History Main / PrimaDonnaDirector

* The Director Lady from the [[http://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu/videos/irrelevant/ IR-Relevant Astronomy edutainment videos]] made about the Spitzer Space Telescope is like this. She does not take kindly to having factual errors pointed out in her script, even when it contains EXTENSIVE ArtisticLicenseSpace and ArtisticLicensePhysics in what are supposed to be educational materials. The high (or low) point came when she saw an actor getting killed on-set and then haunting her as an opportunity to include a real ghost in her video.

[[caption-width-right:350:Keep in mind that this illustration from ''Photoplay'' magazine dates back to ''[[OlderThanTelevision 1921]]''!]]

'''Tama:''' "Don't talk back to the director!!! Don't make me throw a [[PrecisionFStrike fuckin']] ashtray at you!"

* The ''Series/DreamOn'' two-parter "The Second Greatest Story Ever Told" has Sir Roland Moorecock, who would make for a great [[TheMeanBrit Mean Brit]] if he weren't busy with his film work (he's played by Music/DavidBowie). At the end, he's chewing out the lead actors when Martin steps in to chew ''him'' out, on behalf of all those present, for his unyielding snobbishness and cruelty...whereupon Sir Roland proves himself the best actor of the lot by successfully pretending to be shamed before gleefully declaring "I DON'T CARE!"

[[Folder:Fan Works]]

One wonders why he hasn't been fired yet if they are so temperamental. But sometimes, it's because [[CrazyEnoughToWork his methods work]]. He actually ''can'' make his vision real, with an amazing high-quality standard, setting him somewhere near the BunnyEarsLawyer and InsufferableGenius category. If this guy has a redeeming feature, that's it. In RealLife, there is a multitude of reasons why people may be difficult to be around, and especially when it comes to a creative endeavor some just don't play well with others. And often it may be that they have a good relationship with the producers or crew but fight with the actors, or any combination thereof. Thus explaining why they keep their job.

-->'''Ryuki:''' "Hey, is it really necessary to act-?"\\
'''Tama:''' "[[SuddenlyShouting SHUUUT! UUUP!!!]]"\\

* The unnamed Director of the [[VideoGame/TeamFortress2 "Meet the Team"]] series of short films is one of these, apparently laboring under the delusion that he is creating a scathing docudrama of epic proportions, rather than the series of propaganda films the Administrator has hired him for. [[spoiler: Unbeknownst to both him and his subjects, The Administrator is actually using the Director to gather intel on the [=RED=] team to blackmail them into playing by her rules.]] Neither the Team nor Miss Pauling is willing to put up with him for very long...
* Andy Zhen, the director of ''[[ShowWithinAShow Gangstas]] [[RecycledInSpace in Space]]'' in ''VideoGame/SaintsRowTheThird''. While he's a complete kiss-ass to [[PlayerCharacter the Boss]], he is quick to belittle and insult [[TheIngenue Jenny]], the female lead. This includes [[AccidentalMisnaming never bothering to remember her name]], blaming her for anything (even things that he'll praise the Boss for), calling her a bad actress (even though she's far more talented than [[BadBadActing the Boss]] is) and just generally insulting her. [[spoiler:Unfortunately for him, this leads to [[TheDogBitesBack Jenny taking her revenge]] in the final scene and [[BewareTheNiceOnes killing him with a spaceship]].]] Not to mention that his attitude towards extras is to use ''live ammunition'', obviously resulting in their deaths.

* ''VideoGame/FarCry5'' features Guy Marvel, the director of ''Blood Dragon'', a film based on [[VideoGame/FarCry3BloodDragon the Far Cry game of the same name]]. He's temperamental, CantTakeCriticism, and is obsessed with making shallow action films filled with guns, explosions, and murder. (CharacterDevelopment? What character development?) He's also [[AxCrazy perfectly happy]] to have the PlayerCharacter run around shooting a bunch of local cultists [[DisproportionateRetribution just because they're being noisy and he needs silence on set]][[note]]granted, those [[AssholeVictim cultists]] ''did'' have it coming, but still...[[/note]]. Really, you'll be wishing you could kill ''him'' by the end of the missions. For bonus points, [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed he looks like a]] fat Creator/MichaelBay.

* Creator/LouisdeFunes when not playing a [[CorruptCorporateExecutive crooked businessman]] , a [[MeddlesomePatrolman irate policeman]] or a [[ThePerfectionist demanding restaurateur/food critic]] with [[FrenchCuisineisHaughty high standards for french cuisine]], is this trope UpToEleven. Both his characters Stanislas Lefort (''Film/LaGrandeVadrouille''), an orchestral conductor and Evans Evan (''Film/LHommeOrchestre'')), a ballet company manager are ''INCREDIBLY'' perfectionists and often work their musicians/performers completely nuts.

* ''Series/{{Frasier}}'': In episode "[[Recap/FrasierS04E18HamRadio Ham Radio]]", Niles snarks about Frasier directing a radio play, saying he has an Creator/OrsonWelles Complex, and not only will be micromanaging all of the actors, but will play the lead himself. Needless to say, Niles is 100% correct and the radio play is an unmitigated disaster.

* ''Series/{{Frasier}}'': In episode "Large Ham", Niles snarks about Frasier directing a radio play, saying he has an Creator/OrsonWelles Complex, and not only will be micromanaging all of the actors, but will play the lead himself. Needless to say, Niles is 100% correct and the radio play is an unmitigated disaster.

* ''VideoGame/FarCry5'' features Guy Marvel, the director of ''Blood Dragon'', a film based on [[VideoGame/FarCry3BloodDragon the Far Cry game of the same name]]. He's temperamental, CantTakeCriticism, and is obsessed with making shallow action films filled with guns, explosions, and murder. (CharacterDevelopment? What character development?) He's also [[AxCrazy perfectly happy]] to have the PlayerCharacter run around shooting a bunch of local cultists [[DisproportionateRetribution just because they're being noisy and he needs silence on set]]. Really, you'll be wishing you could kill ''him'' by the end of the missions. For bonus points, [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed he looks like a]] fat Creator/MichaelBay.

One wonders why he hasn't been fired yet if they are so temperamental. But sometimes, it's because his methods work. He actually ''can'' make his vision real, with an amazing high-quality standard, setting him somewhere near the BunnyEarsLawyer and InsufferableGenius category. If this guy has a redeeming feature, that's it. In RealLife, there is a multitude of reasons why people may be difficult to be around, and especially when it comes to a creative endeavor some just don't play well with others. And often it may be that they have a good relationship with the producers or crew but fight with the actors, or any combination thereof. Thus explaining why they keep their job.

* Talbot Marshall from ''Series/{{Friends}}''. Alternates between LargeHam and DeadpanSnarker. As Joey so eloquently puts it, "He's like a cartoon!"

* The director in ''WesternAnimation/{{Bolt}}'', who believed that the best way to get a good performance out of Bolt [[EnforcedMethodActing was to make the dog believe he was a superhero 24/7]], ruining the latter's home life. He even dared to do a TakeThat in the production ''immediately'' after a [[ExecutiveMeddling network rep complained]], and ''in her face'', no less.

->The only place where you can be a dictator and still be loved is on the movie set.

* ''WesternAnimation/BooBoomTheLongWayHome'': Episode 4, Bu-Bum and the animals encounter a zealous director, who is traveling Italy with his crew. He drafts Boo-Boom into his movie without even bothering if the boy is interested or not, changes scenes on a whim whenever he gets a better idea, isn’t above applying EnforcedMethodActing (like taking away Boo-Boom’s PreciousPhoto since he wants real tears for a scene), and even puts his actors in danger by forcing them to shoot a scene in a partly destroyed building that is about to collapse.

* The Director Lady from the [[http://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu/videos/irrelevant/ IR-Relevant Astronomy edutainment videos]] made about the Spitzer Space Telescope is like this. She does not take kindly to having factual errors pointed out in her script, even when it contains EXTENSIVE ArtisticLicenseAstronomy and ArtisticLicensePhysics in what are supposed to be educational materials. The high (or low) point came when she saw an actor getting killed on-set and then haunting her as an opportunity to include a real ghost in her video.

The worst nightmare an actor, especially in the world of fiction, can face is a director of this type. He's [[LargeHam hammier]] than Creator/BrianBlessed and has an ''[[SuperOCD extremely]]'' [[SuperOCD exacting interpretation of his own artistic vision]]. He believes himself to be lord of the studio and no one dares to correct him, including those higher up the executive ladder (i.e. ''his'' bosses). Often times he can act better (or at least more dramatically) than all of his actors put together, and he expects each and every one of his staff to be up to his standards. He will [[GloryHound take sole credit for the production and will shamelessly steal other people's brilliant ideas and pass them off as his own]].

* ''Manga/SailorMoon'' had an episode where Rei becomes this, when she's in charge of organizing the entertainment for her school's Fall Festival. She's show being extremely tempermental with her classmates, often decrying ''"[[SurroundedByIdiots Do I have to do everything myself?!]]"''. Her friends note that her narcissism is in full bloom, and suggest that she's using the festival to promote herself, as she bills her singing act as the main attraction. This turns out to be a case of AwesomeEgo, as her performance was well received by the audience.

* Creator/PeterOToole's character ''Film/TheStuntMan''. And he sometimes went around in a helicopter-chair, which made him more unsettling.

* Creator/TomCruise's character in ''Film/TropicThunder'' is a spot-on example, except that Les Grossman is a ''producer'' instead of a director. Damien Cockburn also has shades of this ("The chopper is God and I am Jesus Christ His Son") but it isn't clear of whether it's an inherent trait or if it's the result of the pressure of having his feature film debut be a major blockbuster with a bunch of prima donna actors.

* Creator/LouisdeFunes when not playing a [[CorruptCorporateExecutive crooked businessman]] , a [[MeddlesomePatrolman irate policeman]] or a [[ThePerfectionist demanding restaurateur/food critic]] with [[FrenchCuisineisHaughty high standards for french cuisine]], is this trope UpToEleven. Both his characters Stanislas Lefort (''Film/LaGrandeVadrouille'') , a orchestral conductor and Evans Evan (''Film/LHommeOrchestre'')), a ballet company manager are ''INCREDIBLY'' perfectionnists and often work their musicians/performers completely nuts.

* In the ''Series/{{Community}}'' episode "Documentary Making: Redux", Dean Pelton is tasked with filming a thirty-second commercial advertising the school, and is given $2000 to do so. It ends up costing over $17000, involves green-screen, costumes and [[Film/TheGodfather strategic placement of oranges]], and turns the Dean into a tantrum-throwing maniac who ends up causing the nervous breakdowns of almost every single one of his students. At one point, he [[LeaveTheCameraRunning films Britta and Troy turning and hugging for]] ''twelve hours straight''.

* ''Film/MeetTheFeebles'': Sebastian, the director of the Feebles variety show. He yells at all the cast, dismisses their assorted problems (up to and including death) as mere annoyances, assigns the new kid to the knife throwing act for questioning his choreography; and, against the producer's explicit orders, uses the last-minute cancellation of several acts as an excuse to go on stage himself and do a song-and-dance number about [[spoiler: sodomy.]]

* The director in ''WesternAnimation/{{Bolt}}'', who was dramatic enough that he could have starred in his own series. He even dared to do a TakeThat in the production ''immediately'' after a [[ExecutiveMeddling network rep complained]], and ''in her face'', no less.

The [[RecordProducer Record Producer from Hell]] and the Acrimonious Producer are often the musical equivalents.

-->'''Martin:''' What, do you think your brother doesn't know how to direct?\\

* [[Creator/ChristopherWalken Hal Weidmann]] from ''Film/AmericasSweethearts'' drives the studio executives nuts by holding the final movie starring the titular sweethearts hostage, refusing to let anyone see it until the press junket. He's deeply eccentric, doing things like buying the Unabomber's cabin and installing it in his garden as an office, but is said to have won several Oscars already. We eventually learn ''why'' he's refusing to let anyone see the film: he didn't actually make it. Having decided the script was terrible he decided to let the shoot continue but installed hidden cameras throughout the set to capture the bad behavior and raging egos of the cast and crew. By the time the lights go up the studio head is humiliated, the [[BitchInSheepsClothing lead actress]] is threatening to sue and the leading man (who actually ended up looking pretty decent, if a tad intense) is already making plans to work with him again.