History ExecutiveMeddling / LiveActionFilms

* ''Film/TheCrow'' is notable for averting ExecutiveMeddling for the most part and for being endorsed by [[ComicBook/TheCrow the comic's]] creator James O'Barr. O'Barr once mentioned in an interview an executive who tried to meddle, suggesting it be adapted as a musical starring Music/MichaelJackson. O'Barr thought the guy was joking; when he insisted he was serious, O'Barr showed him the door.

* ''Film/Passengers2016'': Sony chief Tom Rothman wasn't thrilled with the film's pricey budget, an estimated $120 million, and tried to reduce it by one-and-a-half, to $80 million. Producer Neal Moritz, who never saw eye-to-eye with Rothman, threatened to sell the project to another studio in response, forcing Sony to back off. When ''Passengers'' got mediocre reception and bombed at the box office, Moritz's already-deteriorating relationship with Sony collapsed, resulting in him ending his first-look contract with the studio after nearly 20 years and signing with Paramount.

* In ''Literature/TheBlueLagoon'', the relationship between Emmeline and Dick as KissingCousins has been a consistent theme across various adaptations, including the stage play and the 1923 and [[Film/TheBlueLagoon1980 1980]] movie versions, the former of which is now [[MissingEpisode lost]]. However, when filmmakers Creator/SidneyGilliatAndFrankLaunder took on the challenge of bringing ''Film/TheBlueLagoon1949'' to the screen, they encountered obstacles due to the strict guidelines of MediaNotes/TheHaysCode. Joseph Breen, the influential head of the Production Code Administration, mandated significant changes to the storyline to comply with the Code's regulations. Breen stipulated that the characters should not be related, the romantic relationship should involve adults, and there should be no explicit depictions of sex, birth scenes, or parents' suicide. In response to these stringent requirements, the filmmakers made crucial alterations, including adding a wedding scene to the film to align with the Code's guidelines.
* During the filming of ''Film/TheBluesBrothers'', Universal kept pressuring Creator/JohnLandis to replace some of the African American musical stars in the cast like Music/CabCalloway and Music/ArethaFranklin with acts like Rose Royce who were more contemporary and successful (the notable exception was Music/RayCharles). Such changes would have [[LifeImitatesArt contradicted]] much of the {{Aesop}} behind the movie, to give respect and attention to blues, jazz and R&B's rich history and traditions, which were being neglected as new trends in music were emerging and traditional Black musicians were being forgotten. Landis refused the changes, but as a result some theater chains refused to book it into their theaters in white neighborhoods.

** To add insult to injury, the film was meant to be over 30 minutes longer of footage which was cut out of the movie at the last minute to have the terrible 3D conversion as said above thanks to rushing this movie for its July 2 launch, and it was probably not worth it as it made the movie much worse with many of the major problems this movie has. And to add insult to injury the Novelization has over 20 differences some major that got axed out because of what happened!

Sometimes it's not the director who yells "Cut!" but it's the [[ExecutiveMeddling executives]].

ExecutiveMeddling in live-action movies.

* ''Film/BattlefieldEarth'' is an interesting case. [[http://www.nypost.com/p/entertainment/movies/penned_the_suckiest_movie_ever_sorry_MdXedZpTMWJmfpw80Xc7aO According to the original screenwriter]] it had a chance at being good, and the studio was behind that version, at least initially. Then the [[ChurchOfHappyology fans of the book's author]] got extensively mixed up with the process. Apparently their founder, who had written [[Literature/BattlefieldEarth the original novel]], had a ''very'' precise idea of how he wanted the film adaptation to turn out, and had left behind plenty of notes on the subject. And the rest is history.

** Columbia Pictures got the crew to film in Chalfont St. Giles rather than Thetford, and rather controversially had Creator/LizFraser playing Mrs. Pike over Janet Davies.

* ''Film/{{Casablanca}}'' was barred by UsefulNotes/TheHaysCode from having Ilsa leave her husband for Rick at the end; this led to the film's famous BittersweetEnding. The execs also refused to let Rick be arrested at the end, leading instead to the famous line, "Round up the usual suspects."

** Ironically, the prequel series ''Film/TheHobbit'' suffered much more from executive meddling. Now Jackson presented New Line a two-film treatment which the studio insisted should be ''expanded'' to three (even though the [[Literature/TheHobbit source material]] was much shorter than ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' was). The studio originally threw the series into DevelopmentHell when it refused to pay Creator/JRRTolkien's estate its due; when they finally cleared that up and got the green light to start filming, they gave Jackson only six months of pre-production. They also forced a lot of added plot threads, which caused more than one AdaptationInducedPlotHole -- in particular, they wanted more Alfrid scenes and forced Legolas into Kili and Tauriel's love story. One of the actors also revealed that Warner Bros. told Jackson they didn't care about the other dwarves or characters and wanted them sidelined to focus on action and more on Gandalf, Bilbo and Thorin, when originally Jackson intended to give the characters 50/50 screentime.

* A scene in ''Film/TheSantaClause'' ended up deleted in the DVD releases because of complaints from the parents of children who watched the film. Said children dialed the number that Scott Calvin sarcastically gave (1-800-SPANK-ME), and discovered that it was a phone sex hotline.

* The controversial "Leia Poppins" scene in ''Film/TheLastJedi'' came about because the head of Creator/{{Lucasfilm}}, Kathleen Kennedy, told the director Creator/RianJohnson that she wanted to see Leia use force powers other than her mental connection to those close to her.

** And he really wanted Superman to fight a GiantSpider. It completely befuddled Kevin Smith, who could only surmise that it was an homage to ''Film/KingKong''. This became Peters' most infamous request; it would be parodied by the animated ''WesternAnimation/SupermanDoomsday'', where Superman does fight a giant mechanical spider, which a bystander -- resembling and voiced by Creator/KevinSmith -- calls "lame". (''ComicBook/SupermanBirthright'' did the same but made it [[RuleOfCool awesome]].) Peters, undeterred, would bring his GiantSpider obsession to other projects, including an abortive adaptation of ''ComicBook/TheSandman1989'', before finally getting his wish in ''Film/WildWildWest''.