History TroubledProduction / Film0ToG

** Casting was a nightmare. While Barrymore was eager to take on one of the lead roles, many of the crew's casting choices simply didn't pan out. Creator/CameronDiaz refused to be in the film numerous times... until Barrymore swayed her after a half-hour phone call and [[MoneyDearBoy promise of a $12 million paycheck]]. In turn, Barrymore and Diaz both personally tried to recruit Creator/AngelinaJolie, but she turned it down because she had [[Film/LaraCroftTombRaider already played a "tough girl"]], and didn't want to be [[{{Typecasting}} pigeonholed]] into that kind of role forever. The role was then offered to Creator/JadaPinkettSmith, who declined it to film ''Film/{{Bamboozled}}'' instead. Creator/ThandiweNewton was finally cast, but had to leave due to freak weather which caused ''Film/MissionImpossibleII'' to overrun its shooting schedule[[note]]In a July 2020 interview with ''Vulture'', Thandiwe Newton said that the real reason that she backed out was because of remarks made by Sony Pictures honcho Amy Pascal that she felt were racist and director [=McG=] making inappropriate, objectifying comments about her body while discussing the movie with her.[[/note]]. Creator/AshleyJudd and Creator/AngieHarmon also passed on the role before Creator/LucyLiu finally took on the role. Barrymore also tried to recruit the original series' cast members for the film, only to be hit with unrealistic demands -- Kate Jackson demanded to play the villain of the film, while Creator/FarrahFawcett would only get involved if she could have scenes interacting with Charlie in-person.

* ''Film/TheCrow'' had an incredibly troubled shoot, so much so it would have been an infamous example of this trope ''before'' its defining behind-the-scenes accident:

* For everyone involved in the [[Film/TheBlueLagoon1949 1949 film adaptation]] of Henry De Vere Stacpoole's ''Literature/TheBlueLagoon'', Fiji seemed like a picturesque location for filming. However, the reality of shooting on location was an entirely different story. The crew initially filmed scenes in Suva, the capital, while staying at the Grand Pacific Hotel, situated on the southeastern coast of the main island, Viti Levu. Filming on the coral reefs in rough seas resulted in almost every member of the crew sustaining injuries from the sharp coral. After a brief stop in the northern town of Lautoka, the crew made their way on motorboats, rented from Australia, to the pristine Yasawa Islands, which served as the primary filming locations. Creator/JeanSimmons was given a comfortable cabin which she shared with her dresser, Irene Williams, and later, four other female crew members. In a detailed article written by Creator/FrankLaunder about the experience, he praised Simmons for her resilience in the face of the challenging environment. The production was plagued by mosquitoes, sandflies, snakes, and sharks, and many crew members fell ill due to various bugs. Simmons was lucky to escape unscathed, but Creator/DonaldHouston had to be hospitalized after injuring himself while swimming through a rocky water chute. Launder also suffered an injury, breaking his wrist towards the end of the shoot, which required him to wear a sling.

* The Palme d'Or winner ''Film/BlueIsTheWarmestColor'' was, by all accounts, a nightmare to film, between the five and a half month shoot (that was supposed to be two months) and what was described as a "hostile work environment" by the crew, and was bluntly described as being horrible by the two lead actresses, Creator/LeaSeydoux and Creator/AdeleExarchopoulos. The two have both stated very emphatically that they never wish to work with the director, Creator/AbdellatifKechiche, ever again.

** MGM would later announce that the film's production would begin in 1955 in Israel and Egypt, but Karl Tunberg's script was not yet finished. MGM eventually suspended production in 1956 after original director Sidney Franklin became too ill and resigned. The UsefulNotes/FallOfTheStudioSystem didn't help matters either.

** Between Hooper demanding changes up to the 11th hour and Universal [[ChristmasRushed rushing the film out]] for an Oscar push, it had the bad luck of being finished just 24 hours before its premiere, and it hit theaters with several effects unfinished, most notoriously a few shots of Creator/JudiDench's real hand. This resulted in it being the first film to ever have a newly completed version released after it had already been in theaters, which was unfavorably compared to a video game getting a day one patch. The final film was critically mauled, won six [[UsefulNotes/GoldenRaspberryAward Razzie awards]], and [[BoxOfficeBomb lost over $100 million]] for Creator/{{Universal}}.

** The film finally staggered into cinemas in June 1963, with a final production cost of $44 million (about $300 million adjusted for inflation) -- money Fox knew it had little chance of recovering. Despite lukewarm reviews from critics and audiences, the film had the highest box office take of 1963 and was nominated for nine Oscars (including Best Picture), winning four,[[note]] Namely, the colour categories for Art Direction-Set Decoration, Costume Design, and Cinematography, and Best Special Visual Effects.[[/note]] but it would not break even until Creator/{{ABC}} paid $5 million for two television screenings in 1966 (at the time, a record fee for film broadcasting rights). The already financially troubled 20th Century Fox almost went bankrupt, selling parts of its studio lot and needing the successes of such films as ''The Longest Day'' and ''Theatre/TheSoundOfMusic'' to offset their losses. ''Cleopatra'' also [[GenreKiller killed interest in the sword and sandal epic genre]] for nearly a generation, and was a key factor in [[UsefulNotes/FallOfTheStudioSystem the disintegration of the old "studio system"]], as studios passed responsibility for production costs to independent production companies instead of handling said costs themselves.

** When ''Cool World'' was finally released in the summer of 1992, it proved to be a [[BoxOfficeBomb massive bomb]] both critically and commercially. It opened at number six at the North American box office and wound up grossing only $14,110,589 against a $28 million budget. More to the point, it only has a 4% score on Website/RottenTomatoes and Basinger received a UsefulNotes/GoldenRaspberryAward nomination for Worst Actress[[note]]Basinger lost to Creator/MelanieGriffith.[[/note]]. This was [[StarDerailingRole arguably the beginning of the end for Basinger as an A-list star]]. Just three years removed from her biggest commercial triumph, ''Film/Batman1989'', this was the third consecutive commercial and creative failure (which began with ''Film/TheMarryingMan'' and ''Film/FinalAnalysis'' and would continue on through 1994's ''Film/PretAPorter'', which was her last movie before her [[MediaNotes/AcademyAward Oscar]] [[MediaNotes/AcademyAwardWinners winning performance]] in ''Film/LAConfidential'' three years later). The lingering effects of ''Cool World's'' failure were more damning for Bakshi, who was so dismayed by all of the ExecutiveMeddling to his original vision that it ultimately [[CreatorKiller drove him away from filmmaking]][[note]]He made a TV movie, ''Film/CoolAndTheCrazy'', and ''WesternAnimation/SpicyCity'', a noir GenreAnthology series. It was the first TV-MA-rated animated series, but due to its short time on TV and the popularity/controversy surrounding ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'', a lot of people have forgotten it; he left the series when faced with more ExecutiveMeddling. He tried to make another movie, ''WesternAnimation/TheLastDaysOfConeyIsland'', but it was stuck in DevelopmentHell until a successful Website/{{Kickstarter}} campaign in 2013.[[/note]]. Meanwhile, Mancuso's career was downgraded to [[BMovie B-level]] status ever since. The two men who rewrote the film into what it became without Bakshi's knowledge, Grais and Victor, saw their cinematic careers erased until 2000. The next time they got a writing credit was on the 2015 remake of ''Film/{{Poltergeist|1982}}'', and that was for their original screenplay. To add insult to injury, to advertise ''Cool World'', the [[Creator/{{Paramount}} studio]] erected a giant sign of the character Holli Would standing alongside the Hollywood Hills sign, assuming it would be great publicity - only to have it blow up in their faces when feminist organizations raised a ruckus about how sexist it was.

** Originally, ''Excess Baggage'' was scheduled for a late 1996 release, but it was [[ReleaseDateChange pushed back]] due to bad test screenings. Scenes were reshot to try to [[NoSparks create better chemistry]] between Silverstone and Del Toro. The new release date was scheduled two months after Silverstone's appearance as ComicBook/{{Batgirl}} in ''Film/BatmanAndRobin''. Part of the thinking must have been that Silverstone would be an even bigger star after the superhero sequel came out in June 1997. Instead, ''Excess Baggage'' got caught up in the [[FranchiseKiller Batman]] [[CriticalBacklash backlash]], with awful reviews and box office. Marco Brambilla would [[CreatorKiller never direct]] another Hollywood film, First Kiss would never receive another movie credit, and Silverstone (who even got a [[UsefulNotes/GoldenRaspberryAward Razzie]] nomination) [[StarDerailingRole was one foot out the door of stardom]].

* ''Film/EscapeFromTomorrow'' was mostly shot guerrilla-style within [[Ride/DisneyThemeParks Disneyland and Disney World]] without any official oversight, which presented a host of logistical issues as they had to make do with a barebones crew and resources. In addition to filming with [=DSLR=] cameras (resembling those used by ordinary tourists) and actors keeping their scripts on their phones, this also meant they had to deal with not being able to control the natural lighting (partly influencing the final film to be DeliberatelyMonochrome), and limiting their audio recordings as to not pick up on the copyrighted music blaring throughout the parks. While the film ostensibly takes place in Disney World (located in Florida), [[CompositeCharacter several scenes were filmed at Disneyland]] (located in California), presumably for reshoots that they couldn't return to Florida for.

** In 2014, Dolan had released ''Mommy'', to date his most acclaimed work, critically and audience wise. This gained him some clout to make his next film with the Canadian studio eOne. However, that follow-up, ''It's Only the End of the World'', debuted to mixed reviews at Cannes on the festival circuit and culminated in a moment where Dolan had [[DearNegativeReader lashed out at reviewers]], a moment that seemed to mark the beginning of the end for his reputation as Quebec's Golden Boy. Despite this, he was still granted AuteurLicense for his next film, which would become ''The Death and Life of John F. Donovan'', and a whopping $35 million budget.

** In 2014, Dolan had released ''Mommy'', to date his most acclaimed work yet, critically and audience wise. This gained him some clout to make his next work with the Canadian studio eOne. His next film, however, ''It's Only the End of the World'', despite an AllStarCast, debuted to mixed reviews at Cannes and other film festivals and culminated in a moment where Dolan had lashed out at reviewers, a moment that seemed to mark the beginning of the end for his reputation as Quebec's Golden Boy. Despite this, he was still granted AuteurLicense for his next film, which would become ''The Death and Life of John F. Donovan'', and a whopping $35 Million budget.
** And things immediately went wrong, ''[[CreatorBacklash even according to Dolan himself]]''. The film's AllStarCast didn't come easy- numerous actors were announced to have been confirmed ''even after production began''. Additionally, for the first time, Dolan had co-written the movie, this time with Jacob Tierney, of {{Series/Letterkenny}} fame, which led to this being his first ever English-language production. He also had to shoot the movie back and forth between Quebec and Europe (the UK and Czech Republic), which further slowed things down as all his films were usually shot in Montreal or anywhere in Quebec (ironically, ''It's Only the End of the World'', while set in France with French actors, was filmed in the Quebec countryside) All this led to Dolan, famous for being able to get his films done quickly, taking nearly ''two years'' to get this one done.

** Dolan has also admitted that the film was basically made in the editing room. The first cut of the movie was ''over four hours long''. Dolan's films were surefire Cannes successes, but this long and arduous process to cut the film down to 123 minutes meant he missed the deadline for Cannes. In addition, he struggled with the overall vision of the film and several different cuts were made, with the final cut being a frankensteined together version from all of them.
** The film had its premiere at Toronto International Film Festival in 2018, and received scathing reviews from critics. It didn't fare much better among audiences, and its release was limited to limited cinema showings and VOD, with its reviews not getting better there either, with attention drawn to it being [[Film/IKilledMyMother yet]] [[{{Film/Heartbeats}} another]] pseudo-autobiographical angst fest from Dolan with added whining about child acting. Since, Dolan released ''Matthias et Maxime'' which, while much better received critically, didn't make much of an impression on audiences and got dumped on MUBI. All this led to Dolan's CreatorBreakdown where he retired from film altogether and decided to focus on TV, beginning with the miniseries ''The Night Logan Woke Up'' in 2023.

** Production in Italy was just as problematic. The costumes and sets had to be completely re-designed and re-built, leading to a shortage of lumber and other building materials throughout Italy. Millions of dollars' worth of props and other equipment were stolen by studio employees, embezzlement ran rampant (according to Taylor, "[the budget] said I ate 12 chickens and 40 pounds of bacon every day for breakfast") while a group of female extras went on strike as a result of being constantly groped by lecherous male extras. Two construction workers building the Alexandria set were killed by an unexploded World War II land mine. The constant delays and reshoots in filming the epic-scale scene of Cleopatra's entrance on a barge into Rome (started in October 1961, finished the following March) required the recasting of Cleopatra's son as the original child actor had grown significantly taller during the delay.

** Production in Italy was just as problematic. The costumes and sets had to be completely re-designed and re-built, leading to a shortage of lumber and other building materials throughout Italy. Millions of dollars' worth of props and other equipment were stolen by studio employees, embezzlement and graft ran rampant (according to Taylor, "[the budget] said I ate 12 chickens and 40 pounds of bacon every day for breakfast") while a group of female extras went on strike as a result of being constantly groped by lecherous male extras. Two construction workers building the Alexandria set were killed by an unexploded World War II land mine. The constant delays and reshoots in filming the epic-scale scene of Cleopatra's entrance on a barge into Rome (started in October 1961, finished the following March) required the recasting of Cleopatra's son as the original child actor had grown significantly taller during the delay.

** Production in Italy was just as problematic. The costumes and sets had to be completely re-designed and re-built, leading to a shortage of lumber and other building materials throughout Italy. Millions of dollars' worth of props and other equipment were stolen by studio employees, embezzlement and graft were rampant (according to Taylor, "[the budget] said I ate 12 chickens and 40 pounds of bacon every day for breakfast") while a group of female extras went on strike as a result of being constantly groped by lecherous male extras. Two construction workers building the Alexandria set were killed by an unexploded World War II land mine. The constant delays and reshoots in filming the epic-scale scene of Cleopatra's entrance on a barge into Rome (started in October 1961, finished the following March) required the recasting of Cleopatra's son as the original child actor had grown significantly taller during the delay.

** Rush wanted to cast an unknown as the female lead, but Cinergi, the company Vajna had founded after leaving Carolco, insisted on English actress Creator/JaneMarch after her performance as the title character in Claude Berri's ''The Lover''. Willis' best friend Carmine Zozzora, an associate producer on ''Color of Night'', married March just two months after meeting her during production of the film, and proceeded to become very demanding regarding her scenes with Willis. March, for her part, was happy enough working on the film, but was uncomfortable with the amount of nudity required.

** Production in Italy was just as problematic. The costumes and sets had to be completely re-designed and re-built, leading to a shortage of lumber and other building materials throughout Italy. Millions of dollars' worth of props and other equipment were stolen by studio employees, while a group of female extras went on strike as a result of being constantly groped by lecherous male extras. Two construction workers building the Alexandria set were killed by an unexploded World War II land mine. The constant delays and reshoots in filming the epic-scale scene of Cleopatra's entrance on a barge into Rome (started in October 1961, finished the following March) required the recasting of Cleopatra's son as the original child actor had grown significantly taller during the delay.

** When Creator/JosephLMankiewicz was brought on board to direct at Taylor's insistence, the film was already nearly a year behind schedule, $5 million over budget, and had ''not a single frame of usable footage'' to show for it. The script was only half completed, and Mankiewicz had to write the rest as filming went along, shooting the script as new scenes were written and editing the resulting footage later rather than editing the script first and then shooting the resulting scenes. The catastrophic budget overruns meant the climactic Battle of Actium sequence had to be re-written to take place almost entirely off camera. So great was the strain of writing and directing that Mankiewicz required injections to both get through each day and sleep at night, and had to be carried onto the set each day on a stretcher.

* The Creator/EmilioEstevez sci-fi flick ''Film/{{Freejack}}'' owes its failure to the complete ineptitude of the studio which produced it, as detailed [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2X8j5iH4ToY here]] on ''WebVideo/GoodBadFlicks'':

** The workprint version of the film ran nearly three hours, and [[UsefulNotes/AcademyAward Oscar]]-winning editor Alan Heim was brought in to try and fix the film. After viewing the available footage, he determined that a large portion of the film needed to be reshot, and whole new scenes added including an opening and closing sequence, and introductory sequences for both Pluto and Dina. Eddie Murphy ultimately financed many of the reshoots while the film languished in post-production, writing and directing many of the new scenes himself.

** When ''Cool World'' was finally released in the summer of 1992, it proved to be a [[BoxOfficeBomb massive bomb]] both critically and commercially. It opened at number six at the North American box office and wound up grossing only $14,110,589 against a $28 million budget. More to the point, it only has a 4% score on Website/RottenTomatoes and Basinger received a UsefulNotes/GoldenRaspberryAward nomination for Worst Actress[[note]]Basinger lost to Creator/MelanieGriffith.[[/note]]. This was [[StarDerailingRole arguably the beginning of the end for Basinger as an A-list star]]. Just three years removed from her biggest commercial triumph, ''Film/Batman1989'', this was the third consecutive commercial and creative failure (which began with ''Film/TheMarryingMan'' and ''Film/FinalAnalysis'' and would continue on through 1994's ''Film/PretAPorter'', which was her last movie before her [[UsefulNotes/AcademyAward Oscar]] [[UsefulNotes/AcademyAwardWinners winning performance]] in ''Film/LAConfidential'' three years later). The lingering effects of ''Cool World's'' failure were more damning for Bakshi, who was so dismayed by all of the ExecutiveMeddling to his original vision that it ultimately [[CreatorKiller drove him away from filmmaking]][[note]]He made a TV movie, ''Film/CoolAndTheCrazy'', and ''WesternAnimation/SpicyCity'', a noir GenreAnthology series. It was the first TV-MA-rated animated series, but due to its short time on TV and the popularity/controversy surrounding ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'', a lot of people have forgotten it; he left the series when faced with more ExecutiveMeddling. He tried to make another movie, ''WesternAnimation/TheLastDaysOfConeyIsland'', but it was stuck in DevelopmentHell until a successful Website/{{Kickstarter}} campaign in 2013.[[/note]]. Meanwhile, Mancuso's career was downgraded to [[BMovie B-level]] status ever since. The two men who rewrote the film into what it became without Bakshi's knowledge, Grais and Victor, saw their cinematic careers erased until 2000. The next time they got a writing credit was on the 2015 remake of ''Film/{{Poltergeist|1982}}'', and that was for their original screenplay. To add insult to injury, to advertise ''Cool World'', the [[Creator/{{Paramount}} studio]] erected a giant sign of the character Holli Would standing alongside the Hollywood Hills sign, assuming it would be great publicity - only to have it blow up in their faces when feminist organizations raised a ruckus about how sexist it was.