to the film insurer. But, now we get countless parodies of the song “R U Professional” by The Mae Shi just for that scenario.

See also: The 10 highest ranked movies of all time.

2. Bruce Willis

“Cop Out”, 2010, which portrayed a marvellous acting partnership between the Diehard dude, Bruce Willis, and Tracy Morgan, which is directed by popular comic book writer, Kevin Smith. After releasing the movie, on 2011 “WTF” podcast show by Marc Maron, Kevin expressed the way he felt while directing Bruce.

In his words, it was truly soul-crushing. Bruce was famous for the huge amount of time he always allotted after any film for promotion to the reporters and journalists. But, this time was an exception, and he did not even bother to pose next to the “Cop Out” poster for a single photo at any Cop Out related marketing or promotional events.

Other cast and crew members witnessed some verbal fights at the release party where Kevin thanked everyone other than Bruce Willis. Not only that, Bruce was also called a prick by Kevin for his rude and extraterrestrial behavior on the set and during promotions.

1. Lindsay Lohan

When there is a controversy, there is Lindsey Lohan, for sure. No one is as (in)famous as Lohan and Hilton for their bizarre attitude. On the set of “Anger Management”, created by Bruce Helford bearing the same name of a 2003 Adam Sandler film, a 2012 TV Series on FX, Lohan showed how much out of the world she actually is.

When she was cast for “Charlie Gets Lindsay Lohan in Trouble” on Season 2, Episode 12, according to one E! News source, Lohan was a colossal pain for everyone on the set to deal with. From the very second day, when she arrived on the set for shooting, she just did nothing other than holding up the production. The entire shooting stopped because Lilo sat in her trailer and dozed: dozed stalled, and stalled heavily.

See also: The 20 hottest Hollywood actresses.

She stalled and delayed the production every day intentionally, until she’s up and leave for her boyfriend’s concert. Holding everyone hostage for no good reason is the “Lindsay Lohan Way”. She topes the list of 10  Bizarre Behaved Celebrities.

Stars don’t depend on the planets, but the planets depend on them is the universal truth. So, however much capricious they are on the sets, they are always good to look on screen. We have to deal with the stars and their many ways of showing bizarreness, as long as they are good to our eyes and ears. So, go to the theater and enjoy them on screen….Only!!

Today, the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II is a well-known part of history. But the hard reality nobody seems to talk about is that this wasn’t some unique, isolated event. Governments were rounding up citizens from enemy countries and locking them inside camps on every corner of the world.

This wasn’t something that just happened to Japanese people in the United States and Jews in Germany. Nearly every country that fought in the war locked up innocent civilians purely because of their ancestry. And some of the stories that don’t get told are even more horrifying than the ones you’ve heard.

10 Canadian Internment Camps Were Worse Than The American Ones

While Japanese Americans were being rounded up and forced into internment camps in the US, the exact same thing was happening north of the border. The 23,000 people of Japanese ancestry living in Canada were dragged off and locked up in camps that, in many ways, were even worse than the ones in the United States.^[1]

They were stripped of every possession they owned and told that their property would be held “in trust” until the end of the war. That, though, was an empty promise. Less than six months after they were locked away, all the property the government had taken from them was auctioned off without their consent.

Many of the camps were converted barns and chicken coops that had been crudely insulated with tar paper. The prisoners weren’t given beds—instead, they were forced to sleep on straw-filled sacks that were often infested with fleas.

The winter of 1942–1943 was one of the coldest ever recorded in British Columbia. Temperatures regularly dropped down below –40 degrees Celsius (–40°F). The internees had to shovel dirt and pack it against their thin walls just to keep from freezing to death.

The United States started allowing their interned Japanese civilians to return to their homes in 1944, but the Canadians didn’t. They kept their Japanese prisoners locked up until April 1949 before finally sending them home.

Even then, not everyone made it back. The government strongly encouraged their Japanese civilians they’d locked up to move to Japan and never come back. 4,000 of the interned Japanese were deported before a single one was set free.

9 The US Also Interned Italian, German, Taiwanese, And Korean Civilians

The Japanese weren’t the only people sent to internment camps in the United States. Under the order that sent the Japanese into the camps, Taiwanese and Korean civilians were considered Japanese.

11,500 German Americans and 2,700 Italian Americans (other sources claim between 1,900 and 10,000) were locked up for being immigrants from an enemy state, as well.^[2] Compared to Japanese Americans, this was a fairly small portion of their population, but the ways they were chosen were often absurd. Joe DiMaggio’s father, for example, was very nearly sent off to the camps even though he’d lived in the US for more than 40 years, purely because he hadn’t yet applied for US citizenship.

Hundreds of thousands more were put under strict restrictions. Over 600,000 Italian Americans who were spared from the camps were still put under a mandatory curfew, forbidding them to step outside of their homes between 8:00 PM and 6:00 AM.

It all could have been a lot worse, though. A 1944 opinion poll showed that a good chunk of Americans supported turning the internment into an outright holocaust. A frightening 13 percent of the respondents said they were in favor of “killing off” every Japanese person in America—children included.

8 Jewish Refugees In Britain Were Interned And Deported

When Germany took Norway in 1940, paranoia started to consume Great Britain. Every person of German or Italian descent was labeled an “enemy alien” and locked up.

Most of those people were Jewish. Of the 80,000 enemy aliens in Britain, 55,000 were refugees who had fled to Britain to escape persecution by the Nazis.^[3] Those refugees were almost exclusively Jews—people who had barely escaped death in concentration camps, only to be locked in a different set of camps by the people who’d promised to protect them.

Families were torn apart. The prisoners, for the first year of captivity, were separated into male and female camps, pulling husbands and wives apart and refusing to let them be together.

An additional 7,000 were kicked out of the country altogether and sent off to camps in Canada and Australia. Not all of them survived the journey. One ship, en route to Canada, was attacked as a German vessel and destroyed. 714 people died.

7 Finland Starved 4,000 Prisoners To Death

In Finland, it was Russian civilians who were locked up in camps. When the Finnish army moved into East Karelia, they rounded up 24,000 Russian civilians who lived on the land and threw them into camps surrounded by barbed wire. The prisoners were barely fed, and before the war was over, 4,000 had died.^[4]

The families weren’t rounded up because they were any kind of threat; or, at the very least, that certainly wasn’t the main reason. They were meant to be bartering chips—Finland’s goal was to trade their civilian captives for prisoners of war. Others—the Jewish captives—could be used to win good faith with the Nazis. More than ten percent of the Jews in the camps were sent off to the Gestapo.

Death, though, soon consumed the camps. Malnourishment was the greatest killer. Starving bodies fell throughout the camps, with the worst deaths hitting in the middle of 1942. Over just a few months, 3,500 Russian prisoners starved to death.

6 The Japanese Starved And Murdered Interned Civilians

The Japanese government locked up even more civilians than the Americans did. Throughout the war, they interned more than 130,000 enemy aliens living in the colonies that they’d invaded.

These people weren’t soldiers—they were civilians living in Southeast Asian countries who just happened to be in the wrong place when the Japanese armies rolled in. In many places, though, the treatment was almost as bad as it was in the prisoner-of-war camps where they locked up enemy soldiers.

In the most of the camps, the people were fed so little that they nearly starved to death, and violent force was used on anyone who stepped out of line. One internee said that beatings from Japanese guards were as “regular as the striking of the clock.”

The worst camps, according to the survivors, were the ones with the fewest people. When there weren’t many witnesses around, Japanese guards would get brutal. The survivors of a camp in Nauru that only held seven prisoners said that, after an Allied bombing run, the guards beheaded two of the civilians in the camp just as a way to let off steam.^[5]

5 Seven Prisoners In A Japanese Internment Camp Were Publicly Tortured And Executed

The largest Japanese-run internment camp was in Hong Kong. It was called the Stanley Internment Camp, and it held 2,800 civilian prisoners inside.

Most of the people locked inside were British civilians who’d refused to flee Hong Kong when the Japanese armies rolled in. They were given nothing to eat but the scrapings of leftover food. A family of five would get little more than a bowl of rice and a bowl of stew to eat, and even that, according to an inmate, “frequently contained dust, mud, rat and cockroach excreta, cigarette ends and . . . dead rats.”^[6]

121 of the internees didn’t make it out alive. The most horrifying story of all, though, happened to seven men who tried to stage an escape. They got their hands on a radio set and used it to contact the outside world—and when they were caught, the payback was horrible.

The seven men were publicly tortured while the other inmates were forced to watch. When they couldn’t stand any more pain, the men were either shot or beheaded as a warning to the others never to try to escape.

4 Jewish Refugees Were Robbed And Beaten On The Way To Camps In Australia

Australia interned its Japanese, German, and Italian residents, as well. In total, they sent 7,000 of their own people into internment camps—but they took on another 8,000 from other countries, who were sent to be locked up inside their walls.

The most horrifying story to come from their camps is that of the Dunera : a British ship that was used to send thousands of Jewish refugees to the prison camps in Australia. It was a vessel designed to fit only 1,600 people, but 2,500 were crammed on board.^[7]

2,000 of those prisoners were Jewish refugees, some of whom had already seen the inside of the Nazi death camps and had fled to Britain hoping for salvation. Instead, they were locked up side by side with 451 genuine prisoners of war from Italy and Germany, putting them right next to the SS officers who had slaughtered their families.

The prisoners had to sleep in piles on the floor and were only allowed 30 minutes of fresh air a day. For the entire journey, they were so tightly compacted that it was a struggle not to step on other people’s bodies. Showers were out the question, and the air was so filthy that prisoners would take turns pressing their faces against an open hatch in the wall.

The whole trip took 57 days, and when it was done, they were thrown into prisons. When they got out of the boat, though, they found out that everything they’d brought with them was gone. The guards had gone through their luggage, taking everything that was worth money for themselves. The rest—like medicine and prayer books—were thrown into the sea.

3 Peru Deported Japanese Residents To American Internment Camps

2,200 of the Japanese prisoners in American internment camps had never lived in the United States before. They were from Peru: civilian prisoners rounded up, deported, and sent off to foreign camps, purely because their parents were Japanese.^[8]

The prisoners were sent at the request of the US government. US authorities wanted more civilian prisoners they could use as bargaining chips in negotiations with Japan. So, they got Peru to send them as many Japanese Peruvian civilians as they could.

Peru was only too eager to oblige. The anti-Japanese sentiment there was vicious—in May 1940, a massive riot that broke out in the country ended with 600 Japanese-owned houses, schools, and businesses being burned to the ground.

800 of the civilians deported to the US wound up being sent to Japan in exchange for American prisoners of war. They were often separated from their families and forced to live in a place that, regardless of their ancestry, was a completely foreign country to them.

Hardly any of them made it back home. When the war ended, Peru refused to allow the Japanese citizens they’d deported to step back into the country. Another 1,000 were shipped off to Japan after the war, while the luckiest few who were sent away were forced to make the United States their new homes.

2 Native Alaskans Were Interned And Died At Horrifying Rates

Not everyone in the internment camps was from an enemy country. 881 Native Americans living in Alaska were locked up for three and a half years, even though they were as American as anyone could possibly be.^[9]

The government didn’t suspect them of treason. Instead, they locked them up in the camps for what they said was their own safety. Alaska, they believed, was about to become a war zone, and so they moved them into camps—most of which were still right in the path of war.

They didn’t protect anybody, though. The conditions were so horrible in these camps that the Native Alaskans died at a horrifying rate. Their camps were dilapidated, abandoned buildings; one was a converted gold mine, while another was an old cannery. Disease was rampant, with nearly every person in the camps infected.

By the end of the three and a half years that the Alaskans spent in these camps, one in ten prisoners had died. Most went out in slow, painful deaths, starving, freezing, or plagued by disease.

1 Norway Labeled Its Own Citizens As ‘German Whores’ And Locked Them Up

When the war came to an end, some countries started focusing their wrath on their own citizens. In Norway, in 1945, 5,000 women were branded tyskertoes, meaning “German whores,” and locked up without trial inside internment camps.^[10]

Some of these women had taken German lovers while the Nazis occupied Norway, but many more hadn’t done anything of the sort. Women who had done any type of work for the Germans whatsoever were locked up, even if they’d just worked as cleaners or seamstresses.

The government justified it as a way of protecting them—which wasn’t a totally unfair claim. Mobs would often drag these women out into the streets and shave off their hair, with newspapers and rallies cheering them on.

That didn’t just happen in Norway. In France, women would be stripped, beaten, and paraded down the streets if anyone thought they’d supported the Germans in any way. More often than not, their heads would be shaved, and they’d have swastikas painted on their faces.

The men, though, got off almost completely scot-free. In Norway, there were 28 men who had married German women during the war. They suffered no consequences at all—but every woman who had taken a German husband during World War II was deported from the country, deprived of her citizenship, and branded a traitor for life.

With summer in full swing in the Northern Hemisphere, many are thinking of heading off into the great outdoors to enjoy a camping expedition. Traditionally, this will mean packing the tent and sleeping bags, finding a nice spot beside a river or in the mountains, and relaxing for a few days. A meal by the campfire with a few beers, toasted marshmallows, and tall tales will probably be enjoyed by most campers.

However, some campers look for something a little more unique and adventurous than your traditional campsite, such as swinging from a treetop, dangling from a wire over a canyon, or even curling up inside a beer can. Here are some of the more unusual places to camp around the world.

10 Sleep In A Treetop In Bavaria

Does the thought of “creepy crawlies” slithering along the ground and into your tent at night put you off camping? Maybe camping a little higher off the ground will solve the problem. One unusual campsite in Germany could be just what you need. Your tent is suspended from a tree branch, high in the canopy of the forest.^[1]

As part of an overall adventure experience at Waldseilgarten Hollschlucht, campers are taught to climb safely so that they can make the 45-minute trip to scale the trees into their beds for the night. Given the length of the climb to bed and the height of your treetop bunk, campers are allowed only a light and a book for the night.

Imagine waking up at sunrise, swinging in the trees with the birds. You may just find yourself sharing a branch with an owl or two for the night. If you find it hard to sleep swaying in the treetops, at least you will have spectacular views across the Bavarian forest.

Best pack light for this camping trip, and don’t drink too much before bed. It is a very long way down to the amenities.

9 Camp In A Bird’s Nest

Fancy a bit of bird-watching on your camping trip? A Californian campground gives you the opportunity to camp in a human-sized bird’s nest crafted from twigs and sticks.^[2]

Treebones Resort in Big Sur, California, is one of a number of campsites around the world that offer the unique experience of sleeping in an oversized bird’s nest. After climbing up into your “nest” for the night, you can sleep like a bird. However, you may also come across the odd bat, raccoon, or other wildlife during your night.

While the nests give you the opportunity to lie back and enjoy the stars through the branches, they aren’t weatherproof. So you may also need to pitch a tent and pack some wet weather gear if it does happen to rain.

8 Camp In A Beer Can

Enjoying a few beers around the campfire is a common camping activity. However, a Danish music festival lets you literally climb into a beer can to camp for the night.^[3]

Visitors to Skanderborg for the Smukfest music festival can rent a gigantic four-meter-high (13 ft) can to camp in for the night. A local beer manufacturer sponsoring the festival created a number of giant beer cans for festival patrons to crash in after a busy day.

Once inside your oversized beer can, you have two levels, to accommodate both sleeping and partying during the festival. When you are ready for bed, simply climb the ladder to your sleep pod and pop open the skylight at the top of the can.

7 Cliffside Camping

Some campers apparently don’t see solid ground beneath them as a prerequisite for a good night’s sleep. Camping suspended from a cliffside has become an increasingly popular adventure activity.

Abseilers and rock climbers originally began constructing makeshift perches for the night during their expeditions. The trend caught on, with a number of adventure camping operators around the world offering the experience of sleeping perched on the side of a cliff.

Imagine abseiling down a cliffside to a narrow bed, suspended above the sea or a canyon. Spend the night enjoying the spectacular views from your cliffside perch. Note, however, that your bed for the night is somewhat narrow and may be prone to swaying in the wind.

6 Tree Pods

Pods suspended from trees have become a popular option around the world for those looking for a more quirky camping experience. Campers in Wales can spend the night in a huge “eco-bauble” hung from the trees. The ball-shaped “tree tents” are made from hybrid aluminum and steam-bent ash and secured among the trees with metal wires.^[5]

The spherical sleeping pods contain a few more creature comforts than some other tree camping experiences. These include a futon and a wood-burning stove so that you can stay toasty and warm at night. However, as you are dangling from the branches and swinging in the breeze overnight, visits from the other forest wildlife are still a possibility.

5 Hammock On A High Wire

Sleeping dangling from a wire above a canyon would have to be the most extreme form of camping. A group of Italian tightrope walkers, or “slackliners,” gather each year to practice their stunts, strolling from one peak to another via a 2.5-centimeter-wide (1 in) rope.^[6] By night, they simply set up their hammocks on the ropes, sleeping thousands of feet above the valley floor.

They may have unrivaled views of the Italian Alps, but the sleeping arrangements do seem to be a little precarious for most campers’ liking. Getting out of bed in the morning would also seem to be a bit of an adventure in itself.

4 Cave Camping In Vietnam

Campers in Vietnam can spend the night in Hang Son Doong (aka Son Doong Cave), the world’s largest cave.^[7] The guided adventure camping experience involves a 22-kilometer (14 mi) hike through the Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park. The trek involves river crossings as well as dodging leeches and snakes along the way.

Son Doong Cave is 9 kilometers (5.6 mi) long and reaches 200 meters (660 ft) high in the highest sections. It is so large that it creates its own climate system, including rain, clouds, and mists. Campers are guided through grottoes and limestone formations to a campsite beside an underground beach. Monkeys, bats, and flying foxes will be your camp mates for the night.

3 Camping In Antarctica

Most of us think of camping as a summertime activity. However, ice camping has become an extreme tourist attraction around the world. In the Northern Hemisphere, many countries close to the Arctic Circle offer the opportunity to camp in ice caves, glaciers, and on the ice, bears and all. As for the Southern Hemisphere, a number of Antarctic tour companies now also provide the opportunity to experience what it was like for Antarctic explorers.

A limited number of campers on cruise expeditions are taken ashore to set up camp under the Antarctic stars for the night. After digging a small trench to bed down in, you can spend a chilly night with nothing but your sleeping bag and a bivouac to protect you from the icy wind.

If the thought of sleeping on the ice isn’t bad enough, you are not permitted to take any food or drink ashore, and you’re only allowed to use the disposable toilet if it’s an emergency.

2 Camping In The Sahara Desert

For the ultimate in camping seclusion, you could try a remote campsite in the dunes of the Sahara Desert, as long as you’re prepared to brave the sandstorms, wind, and dung beetles overnight. A number of tour operators in Algeria and Morocco offer safaris, taking you by four-wheel drive, dune buggy, or a rather slow camel train, Lawrence of Arabia-style, to your campsite for the night.

This expedition is best undertaken with an experienced tour guide, to avoid getting lost in the sand dunes. You can choose from a basic tent with a thin sleeping mat set in the shifting sands or a more luxury “glamping” site with a bed and shower. Campers enjoy dinner on cushions around the campfire.^[9]

1 Raft Camping

Boating enthusiasts have long enjoyed the lulling effect of the waves as they sleep safely tucked in their cabin for the night. However, the growing popularity of “floating tents” and “raft camping” certainly takes the concept of a night on the water to a more basic level.

In Belgium, rafting enthusiasts can tie up to a 12-square-meter (129 ft²) raft in which to camp for the night. The raft is little more than a floating tent, though it does provide some level of shelter for the night as you float among the reeds. A US company has recently developed a blow-up raft with a built-in tent which will allow campers to set up camp on any lake or pond, without the expense of a traditional boat.^[10]

Lesley Connor is a retired Australian newspaper editor, who provides articles for online publications and her own travel blog.

Actors are a different sort of people once they get to the big leagues of Hollywood. They can make tens of millions playing pretend for a few months. That’s not a lifestyle most of us will ever understand. And it seems to go to the heads of some actors who put some questionable demands on their coworkers when it comes to making movies. 

10. Salvador Dali’s Dune Payday

Dune is something of a cultural phenomenon these days. David Lynch’s 1984 movie was a cult classic and the 2021 remake managed to really capture the imagination of audiences with updated special effects and a different interpretation of the source material. But what about Alejandro Jodorowsky’s 1970s version?

Before Lynch, Jodorowsky tried to make the movie and it would have featured an amazing cast, including Mick Jagger, Orson Welles, and David Carradine. The director also snagged one unexpected star in the form of artist Salvador Dali. He was set to play the Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV. The eccentric artist agreed to take on the role with one very particular condition. He demanded he be paid $100,000 per hour so that he could be the highest paid actor of all time. 

Jodorowsky either felt getting Dali was such a coup he couldn’t say no or he really wanted to spite the man for his request because he agreed to the terms. He then cut the character’s role down so severely that Dali was only needed for one hour, or $100,000. The movie never got off the ground though, so we never got to see what $100,000 buys from Salvador Dali.

9. Gary Busey’s Heaven

Gary Busey is known as one of the most eccentric actors in Hollywood. Whether as a result of some very drug-fueled early days in Hollywood which included snorting cocaine off a dog or his 1988 motorcycle accident that nearly killed him, he’s been through some stuff. And it’s that latter point that resulted in what must be one of the strangest demands an actor has ever made. 

In 2003, Busey was cast in a movie called Quigley. The plot of the movie is that a greedy CEO dies in an accident and God sends him back to earth as a Pomeranian dog named Quigley. Busey played the man/dog. 

Obviously the plot requires a scene in Heaven, but Busey stopped production when he was supposed to film it. He told the director he’d already been to heaven as a result of his 1988 accident and the heaven they built on set was not accurate. He made them make changes, which included getting rid of mirrors because heaven doesn’t have any. He was so committed to his vision that, according to co-star Curtis Armstrong, Busey got into a fistfight with another actor who had also had a near death experience and disagreed with Busey’s vision of heaven. 

In any event, Busey wouldn’t continue filming until they made changes to the look. 

8. Deer Hunter Live Round

When it comes to method acting, and we’ll touch on that later, most people tend to think of Jared Leto or Daniel Day-Lewis these days. But it’s worth remembering that the legendary Robert DeNiro falls into this category as well. For most of his roles, this included a lot of heavy research and even physical training so not to the extreme level we usually associate with modern method actors of note. But that wasn’t the case with every role and, arguably, DeNiro takes the cake for being the most method actor ever with his on set behavior during the filming of The Deer Hunter.

In what is still considered one of the most powerful scenes in cinema, DeNiro’s character is forced into a game of Russian Roulette with Christopher Walken by soldiers holding them at gunpoint. It’s about as tense as any scene you’ll ever see, and it’s made even more intense when you find out how DeNiro insisted the scene be filmed. He wanted a live round in the gun.

The gun was checked before every take to ensure that the bullet was not the next round, and it must have been a psychological thing for DeNiro. But try to imagine an actor pulling that on a set today. 

7. Tony Clifton’s Contract

Comedian Andy Kaufman blurred the lines between reality and performance back in the 1970s and ’80s. He was eccentric and unpredictable and people either consider him a genius, a madman, or an idiot. Sometimes all three. But he rose to fame on the show Taxi and people loved him there, so the producers were willing to give him a lot of latitude. 

Kaufman had an alter ego, a character he played on stage called Tony Clifton. Clifton was an obnoxious, overweight lounge singer character who himself wasn’t funny, but the joke was that he was so over the top that was supposed to be funny. At least to some people. As Clifton, Kaufman didn’t care who he offended or how, and it rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. 

In order to get Kaufman to appear on Taxi, the producers had to agree to his contract demands. One of those was that Tony Clifton was going to appear on the show. In fact, a separate contract was made out for Tony Clifton.

Clifton was a terrible actor and showed up on set with two prostitutes. Producers told Kaufman that Clifton was being fired, and then, when they did so at a table read as per Kaufman’s demands, Clifton threw a fit and had to be removed by security. Remember, these are both the same guy. 

6. Prince’s New Girl Cameo

There’s no doubt Prince is a musical icon, and the man had himself a bold, weird personality. He was notoriously outspoken and not afraid to turn down opportunities other people would have crawled through hot coals to have. So on the rare occasion when Prince did agree to do something a little off the beaten path, you have to assume everyone went out of their way to keep him happy. 

When it came to acting, Prince did very little. He was in a handful of movies, most of which he directed himself, and two television appearances. His first TV spot was on the Muppets Tonight in 1997. And then, two years before he died, he appeared on the sitcom New Girl. 

Prince was apparently a fan of the show and actually asked if he could be on it. So you’d think he’d be light on demands since he was making the request. But it turns out, he did have one serious demand about how the episode would go down and it involved banishing someone else.

In the episode, Prince played himself and had a party. As scripted, the Kardashians were supposed to be at the party and both Kris Jenner and Khloe Kardashian had filmed a quick cameo. So far so good? Not quite.

Turns out Prince really disliked the Kardashians. He once kicked Kim Kardashian off stage at a concert some years earlier. So his people told the New Girl producers that Kardashians would never be at one of his parties. The producers literally burned all the copies of the script that mentioned them and then cut them from the episode. 

5. Ben Affleck’s Hat

Ben Affleck loves Boston. Everyone who knows Ben Affleck knows this. And that’s fine. Lots of people love the cities they come from, and their local sports teams. But Affleck’s love of Boston takes on a new dynamic that has literally interfered with his work in the past.

On the set of the movie Gone Girl, often considered one of Affleck’s best, the director David Fincher needed Affleck to do one simple thing when his character was in New York. He had to wear a New York Yankees hat. As in, the arch rivals of Affleck’s beloved Boston Red Sox.

Remember, this is just an actor playing a role. A pretend person… who isn’t real. And Affleck would not do it. 

On the director commentary track, Fincher referred to Affleck as being entirely unprofessional and mentions it shut production down for four days. In the end, they compromised on a Mets hat. 

4. Sean Bean Walked Middle Earth 

The Lord of the Rings trilogy still stands as one of the greatest cinematic masterpieces ever made. It was a massive undertaking and while today we’re more used to expansive cinematic universes; the trilogy was a real feat when it was made. And it was colossal in scope. It took 438 days to film the entire adventure, which is a hell of an investment of time and effort from all the actors. 

The time and effort put into making the movie takes on a new level when you take one actor’s needs into account. Sean Bean, famous for dying tragically in almost everything he’s ever starred in, had a very unusual requirement. Bean is terrified of flying. On paper that doesn’t sound like a big deal. There aren’t a lot of planes in Middle Earth. But there were mountains, and the cast needed to be flown by helicopter up into those mountains to film their scenes. Bean refused, and while everyone else flew, he just climbed the mountain like a boss. He was dressed in full Boromir armor and had to spend several hours catching up.

3. Mike Myers Loves Chocolate

Despite how silly most of Mike Myers’ roles have been, he’s known to be a staunch perfectionist on set. In accordance with this, though he seems like a barrel of laughs on screen, he’s a big of an ogre in a non-Shrek way behind the scenes. And that has led to him rubbing coworkers the wrong way.

While demanding certain scenes or certain jokes be played in a specific way makes sense, not everything Myers has been accused of is in service to the final picture. According to his Cat in the Hat co-star Amy Hill, Myers was a nightmare to work with. She said not only did he put no effort into getting to know anyone, he went full diva on set. Between takes, Myers had a chocolate guy. What’s a chocolate guy? A guy who stands to the side of the set with a Tupperware tub of chocolate. When Myers needed a cocoa-based boost, his chocolate guy would run to his side with the Tupperware. Presumably, he didn’t share with the rest of the cast and crew.

2. Shia LaBeouf Goes Bloody Method 

We discussed Robert DeNiro’s method acting earlier and how dangerous that was, but at least it was just potential danger. Shia LaBeouf doesn’t deal in potential. His method acting is fully dangerous and absolutely unsafe. 

In the movie Fury, he played a tank gunner. To make the character more real, he decided to live life the way he felt a tank gunner needed to live. That included cutting back severely on things like hygiene. Rumor has it both the director and fellow actor Brad Pitt warned him that he needed to bathe because he was offending everyone else. When he refused, he was sent to a small bed and breakfast to stay by himself. But, most dramatically, in order to achieve the effect of a truly wounded warrior, he literally took a knife and sliced his own face open. 

Over the course of the film, he apparently continued to reopen the cuts to keep them looking fresh. And, of course, he also had a tooth removed for no reason to complete the look. 

1. Kirk Cameron’s Morality

Kirk Cameron is not well known to the kids of today, but if you grew up in the 1980s, he was like Harry Styles or Timothee Chalamet. Only, you know, more judgemental.

Star of the hit sitcom Growing Pains, Cameron was primed to be a teen heartthrob, but he took an unexpected turn – he became a born again Christian. And that’s a great thing for anyone to do if it makes them happy, but Cameron took his newfound faith and started forcing it on others. As the star of the show and the major audience draw, he held a lot of sway over storylines and even casting, and he used that to his full advantage. The most notorious example of this was how he had his character’s girlfriend dropped from the show.

Cameron’s character was involved with Julie, played by actress Julie McCullough. The two were supposed to get married in season five of the show. But between four and five, Cameron discovered she’d posed for Playboy two years earlier. He demanded she be fired.

Instead of a wedding, season five starts with Julie dumping Cameron and then she’s gone, never to be seen again. Word is this wasn’t Cameron’s only pious crusade against the show, and he apparently called out several producers for being “pornographers.”