In 1937, Jean Renoir filmed La grande illusion , which would become his masterpiece and one of the greatest films in history.
The film tells the adventure of prisoners of war during the First World War.
To play the role of the prison camp commander, Jean Renoir hired Eric von Stroheim, a great silent film director and Hollywood actor of Austrian origin.
The man is a good actor but he is also a strong personality. And his past as a director allows him to get involved in directing when he plays in a film.
This way of doing things does not suit Jean Renoir, who has a very precise vision of his work and does not tolerate being told how to do it.
Shortly after the start of filming on The Great Illusion , the two men will argue about a scene which takes place in the apartments of the German commanders.
Eric von Stroheim is convinced that there should be prostitutes among the Germans, because it would be historically accurate and it would give color to the production. Jean Renoir, for his part, finds it a childish cliché.
The argument will swell and turn into a real standoff. Under the gaze of the stunned team, Jean Renoir ends up bursting into tears, at the end of his nerves.
Seeing his colleague collapse like this, von Stroheim, who had the greatest respect for Renoir, also burst into tears.
Realizing the harm they were doing to each other, the two men then spontaneously hugged each other and flatly apologized for their behavior.
Jean Renoir then told von Stroheim that rather than argue with an artist he admired so much, he preferred to abandon the film. To which the Austrian replied that there was no question of it and that he promised not to say another word during the entire shoot.
Which he did.
Years later, when asked about the making of this film, Eric von Stroheim declared: “I have never met a kinder, more understanding and talented director than my friend Jean Renoir. »