10 Movies Disowned By Their Own Directors

Prolific comedy director Arthur Hiller set out to make a satire of the Hollywood system: his movie has a film-within-a-film that is so awful that its director disowns it; instead of taking directorial credit he substitutes “Alan Smithee” for his own name, which the Directors Guild of America allowed as a pseudonym. In a postmodern twist, Hiller hated his film so much that he lobbied for the Alan Smithee credit, too. While it was great publicity, the film still tanked, and the DGA officially discontinued the use of Alan Smithee three years later. [Where to stream An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn]

Did you know that Kiefer Sutherland directed a movie? Yeah, well, that’s on purpose — not even Sutherland himself is very proud of his fourth (fourth!) directorial effort, which he starred in alongside Christopher Plummer and Holly Hunter. It’s only notable for being the last film to carry the Alan Smithee pseudonym. [Where to stream Women Wanted]

The second movie in the overstuffed Transformers franchise was, naturally, a box office hit, but that doesn’t mean anyone who had anything to do with it were impressed. Director Michael Bay called the movie “crap,” but somehow managed to pass the buck when it comes to the movie’s biggest problem: it was all in the script, which was written hastily after the Writers Guild of America strike in 2007-2008. [Where to stream Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen]

While a critically acclaimed film and a cult classic, director Tony Kaye doesn’t feel that way. He was furious about the final cut of the film (which Edward Norton, who got an Oscar nom for his role, participated in), and appealed to the Directors Guild of America to have his name stricken from the credits and replaced with Alan Smithee. The DGA turned down his request, however. [Where to stream American History X]

Joel Schumacher‘s second Batman movie is possibly one of the worst comic book adaptations on record, stuffed with garish visuals, unnecessary homoeroticism, and groan-inducing puns delivered by Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Mr. Freeze. The director himself apologized later for the effort, suggesting that they put too much effort into merchandise tie-ins than on making a tolerable movie. [Where to stream Batman & Robin]

After showing promise with his music video direction, David Fincher got his first feature-length gig with the third film in the Alien franchise. But he only set himself up for failure: it’s hard stepping in as a relative unknown director in such an established franchise, and he quickly lost his artistic control when producers stepped in and took over the production. Fincher, however, has had an acclaimed career since then, and it’s easy to see that he merely cut his teeth on the sci-fi thriller. [Where to stream Alien 3]

Dune was a notorious bomb, possibly because it was nearly impossible to bring a faithful adaptation of Frank Herbert’s expansive science fiction classic to the big screen. Hired off of the strength of The Elephant Man and Eraserhead, Dune still remains David Lynch‘s sole big-budget studio release. After he was denied control over the final cut, Lynch vocally disassociated himself from the film. Some cuts (there are many) even replaced his name with the pseudonymous Alan Smithee instead. [Where to stream Dune]

Look, not many people would classify movies in the Hellraiser franchise to be great works of cinematic art. They serve a purpose, which is to scare the shit out of its viewers. Having said that, the fourth film in the series (which, oddly enough, features Parks and Recreation star Adam Scott) was directed by Kevin Yagher — that is, until he left the project half-way through due to artistic differences. Another director was brought on without a credit, and Yagher substituted an Alan Smithee credit for his own. (Oh, what wonders his director’s cut might have been!) (Probably just as bad, right?) [Where to stream Hellraiser: Bloodline]

Stanley Kubrick was one of the greatest American filmmakers, but even he didn’t knock it out of the park every time. Take, for instance, his directorial debut. A little-seen film about a group of soldiers caught in between battle, it starred Paul Mazursky (who would go on to be an accomplished director) and was written by Howard Sackler (who’d eventually win a Pulitzer Prize for Drama). And even though its not available to stream online, Kubrick tried very hard to make sure it wasn’t seen once he became a household name. [Where to stream Fear and Desire]

Here’s a case of a film that spent nearly a decade in development, with various writers, producers, and directors attached. Walter Hill (who was a co-writer on Alien 3, coincidentally) ended up directing the film. What was supposed to be a sort of Hellraiser-in-space scenario ended up being a clunky film, thanks to internal struggles between Hill and MGM, who would not give him the budget he felt it deserved. Hill walked off the film twice, ultimately leaving MGM to have board member Francis Ford Coppola to oversee an edit. [Where to stream Supernova]