Which Movies Are Ruined by Their Real Scandals?

TL;DR

Real-world revelations have reshaped how audiences watch films from The Birth of a Nation to The Crow. WatchMojo's countdown covers racist depictions, on-set abuse of actors like Shelley Duvall and Maria Schneider, misrepresented true stories such as The Blind Side, and tragedies including Brandon Lee's death and Heather O'Rourke's passing at age 12.

Transcript

How serious is it? I don't know. It's pretty serious. Welcome to Watch Mojo and today we're counting down our picks for the movie legacies most tarnished by scandal or controversy. The misery that you read about is real. The tragedy is is real. Number 20, The Birth of a Nation. A technical marvel that ushered in many of the filmmaking techniques us... Read More

Key Insights

• The Birth of a Nation is excluded from film classes despite its technical influence because every African-American character is a mindless, damaging caricature, and most of those performances came from white actors in blackface, so the racism overshadows any cinematic merit.
• The Blind Side's reputation collapsed in 2023 when Michael Oher revealed the Tuohy family never adopted him but instead invoked a conservatorship, an arrangement that allowed them to profit off his likeness rather than raise him as a son.
• Last Tango in Paris became notorious because actress Maria Schneider, then 19, was not told the specifics of her most explicit scene. Brando and the director withheld details to elicit a natural reaction, leaving her utterly traumatized.
• Stanley Kubrick deliberately wore down Shelley Duvall on The Shining so she could serve as the audience surrogate. She was verbally berated, kept for long hours, and allegedly made to do takes over 100 times, with clumps of her hair falling out from stress.
• Dustin Hoffman's method acting on Kramer vs. Kramer crossed into abuse of co-star Meryl Streep, ranging from insults to slaps to throwing a real glass at a wall without her knowledge, turning acclaimed performances into a case study of a toxic workplace.
• American Beauty's legacy changed in 2017 when the #MeToo movement surfaced multiple men accusing Kevin Spacey of unwanted sexual advances. Even after Spacey was acquitted of liability, the parallels to Lester Burnham's storyline remain too close for comfort.
• Poltergeist is difficult to revisit because child actor Heather O'Rourke, who played Carol Anne, died in 1988 at the age of 12. Watching her character nearly die in Poltergeist 2 is hard to stomach precisely because her performance is so convincing.
• The Crow carries permanent tragedy because leading man Brandon Lee died on set with only three days of shooting left, the result of negligent handling of a prop gun during production of the stylish, edgy adaptation.

Questions & Answers

Q: Why is The Birth of a Nation not taught in film classes?

The Birth of a Nation was a technical marvel that ushered in many filmmaking techniques still used today, and its impact on the medium cannot be understated. However, it is often considered one of the most racist movies ever made. Every single African-American character is portrayed as a mindless, damaging caricature, and most of those performances came from white actors in blackface. Under a modern social lens, the abhorrent depiction of race relations overshadows any cinematic merit the film has.

Q: What did Michael Oher reveal about The Blind Side?

In 2023, 14 years after the Oscar-winning film's 2009 release, Michael Oher revealed that the Tuohy family had never adopted him at all. Instead they invoked a conservatorship, which is wildly different from an adoption and allowed them to profit off his likeness. The film had presented a captivating true story of community, passion, and football in which a down-on-his-luck teenager is adopted and propelled into football stardom. The allegations alone, separate from the white savior criticism, change how viewers see the movie.

Q: What happened to Maria Schneider on the set of Last Tango in Paris?

Last Tango in Paris is an erotic drama in which a young Marlon Brando begins a risque relationship with a young Parisian girl and, when she rejects him, takes what he wants by force. Actress Maria Schneider had no idea how far the scene would go when she arrived on set that day. Both Brando and the director deliberately withheld the specifics of her role in order to elicit a more natural reaction. The choice left the 19-year-old utterly traumatized, and the film's most famous scene is now the one worth fast forwarding through.

Q: How did Stanley Kubrick treat Shelley Duvall on The Shining?

Kubrick decided Shelley Duvall had to serve as the audience surrogate as Jack Nicholson's character descends into madness, meaning her job was to freak out in the final act. Dissatisfied with her work, Kubrick made sure she knew it. Duvall was verbally berated, kept for long hours, and allegedly made to perform takes over 100 times before filming wrapped. The stress was severe enough that clumps of her own hair were falling out. The Shining became a genre-defining staple, but at a very high personal cost.

Q: What did Dustin Hoffman do to Meryl Streep during Kramer vs. Kramer?

Dustin Hoffman's commitment to method acting crossed many lines when he could not separate his castmates from their characters. On Kramer vs. Kramer he repeatedly harassed co-star Meryl Streep in the name of drawing a better performance from her. His behavior ranged from insults to slaps to throwing a real glass at a wall without her knowledge. The tension between the two is visible on screen, and knowing the full extent of it reframes their top-tier performances as a case study in an extremely toxic work environment.

Q: Why did American Beauty's reputation change after 2017?

Kevin Spacey won Oscar gold in 1999 for playing Lester Burnham, a man who pursues a scandalous relationship with his daughter's best friend, and for years it was the definitive Spacey role. Then in 2017 the #MeToo movement brought forward multiple men accusing Spacey of unwanted sexual advances over the years. American Beauty's Oscar shine immediately dimmed as viewers found the parallels between actor and character too close for comfort. Although Spacey has since been acquitted of liability, the damage to his image makes it impossible to watch the film without thinking of the scandal.

Q: How did Brandon Lee die during the making of The Crow?

Brandon Lee, the leading man of The Crow, died on set with only three days of shooting left. His death was caused by negligent handling of a prop gun during production. Viewers coming to the film with no prior knowledge would likely be enthralled by its unapologetic style and edginess, but learning what happened to Lee gives the movie an entirely new meaning. The film's own narration about a terrible sadness that a soul carries with it reads very differently in light of the tragedy.

Q: Why is Better Off Dead uncomfortable to watch now?

In Better Off Dead, the character Ricky Smith is an awkward deconstruction of the guy-next-door trope, called out for his uncomfortable obsession with Monique, the French foreign exchange student, and used as the butt of jokes. The discomfort comes from who plays him: Dan Schneider, the Nickelodeon creator behind shows including iCarly, Victorious, and Zoey 101. Schneider's work has since been heavily scrutinized for putting young female performers into highly inappropriate situations, and Ricky Smith is precisely the kind of creep Schneider stands accused of being.

Q: What controversy surrounds It Ends With Us?

The most notable drama around It Ends With Us happened behind the scenes rather than on screen. Director and star Justin Baldoni had a rocky relationship with leading woman Blake Lively, and by the time the film released it had soured into a full publicity war. Fans called out Lively for her cavalier treatment of the film's sensitive themes, while Baldoni fielded allegations of on-set harassment and intimidation. The dispute escalated far past mudslinging and lawyers became involved, burying the film's box office success under legal gossip.

Q: Why is A Beautiful Mind criticized as inaccurate?

A Beautiful Mind is a well-made film, but a little digging shows it is not really based on a true story. What it gets right is that John Nash was a gifted mathematician and a recipient of the Nobel Prize in economics. Beyond that, it conveniently leaves out Nash's complicated history with women, his alleged anti-semitism, and how serious his schizophrenic behavior really was. The film tries so hard to make audiences root for its main character that it becomes glorified fanfiction, showing that concealing the truth can destroy a movie's reputation.

Q: What are the allegations against The Adventures of Milo and Otis?

The children's film about a cat and a dog was accused of numerous counts of animal neglect during production. Because Milo and Otis were both played by real animals, many international humane societies launched investigations into whether the pets were properly cared for during the long shoot. No hard evidence was found either way. Even so, rumors about the film's eerily realistic stunt work have followed it ever since, and the possibility that the animals were harmed in the making of the movie is what makes it hard to watch.

Q: Why does Heathers feel darker today than it did in the 1980s?

Heathers is a teen thriller featuring murder, sexual harassment, and bomb threats, and in the 1980s it worked as popcorn entertainment because it was so divorced from reality that it could cut straight to razor-sharp social commentary. As years pass, Veronica and JD's ultraviolent love story has moved closer to everyday high school life. In an age where schools are common targets for acts of terror, the film strikes a much darker chord. The evidence is the ill-fated TV adaptation, which had to be pushed back repeatedly due to rising gun violence.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• The countdown opens with The Birth of a Nation, a technical marvel that introduced filmmaking techniques still used today but is often considered one of the most racist movies ever made, portraying every African-American character as a caricature with most performances by white actors in blackface.

• Several entries involve off-screen conflict overtaking the film itself. It Ends With Us saw director and star Justin Baldoni clash with Blake Lively, with harassment allegations and lawyers involved. Better Off Dead features Dan Schneider, the Nickelodeon creator later scrutinized over young female performers.

• True-story films come under fire for what they hide. The Blind Side was upended in 2023 when Michael Oher revealed the Tuohys used a conservatorship rather than adoption. A Beautiful Mind omits John Nash's history with women, alleged anti-semitism, and the true severity of his schizophrenia.

• On-set mistreatment of performers defines the middle entries. Maria Schneider was not told the specifics of her scene in Last Tango in Paris and was left traumatized at 19. Dustin Hoffman harassed Meryl Streep during Kramer vs. Kramer, and Stanley Kubrick berated Shelley Duvall on The Shining.

• Deaths and allegations close out the list. Heather O'Rourke died in 1988 at age 12, making Poltergeist 2 hard to watch. Kevin Spacey's 2017 allegations dimmed American Beauty's Oscar shine. Brandon Lee died on The Crow from negligent handling of a prop gun with three days of shooting left.