History TroubledProduction / Film0ToG

** The biggest problems, however, came when the film entered pre-production -- only for the [[UsefulNotes/{{Columbine}} Columbine High School massacre]] to happen. Even across the border in Canada, Columbine had a chilling effect on teen horror films like this one, especially given a) a copycat shooting in Alberta, and b) the fact that its protagonists were {{goth}}s, a subculture that came under heavy scrutiny and suspicion after the shooting. Casting directors in UsefulNotes/{{Toronto}} refused to work on the film, forcing the producers to instead hold auditions in UsefulNotes/{{Vancouver}} (where they ultimately found their stars, Creator/KatharineIsabelle and Creator/EmilyPerkins), and newspapers and MoralGuardians criticized Telefilm Canada for funding it, forcing their director of operations Bill House to issue a statement defending the film.

* The process of making ''Film/DancerInTheDark'' was emotionally taxing according to it’s star, Music/{{Bjork}}, to the point that she would not appear in a major release for another 22 years. Director Creator/LarsVonTrier was no better, he stated that working with her felt like working with a ''terrorist''.

** Because of this last-minute decision, the film was in post-production well past the intended release date of December, 1976 due to the difficult process of superimposing optical effects on the sky in 80 percent of the shots (which was not planned for during filming, resulting in poor execution of the effect). It was during this period that 20th Century Fox went ahead and released their "other" science fiction film for 1977, ''Star Wars'', which they didn’t have much faith in. The studio had planned to release only two science fiction films that year, with this intended to be their big blockbuster.

** Because of this last-minute decision, the film was in post-production well past the intended release date of December, 1976 due to the difficult process of superimposing optical effects on the sky in 80 percent of the shots (which was not planned for during filming, resulting in poor execution of the effect). It was during this period that 20th Century Fox went ahead and released their "other" science fiction film for 1977, ''Star Wars''. The studio had planned to release only two science fiction films that year, with this intended to be the blockbuster.
** ''Star Wars'' became a hit of epic proportions, and forced Fox to further re-address a struggling ''Damnation Alley'', which was languishing in post-production special effects work. In a panic, the release date was delayed to October, while Fox went in to re-edit the entire film. Directorial control was wrestled from Smight, and large sections of the film were edited out by the studio in order to focus more on the "Landmaster" vehicle, and the special effects, in direct response to ''Star Wars''. Excised were several key scenes critical to the storyline, including many scenes with Creator/GeorgePeppard (much to his chagrin) and Dominique Sanda, Murray Hamilton (the General of the Missile Base, which rendered his character "mute" in the final film, with no lines of dialogue), and critically, a confrontation between Tanner and Denton after the death of Keegan by "killer cockroaches" (in this scene, Tanner blames Denton for not saving his friend from death). The film was finally released on October 21, 1977 to poor reviews and tanked at the box office.

** Given the original novel was a darkly humorous satire revolving around a racially charged TabloidMelodrama of intentionally {{Jerkass}} characters, the film raised some eyebrows when it was announced as a big-budget drama with an AllStarCast and Creator/BrianDePalma directing. Given the budget and scope of the film, ExecutiveMeddling took hold quickly.

* ''Film/BackToTheFuture1'': Everyone involved in film was sure it would bomb because absolutely nothing went smoothly. (Among the crew, it was nicknamed ''The Film That Would Not Wrap''.) The shoot nearly drove Creator/RobertZemeckis insane, ruined his health, and threatened to wreck his career if the film wasn't a hit.

* ''[[https://statenews.com/article/2023/05/completely-fabricated-duffy-daugherty-film-embroiled-in-controversy-legal-battles Black Spartans]]'', a film shot in 2022 about the 1965 interracial Michigan State football team, starring Creator/NealMcDonough, Creator/CaseyCott, and also Platform/TikTok star Bryce Hall in a cameo, was fully subjected to this. For starters, the script was disowned by the real life figures depicted (claiming it contained racist tropes and complete fabrications), and Michigan State denied permission to use their university trademarks. In addition, many members of the film's local cast and crew were never paid for their work, while the film's producer (James Velissaris, stepson of the author of the nonfiction book the film was based on) was sentenced to 15 years in prison for various white collar crimes. Other complications include the firing of the film's costume designer mid-production and various crew members quitting the project once they saw the trainwreck it was becomming. As of now, the film is [[TheShelfOfMovieLanguishment sitting on a shelf]], with the possibility of it never seeing the light of day.

** The first director attached, Robert Bierman, dropped out when his daughter was killed in an accident and it became clear that he needed more time to mourn than the understanding producers could allow. Cornfeld learned Cronenberg was available (having dropped out of ''Film/TotalRecall'') '''just''' in time to salvage the project, with Brooks helping seal that deal by offering Cronenberg an extra $200,000. Cronenberg's complete rewrite of Charles Edward Pogue's original script, a condition of participation, was so InNameOnly to it and any other version of [[Literature/TheFly the short story]] that initially Cornfeld had ''his'' doubts, until a friend read it and loved it.

** ''Days of Thunder'' was supposed to be the first film in a five-film production deal that Simpson and Bruckheimer had with Creator/{{Paramount}}, but after the debacle of its production, Paramount prematurely terminated the deal. Simpson would reteam with Bruckheimer on ''Film/BadBoys'', ''Film/DangerousMinds'', and ''Film/CrimsonTide'' in 1995 (the last of which also reunited him with Scott), as well as the posthumously-released ''Film/TheRock'' in 1996, but Bruckheimer would terminate their partnership for good in December 1995, citing his drug abuse and increasingly erratic behavior. On January 19, 1996, Simpson died of a drug overdose.

* ''Film/DaysOfThunder'', per [[http://books.google.com/books?id=0OSXeiTCfLAC&pg=PA40 this old ''Spy'' article]]. Everyone thought getting the producers of ''Film/TopGun'' (Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer), its director (the late Creator/TonyScott) and star (Creator/TomCruise) together, with a script by the legendary Creator/RobertTowne about a trendy sport (stock-car racing) couldn't miss. It was a commercial success indeed, despite bad reviews, but none of them ever worked all together again, because:
** Simpson, Bruckheimer and sometimes Towne (a sometime director himself) often started their days on set having arguments with Scott (sometimes ganging up on him, sometimes three-way) over how to shoot scenes. Meanwhile, the crew sat around getting paid, sometimes for 20 hours a day. Some later said that they had made so much overtime on the film that they could have gone on vacation for ''four full months'' after the wrap date.
** However, the effect of all that sitting around watching the producers, director and writer fight with each other was that the wrap date kept getting pushed back. At one point the production schedule was revised three times in a single day, leading the unit production manager (the studio's on-set financial liaison) to call out Simpson and Bruckheimer. In response, they told him "Screw the schedule." It went from February 1990 to the end of May, severely jeopardizing its chances of making its expected summer release date (it came out a month later). Unsurprisingly, the budget almost doubled over this wasted time too, requiring that the movie make a then-astronomical $100 million merely to break even.

** The cars being assembled in a barn were just one of [[ArtisticLicenseSports many inaccurate depictions of NASCAR]] in the film. Why this happened given the official cooperation of NASCAR and several racing teams, Tom Cruise's personal interest in racing as a hobby and the research he and Towne did is a matter of some artistic license, almost lampshaded in the movie itself by Cole Trickle's constant expressions of surprise that he's gotten this far in the sport despite limited experience. But it seemed on the set as if Scott and a lot of the actual crew just didn't care. So much so that, reportedly, only after principal photography wrapped did someone review the footage and find that they had neglected to shoot Cole Trickle's car crossing the finish line ... only the climactic shot of the entire movie.
** One reason why Simpson and Bruckheimer may not have cared about the accuracy (as if they ever did): they were too busy realizing the potential of the movie to get chicks. They spent $400,000 of the studio's money having an empty storefront in their hotel building converted into ''their private gym''. And ''then'' putting up a huge eight-foot-high neon sign with the name of the movie in the window. They threw a special welcome party for the crew at a local nightclub with minimal food and drink and no music ... but plenty of hookers they flew in, most of whom they limited to a roped-off VIP area with themselves and Cruise.

** Robinson, however, decided that the real problem was the film's score. He brought in Mark Isham to compose twenty minutes' worth of rock music, but Isham didn't know what was going on and didn't think a rock score was appropriate for a sci-fi film. Despite his misgivings, Isham composed the score as Robinson wanted -- only for Robinson to hate the score and fire Isham. This prompted Murphy to unsuccessfully ask the producers to fire him as well; he would later ask that his possessory credit[[note]]The "directed by" or "a film by" notices that you sometimes see in a movie's marketing[[/note]] be removed. He ''would'' have gone full AlanSmithee, but that would have necessitated another legal battle with the studio, and Murphy just didn't care by this point.

** Crichton took over as director for the latter reshoots and recuts, two years after principal photography, by which time [=McTiernan=], who had given up on his initial hope of restoring his reputation after ''Film/LastActionHero'', was no longer involved nor wishing to be. At the last minute the studio decided to throw in some material during the reshoots that would be gory and bloody enough to get an R rating. [=McTiernan=] was outraged, because he had been told the film was intended to be PG-13 and had he known they were aiming for an R, he would have shot everything differently. At the same time the studio asked for a trailer that was LighterAndSofter, since it had felt the original one to be "too scary". Despite the distance he now had from the production, critics nevertheless [[{{MisBlamed}} savaged]] [=McTiernan=] for the result as he was the credited director, [[CreatorKiller pretty much ending his career]].

** One of the people intrigued by it was Creator/StevenSpielberg, who after becoming ''the'' biggest director in Hollywood after the back-to-back smash successes of ''Film/{{Jaws}}'' and ''Film/CloseEncountersOfTheThirdKind'' decided to do this script next. And putting these three fresh young egos together quickly sent them even further down the rabbit hole, with the script mutating pretty much daily with one crazy idea after another, while no one was willing to rein them in.

* Creator/JessicaChastain’s passion project ''Film/The355'' was hit with some noticeable snags during pre-production and even right until filming. After being sold at Cannes as a female spy thriller in the vein of ''Film/MissionImpossible'' and ''Film/TheBourneIdentity'' with Chastain, Creator/LupitaNyongo, Creator/FanBingbing and Creator/PenelopeCruz in the cast with Simon Kinberg directing, everything seemed to be going fine...until Fan Bingbing was arrested for tax evasion which also had repercussions on the Chinese industry, meaning pre-production was halted until she was released. There was also the fact that ''Film/DarkPhoenix'' was a massive BoxOfficeBomb and a huge loss for both Kinberg and Chastain. Then right before filming was set to begin cinematographer Roger Deakins and co-lead Creator/MarionCotillard both dropped out back to back, with Deakins leaving to work on ''Film/NineteenSeventeen'' and Cotillard leaving over creative differences, with Creator/DianeKruger brought in to replace her. However, filming began in July 2019 and everything went smoothly save for a stunt that resulted in Chastain suffering a head injury that led to a hospital visit. But then the film was pushed to January 2021, '''two years''' after filming. And then it got pushed to January 2022, meaning from the start of filming to its new release date the film will have taken four years to get released. When it did finally get released, ''The 355'' received tepid reception and before it premiered it was already projected to flop. The opening weekend was a paltry $4.5 million, below even ''Film/WestSideStory2021'', both films which were competing against the box-office smash ''Film/SpiderManNoWayHome''.

** As it turned out, ''Nailed'''s financier was none other than notorious embezzler David Bergstein, and the project was pretty much doomed from the start. Due to Bergstein not paying the SAG as promised, the film was shut down on the first day of shooting. The project would undergo a cycle of starting up again, the cast and crew realizing that Bergstein still wasn't paying the bills, and the production halting again that Russell described as [[Creator/FranzKafka Kafkaesque]] in a 2014 interview. During the course of its production, ''Nailed'' was shut down ''fourteen'' times! During the torturous shoot, Creator/JamesCaan, who had a major supporting role, quit the production due to creative differences with Russell.

** The long delay in the release of ''Accidental Love'' had unfortunate side effects: between 2008 and 2015, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (or "Obamacare") was passed into law, so what the film had to say about health care [[UnintentionalPeriodPiece had become totally irrelevant]]. No wonder that the distributor promoted it as a romantic comedy instead of the political satire it originally was. The resulting film received a scathing reception from critics[[note]]which caused its own controversy when the DVD release blatantly quote-mined the negative review from A.A. Dowd to make it seems like he was praising the film, which he promptly called them out on and got it removed with an apology[[/note]], and was soon all but forgotten except as a footnote of the careers of all involved and a massive case of WhatCouldHaveBeen.

** However, Fox then dropped the project themselves, leading to it being taken on by Franchise Pictures, a company that specialized in salvaging Hollywood stars' personal projects -- and also massively padding out their budgets, allowing them to pull all sorts of embezzlement scams with the budgets. According to Mandell, Franchise only provided the financing, with the rest of production essentially being handled in-house by the Church of Scientology and Travolta's production company, removing any real oversight of Travolta and allowing things to start going completely off the rails. The screenplay was completely rewritten and turned into a more straightforward translation of the novel, with Mandell and Shapiro both being credited as writers, but subsequently disowning the movie.

** Right before the film was set to release, a version of the screenplay was leaked and retitled online. Reviews for the screenplay were scathing, pretty much ensuring the film to be the complete commercial disaster that it was. Travolta's career arguably hasn't recovered since.

* The initial shoot for ''Best Defense'' wasn't overly problematic, other than some issues caused by lead actor Creator/DudleyMoore's substance abuse, and consequently [[HostilityOnTheSet coming into conflict]] with lead actresses Helen Shaver and Creator/KateCapshaw. When the end product went before test audiences, however, it received extremely negative reviews, with complaints that the plot was dark, confusing, and lethargically paced, and that Moore's character came across as an unlikable, lecherous pervert. Paramount deemed the film unreleasable and dumped it on TheShelfOfMovieLanguishment for a few months, until they began looking for an Creator/EddieMurphy vehicle for the summer of 1984. Jeff Katzenberg decided to kill two birds with one stone by offering Murphy a huge paycheck to appear in the film. Murphy accepted, but because Moore was unavailable for more than a couple of days' worth of reshoots[[note]]Including what would have been the only scene in which Moore and Murphy appear together on-screen, which for some reason was cut from the finished product[[/note]], the solution was to film an entirely separate storyline for Murphy's character, then intersperse it with Moore's storyline. This not only failed to address the narrative issues of the original Moore-only cut but added a whole bunch of new ones. On top of that, someone at Paramount had the bright idea of billing Murphy as a "Strategic Guest Star", which just made it even more obvious to people that he had been crowbarred into the film in a vain attempt to salvage it. ''Best Defense'' was ultimately released to scathing reviews, flopped at the box-office despite a decent opening weekend, and Murphy was so sure it would prove his StarDerailingRole that he asked his agent to rescind his resignation from the cast of ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' -- though fortunately for him, his career was rescued and then some with ''Film/BeverlyHillsCop'' a few months later. Moore wasn't so lucky, however, only having one more box-office hit in ''Film/MickiAndMaude'' (and even that was only a modest success) before his career went into terminal decline. And director Willard Huyck and producer Gloria Katz would make only one more film together... which just so happened to be ''Film/HowardTheDuck''.

* The 1991 film adaptation of Creator/ELDoctorow's novel ''Film/BillyBathgate'' was that year's troubled production. Reports constantly streamed from the set of protracted arguments between star Creator/DustinHoffman and director Robert Benton, similar to those Hoffman had engaged in with Creator/SydneyPollack during ''Film/{{Tootsie}}'' a decade earlier, without the ingenious resolution. Instead, JeffreyKatzenberg himself had to come on set and intervene. The disputes led to delays and reshoots, including an entire alternate ending that was then entirely discarded in favor of the original ending, as the cost ballooned to $40 million (extravagant for a Depression-era gangster movie at the time). After production was finished, Doctorow [[CreatorBacklash distanced himself from the film]] since it took considerable liberty with his novel. It was released to lukewarm reviews and has been little remembered ever since.

** Despite having no filmmaking education or experience, Duffy's script for ''The Boondock Saints'' ignited a bidding war and got the attention of Harvey Weinstein and Creator/{{Miramax}}, who won out by agreeing to pay $300,000 for the script and $15 million for the budget, letting Duffy direct and his band The Brood provide the soundtrack, and even buying out the bar Duffy worked at to make him a co-owner.

** Universal and director Creator/DougLiman fought over pretty much every single creative decision. Liman, who had only helmed [[Film/{{Swingers}} indie]] [[Film/{{Go}} films]] prior to ''Identity'', did not put up with ExecutiveMeddling, which created no shortage of friction between him and the studio. The first point of contention was shooting locations, with Liman insisting on Paris rather than Montreal as Universal wanted. Due to star Creator/MattDamon not liking the rewrites they started shooting with and the constant feuding between Liman and Universal, writer Tony Gilroy had to fax new script pages to the set in the middle of shooting.

** At de Laurentiis's urging, Donaldson drastically reduced Bolt's script, which depicted the voyage of the ''Bounty'', the mutiny and the HMS ''Pandora'''s pursuit of the mutineers, into a more modest story depicting the mutiny. Even so, filming didn't go smoothly; extensive location shooting in French Polynesia ran afoul of bad weather and logistic difficulties, Gibson drank heavily during lulls in production, while Donaldson clashed repeatedly with Hopkins over the latter's performance. Finally released in 1984, ''The Bounty'' cost a hefty $25,000,000, and despite good reviews it flopped at the box office. Fortunately, its failure proved a minor speed bump, as Donaldson, Gibson and Hopkins -- not to mention supporting actors Creator/DanielDayLewis and Creator/LiamNeeson -- all went on to bigger things.

* Production of ''Film/BridgetJonesTheEdgeOfReason'' wasn't massively troubled per se, but was hampered my many disagreements between director Beeban Kidron and the actors, to the point where executive producer Creator/RichardCurtis reportedly had to step in several times to smooth things out, and essentially took over from Kidron in the editing room. It also suffered from a botched released strategy in the U.S., where it was initially released on a limited number of screens and greatly expanded the following week, only for poor word-of-mouth and reviews to cause it to quickly sink without trace.

** A possible directors' strike was in the offing, complicating things even more. UA made the rare decision to fire Chopra. James Bridges took the call on a Friday, saw Chopra's footage, and agreed to take over and finish the film on an abbreviated schedule. He wrote ''another'' draft of the script and recast all but two of the supporting roles. Those actors took the part based on a reading of ''the novel'', since there was no script at the time. Eventually Bridges and [=McInerney=] wrote the version, basically a rewrite of the novelist's first draft, that finally became the shooting script. They had agreed to share credit but the WGA awarded it all to [=McInerney=]. They were still nervous enough about Fox's image that they wrote and shot an [[RevisedEnding alternate ending]], in which the main character, in recovery, shows his girlfriend the eponymous novel he just wrote.

** Before production started, Gallo decided he wanted to shoot on the E6 film stock used mainly for color transparencies (i.e. what we used to call "slides"). This can be done but it is a very tricky process, as well as costly--it put a real strain on the film's extremely low budget. The original cinematographer balked, so Gallo fired him. Who did Gallo decide to replace him with? ''[[PrimaDonnaDirector Himself]]''. Yup ... Gallo, already the writer, star, and director, was ready to add "photographed by ..." to his credits as well. At the last minute [[NetworkToTheRescue the bond company stepped in]] and told him to hire a real cinematographer, Lance Acord.

** Creator/ChristinaRicci was so upset by the way Gallo treated her on set, as well as remarks he made about her basically being his "puppet", when the film came out, that she has reportedly said she will never work with him again. For good measure, ''several years later'', Gallo made remarks about how fat she was at the time.

** The problems continued once production began. Brando, notorious for his prima donna antics, was one such problem. On his first day, Brando didn't show up to work. Selleck pressured the Salkinds to get Brando into work the next day or he’d quit. Sure enough, Brando showed up the next day. However, Brando took umbrage with the script, which he felt whitewashed the worst aspects of Columbus’ voyage, notably his complicity in the genocide of Native Americans. He also wanted to add a scene where Torquemada is seen torturing a Jewish girl. Ilya Salkind wanted to please Brando and told him that the script would be rewritten, but Alexander Salkind shot that down. Ultimately, Brando insisted on having his name taken off the film; his request was denied, and [[BillingDisplacement he ended up getting top billing for what was essentially an extended cameo.]]

** But the shoot was plagued with almost every setback possible. The movie being a coproduction between France and Belgium, the Belgian crew attempted to sabotage the production on many occasions due to Poelvoorde's departure. Dubosc and Laval didn't get along at all and had to be separated several times by crew members. When the crew attempted to film a scene in Spain, expecting great weather, they instead got non-stop rain [[FromBadToWorse and even a sandstorm]]. And finally, multiple injuries were reported: Dubosc needed twenty-five stitches after falling down a staircase, actress Lucy Gordon almost drowned, and the director of photography suffered an allergic reaction. All of these caused the film to go over-schedule and over-budget.

* The planned remake of ''Cleopatra'' has also been at the center of a production storm, and it doesn't even have a script or a director yet. As revealed in [[http://defamer.gawker.com/angelinas-cleopatra-catastrophe-the-other-side-of-sony-1671986317 the treasure trove of hacked Sony Pictures emails]], it came down to a battle of wills between Creator/AngelinaJolie, who viewed a new version of ''Cleopatra'' as a passion project, and Sony Pictures executive Amy Pascal and producer Scott Rudin. Relations between the three quickly went to hell, the biggest point of the argument being Jolie's choice of director -- she had her heart set on getting Creator/DavidFincher to direct the film, while Rudin (with Pascal's support) wanted Fincher for a planned biopic of Creator/SteveJobs (see below). Rudin and Pascal eventually won that debate by offering Jolie a shortlist of other directors led by Creator/MartinScorsese, but by that point, the Jobs film had already fallen through. Pascal and Rudin also wanted to make a film that focused on Cleo's romance with Marc Antony, which Jolie wanted to de-emphasize.

* The sci-fi horror film ''Film/TheCloverfieldParadox'' was originally written as a standalone film titled ''God Particle'' before it was bought by Creator/JJAbrams' production company Bad Robot, which turned it into a DolledUpInstallment in the ''Film/{{Cloverfield}}'' ModularFranchise -- and as (perhaps unintentionally) [[https://www.avclub.com/it-sounds-like-the-cloverfield-paradox-was-kind-of-a-me-1822837324 revealed]] in a Facebook Live interview with Abrams, director Julius Onah, and stars Creator/DavidOyelowo and Roger Davies, the process of making the film into such lay at the root of its problems. The script was constantly being fiddled with during production to add connections to ''Cloverfield'', most notably an entire subplot set on Earth with Davies' character (which doesn't connect back to the main story in any way) after test audiences wondered what was happening down there. Creator/{{Paramount}}, deeming the finished film to be virtually unsalvageable, sold it off to Creator/{{Netflix}} for $50 million rather than release what they predicted would be a BoxOfficeBomb. While the film's surprise announcement during UsefulNotes/SuperBowl LII, complete with the news that it would premiere on Netflix that night after the game, brought it a ton of buzz, the film wound up getting a very mixed reception that bitterly polarized those who saw it, with one of the biggest complaints being that the attempts to connect it to ''Cloverfield'' left its story an utter mess.

** Naturally, the film had to be radically altered, including changing the title and revising the ending. It was ultimately given a quiet limited release in 2018 before being dumped to DVD (no box office totals are available at this time, although one website has the [[https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Con-Man-(2018)#tab=summary DVD sale totals]] at just over '''$12,000'''.

** Bakshi's first choices of Pitt and Barrymore as lead characters Jack Deebs and Holli Would were overruled in favor of Creator/GabrielByrne and Creator/KimBasinger, the latter of whom was considered a bigger box office draw than both Barrymore and Pitt at the time. In order to keep Pitt (who just a year prior, had his [[StarMakingRole breakthrough role]] in ''Film/ThelmaAndLouise'') associated with the film (instead, he portrayed Detective Frank Harris), Bakshi was forced to compromise, and therefore went along with the casting of Basinger as Holli. But things went from bad to worse for Bakshi when Basinger [[WagTheDirector wanted further rewrites]]. According to Bakshi, who envisioned ''Cool World'' to be a hard R-rated movie [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids that was decidedly not for kids]], Basinger had hoped that the film would be appropriate for her [[SoMyKidsCanWatch to personally show to sick children in hospitals]]. Naturally, Mancuso agreed with Basinger's assessment, so ''Cool World'' ultimately [[MidDevelopmentGenreShift went from being]] [[{{Bowdlerise}} an R-rated horror film to an R-rated comedy to a PG-13 comedy]] (in effect, a ''Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit'' [[FollowTheLeader knock-off]] minus the genuine heart and emotion behind its characters). Basinger also demanded the [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment addition of a scene]] where she [[TheCastShowoff got to sing]] a duet with Frank Sinatra Jr. Consequently, because Bakshi now didn't have a clear idea in regards to what the script was going to look like (and what sort of context the animation would fit within the storyline), he told his animators to just do whatever they wanted as long as it was "funny".

* Creator/KlausKinski's antics on ''Film/{{Crawlspace}}'' were so bad that the director, David Schmoeller, made a documentary about them. Schmoeller had been warned about Kinski's reputation for extreme volatility when a colleague showed him a ''Playboy'' interview in which the actor ranted at length about his hatred of directors, but when he contacted the director of Kinski's previous project, he was assured that [[BlatantLies Kinski was wonderful to work with]]. This would not be the case. Prior to filming, Kinski allegedly threw a fit over the wardrobe that had been picked out for him, and subsequently went out and bought his own clothes (charging them to the film and keeping them himself afterwards). On set, Kinski clashed bitterly with other actors and crew members. By the third day of filming, Kinski had started six fistfights and caused the film to fall significantly behind schedule. Schmoeller and the producers attempted to fire him, but Empire Pictures demanded that the bankable star remain. Aside from his combative behavior and bizarre demands (including an order that Schmoeller refrain from saying either "action" or "cut", essentially forcing him to film Kinski continually so he could start and end his scenes whenever he wished) he also refused to say any lines which he didn't like, to the point where, "Scenes were starting not to make sense because he would NOT say this or that line." Co-star Tane [=McClure=] later recalled that Schmoeller begged her to stay on set because Kinski (who she claims was "unfortunately, very interested in me") behaved better when she was around. Tensions reached the point of the film's Italian producer seriously contemplated murdering Kinski for the insurance money, and several crew members (up to three or four times a day) asked Schmoeller to, "Please kill Mr. Kinski"—a request that became the title of Schmoeller's later film about the experience.

** After eleven weeks of filming, with about 70% of the film having been shot by Craven's estimate, Dimension put production on "extended hiatus" in order to do a series of rewrites, concerned over the special effects and TheReveal of Scott Baio AsHimself being the werewolf. What came out of the reshoots was almost an entirely different film -- the serial killer plot was dropped entirely, in favor of a story about Creator/ChristinaRicci and Creator/JesseEisenberg's characters getting bitten by a werewolf. Music/MandyMoore dropped out and was replaced by Mya due to the delays, Skeet Ulrich dropped out when he saw the changes to the script (leading to his character being removed), Baio's role was cut down to a cameo, special effects artist Creator/RickBaker was replaced by Greg Nicotero, the director of photography was also replaced, and several other actors (Creator/IlleanaDouglas, Creator/HeatherLangenkamp, Scott Foley, Omar Epps, Robert Forster, James Brolin, and Corey Feldman) all saw the scenes they shot [[DeletedRole removed entirely from the film]], pushing the planned release back to October 2004.

** ''Star Wars'' became a hit of epic proportions, and forced Fox to further re-address a struggling ''Damnation Alley'', which was languishing in post-production special effects work. In a panic, the release date was delayed to October, while Fox went in to re-edit the entire film. Directorial control was wrestled from Smight, and large sections of the film were edited out by the studio in order to focus more on the "Landmaster" vehicle, and the special effects, in direct response to ''Star Wars''. Excised were several key scenes critical to the storyline, including many scenes with Creator/GeorgePeppard (much to his chagrin) and Dominique Sanda, Murray Hamilton (the General of the Missile Base, which rendered his character literally "mute" in the final film, with no lines of dialogue), and critically, a confrontation between Tanner and Denton after the death of Keegan by "killer cockroaches" (in this scene, Tanner blames Denton for not saving his friend from death). The film was finally released on October 21, 1977 to poor reviews and tanked at the box office.

** Despite initial optimism from producer Arthur Jacobs (who had a heart attack during production), the final budget was a then-outrageously high $18 million ($136 million adjusted for modern inflation), three times original estimates. Preview audiences (which notably included very few children) and critics were unimpressed, and the film was a box-office bomb, [[BoxOfficeBomb earning just $9 million]] despite a merchandising blitz (nine different versions of the soundtrack were recorded, with a million records pressed, but they sold so poorly that they are often found in bargain bins to this day).[[note]] It was ten years before another film, [[Film/ANewHope a space opera helmed by George Lucas]], tried the merchandising angle again.[[/note]] Public opinion soured further when Fox essentially [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney bribed their way to nine Oscar nominations (including Best Picture) by hosting lavish dinners and free screenings for Academy voters.]][[note]] It won two: Best Special Effects and Best Song for "Talk to the Animals".[[/note]]

** Lawrence was actually the second director hired for the film, which ultimately went through ''four'' of them. The first director hired for the project, Pitof, was best known in the West as the director of the infamous bomb ''Film/Catwoman2004'' -- in hindsight, a sign of just how little thought Jiang had put into the project. Pitof thought that the screenplay (which Jiang wrote himself) was so terrible that, upon reading it, he immediately hired Michael Ryan to do major rewrites, producing a screenplay that was more reminiscent of ''Film/ClashOfTheTitans2010''. Jiang, unfortunately, hated Ryan's script, and after multiple fights over it, Pitof [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere eventually quit]] before production began. Lawrence, who Jiang had initially passed over, was hired next, and held the same opinion of Jiang's script; he ultimately left the film due to both problems receiving his pay and concerns over conditions on set (more on that below). Canadian director Michael French was next in the director's chair; due to a preexisting work commitment, he could only shoot for three months, and he decided to shoot the film as a comedy, owing to both his background in the genre and (again) the fact that he thought the script was incredibly {{camp}}y. Scott Miller, the son of sports documentarian Warren Miller, was the one who finally finished it.

** Columbia also gave Silverstone wide latitude in casting Creator/ChristopherWalken, Creator/NicholasTurturro and Creator/HarryConnickJr, but was reluctant to accept Creator/BenicioDelToro as the male lead. And despite Silverstone hand-picking the director, Marco Brambilla, the two of them frequently clashed over issues such as dialogue, script and even wardrobe -- Brambilla would say, "I'm the director! What are you doing? You have to do this!" while Silverstone would reply, "You don't know anything! You should have read the script before you signed on to it!" Then they would storm off to their trailers and call their agents.

** Working with the several babies used to portray the character of Thea proved to be a nightmare, which probably meant that Ringwald was literally pissed and shit on.

** It was when production moved out to Cyprus for the location shoot that things ''really'' fell apart. Sellers started acting out more than ever, frequently showing up late, if at all, and when he did show up he usually feuded with Medak, co-star Anthony Franciosa, and just about anyone else he could, and insisted on ad-libbing his own material even when Medak pointed out he was going to make it impossible to edit the film into anything coherent. Then, Medak was taken out of action for a few days with heatstroke, forcing Milligan to jump in to direct in his absence (Sellers had wanted to do it, but Milligan talked him out of it). To add insult to injury, the captain of a boat hired to be used as a pirate ship ended up crashing and sinking it due to being drunk in charge of the ship, holding up production while a replacement was sourced.

* ''Film/GIJoeRetaliation''[='=]s highly-anticipated release was delayed, almost at the last moment, by nine months, for reshoots, ostensibly to make a 3-D version possible and boost interest in international markets (and, unofficially, to avoid competing with ''Film/MagicMike'', also starring Creator/ChanningTatum). However, advance word had it been that it had tested very poorly and the studio was trying to adjust by increasing Tatum's part (which ultimately turned out not to be true). This wouldn't have been so much of a problem had Paramount not been heavily promoting the original June release date up to the point they put it off, leaving them with just two movies on their summer calendar. Left in the lurch in the meantime was an entire line of toys based on the movie that Hasbro was bringing out. The effort to "boost interest in international markets" notwithstanding, the film was still banned in Pakistan due to its negative portrayal of that country. Oh, and a crew member got killed on set in New Orleans.

* The independent film ''Gray State'' is another one of those "never finished" projects, and one of the grislier examples on this list. A dystopian action film about a takeover of the US by a OneWorldOrder, the film initially attracted buzz on the ConspiracyTheorist circuit with a successful Indiegogo campaign. However, production halted overnight in 2015 after its creator, David Crowley, was found dead with his wife and daughter in an apparent case of PaterFamilicide. A documentary, titled ''A Gray State'', was made about the affair, and how Crowley went over the edge. Of course, given who the film was marketed to and the worldview it was rooted in, it took no time before many of the film's backers started claiming that Crowley and his family had been taken out by the government in order to stop the film from being made.

** Ultimately, the film was a critical and financial failure, [[BoxOfficeBomb making only $15 million against its $47 million budget]] as critics took it to task for its heavy-handed satire and miscast actors. It was the beginning of a downturn in De Palma's career. Tom Hanks took a break from acting partially because of this failure, and Morgan Freeman considers it an OldShame.

* ''Film/BordelloOfBlood'' owes its status as ''Series/TalesFromTheCrypt''[='=]s FranchiseKiller and Creator/DennisMiller's OldShame to this trope:

** With no festival runs, [[OldShame no support from Walker]] (with Walker even finding out about a release date at all through reading about it online) and InvisibleAdvertising, the film was dumped in about 80 theaters, grossing a dismal $123,445 over two weeks.

** The final product was released in October 2009 in French cinemas and was mercilessly destroyed by critics and moviegoers alike, citing the weak script, direction, and performances; the appallingly disjointed nature of the plot; and over-reliance on movie references. Additionally, it was a massive [[BoxOfficeBomb commercial failure]], as it opened in eighth place and then got thrown out the theaters after only three weeks, only recouping less than ten percent of its budget. Additionally, Moix was accused of exaggerating many mishaps which happened during the shoot in interviews, and of trying to bribe at least one critic. [[CreatorKiller He has not directed a movie since then]], and almost every member of the crew remembers this movie as [[OldShame a horrible experience]].

** During production, Chaplin's mother died. And then wife Lita Grey filed for divorce, dragging his sex life into the media with sensational claims in the court documents that severely tarnished Chaplin's image. ''Then'' the IRS got involved, claiming Chaplin owed a million in back taxes. He spent a good deal of time in New York and/or London with the print of what had been completed, trying to stave off a nervous breakdown. The stress was so great that his hair, graying when production began, went completely white by the time filming resumed and had be [[DyeingForYourArt dyed to match]][[note]]A difference that can be seen on film[[/note]].
** Chaplin [[OldShame left this film out of his autobiography altogether]] and [[CanonDiscontinuity kept it out of circulation for almost 40 years]].

** ''Cursed'' was finally dumped into theaters in February 2005, a year and a half after it was supposed to come out. It quickly became a critical and box office dud that is often cited as Craven's worst film, with both Williamson and Craven viewing it as an OldShame. The drawn-out production caused Craven to drop out of the American remake of ''Pulse'' (which he had also co-written) just ten days before filming began, as both this film and that one were MoneyDearBoy jobs for him, and his experience with ''Cursed'' had soured him on working just for the money. (To his credit, given the ''Pulse'' remake's poor reception, he probably dodged a bullet.)

* ''Film/Dracula1931'' became a horror classic, but also became an OldShame for many involved due to a rough production:

** While the film was a standout critical and box office success, many involved in the film viewed it with mixed emotions at best. Lugosi's concerns about typecasting proved prescient, as he was ruthlessly typecasted as vampires and vampire-like villains in horror and sci-fi films. Creator/DwightFrye, who played Renfield, was also a victim of typecasting and not happy about it. David Manners, who played Harker, would later state that he hated the filming process so much that he refused to watch the final film.
** Of special note is the Spanish-language version of the film, which was shot concurrently at night using the same costumes and sets -- a not-uncommon practice for early talkies. Despite having less shooting time and a smaller budget, the Spanish production averted troubles and benefitted from the missteps made by their Anglo counterparts, viewing the English dailies before filming to improve their own work. Considered a lost film until it was rediscovered in the 1970s, it is now considered by many film historians to be the superior film of the two. (Both are in the National Film Registry.)

** In 1975, Chilean director Alexandro Jodorowsky, with backing from the Seydoux brothers (a pair of French producers), picked up the rights for $100,000. He invested more than $2 million into pre-production, writing a script for a 10-20 hour miniseries starring Creator/SalvadorDali and [[Music/TheRollingStonesBand Mick Jagger]] with music by Music/PinkFloyd, before running out of money, with the rights going to the Seydoux brothers. The documentary ''Film/JodorowskysDune'' was later made about his attempt.

** James wielded a large amount of creative control over everything from casting to the wardrobe to the final script -- unusual for any novelist, let alone one whose only published work was a single series of three books. This led to no end of disputes between her and director Creator/SamTaylorJohnson. While Taylor-Johnson wanted to make a more PragmaticAdaptation, James was very protective of her book and vetoed even the most minor deviations from it, and since James was the one with final say on all creative decisions, Taylor-Johnson often found herself forced to go along. Rather unsurprisingly, Taylor-Johnson refused to return for the sequels and later [[https://screenrant.com/fifty-shades-director-sam-taylor-johnson-regret-conflict/ described]] her experience as an OldShame, with directorial duties on the sequels being given to James Foley.

** Though the film made its money back, it was critically savaged, and subsequently left a lot of dead and dying careers in its wake. Ringwald, who views the film as a serious OldShame, was the most prominent victim; combined with the evisceration of ''Fresh Horses'' that same year, [[StarDerailingRole her future as a leading girl was effectively destroyed]], and since then, she's been reduced to direct-to-video and television roles. Batinkoff, whose performance was widely panned, hasn't really done anything since, and Avildsen's credibility as a director took a major dent, his last credit being the DTV Creator/JeanClaudeVanDamme film ''Desert Heat'', on which he had his name removed.

** Because of the constant reshoots and reedits, the film's release was pushed back from Fall 1991 to [[DumpMonths January 1992]]. It opened in fourth place and made only $17 million, less than half of its reported $36 million budget, thus cementing its status as a BoxOfficeBomb as well as an OldShame for Hopkins. Murphy's Hollywood career languished and he returned to New Zealand, where he eventually became second unit director for Creator/PeterJackson's ''[[Film/TheLordOfTheRings Lord of the Rings]]'' trilogy.

** Finally, de Laurentiis found Creator/DavidLynch, who had just made ''Film/TheElephantMan'', and hired him as writer and director. The first argument was over casting; Lynch wanted to cast Creator/FreddieJones, who he had worked with on ''The Elephant Man'', and had to go against much resistance from de Laurentiis to do so. De Laurentiis planned to fire Jones, but changed his mind upon seeing the first dailies and went so far as to apologize to Jones for being skeptical of him. Another casting issue came when Aldo Ray, the actor originally cast as Gurney Halleck, was forced to drop out just after filming began due to his alcoholism. Lynch decided on an actor named Patrick Stewart (no, not that one) and asked to have him flown out to the set for an audition, only for a mix-up to result in a completely different Creator/PatrickStewart ([[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration yes,]] [[Series/StarTrekPicard that]] [[Film/XMen one]]) being flown out instead. Fortunately, Lynch decided he fit the role quite well, and decided to roll with it.

** This was also the reason why a 14-year-old Creator/ScarlettJohansson was forced to [[WhatCouldHaveBeen turn down the role of Brigitte]]. She had been offered the part, but when her mother found out about the Toronto casting directors' boycott of the film, she refused to let her daughter take it.

* The producers of ''Film/GingerSnaps'' missed a deadline to apply for funding from Telefilm Canada, forcing them to wait another year while they collected private funding, in the process losing their original distributor. Then, once the film started entering pre-production, the [[UsefulNotes/{{Columbine}} Columbine High School massacre]] happened. Even across the border in Canada, Columbine had a chilling effect on teen horror films like this one, especially given a) a copycat shooting in Alberta, and b) the fact that its protagonists were {{goth}}s, a subculture that came under heavy scrutiny and suspicion after the shooting. Casting directors in UsefulNotes/{{Toronto}} refused to work on the film, forcing the producers to instead hold auditions in UsefulNotes/{{Vancouver}} (where they ultimately found their stars, Creator/KatharineIsabelle and Creator/EmilyPerkins), and newspapers and MoralGuardians criticized Telefilm Canada for funding it, forcing their director of operations Bill House to issue a statement defending the film. Fortunately, it went on to become a major SleeperHit on home video, enough to spawn two sequels. [[https://www.vice.com/en/article/y3zxw5/ginger-snaps-was-a-monster-win-for-canadian-cinema This article]] by Frederick Blichert for ''Vice'' goes into more detail.

*** Back in the 1980s, Creator/TheCannonGroup was planning on making both a ''Franchise/SpiderMan'' film and a sequel to ''Film/MastersOfTheUniverse''. Pyun was at the helm of both projects, with plans for filming them back to back. However, after more than a dozen re-writes and an investment of $2 million in pre-production and very early production, Cannon Films began to lose money fast. It eventually lost the rights for both franchises.

** 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]].

* ''Another You'', the last on-screen pairing of Creator/GeneWilder and Creator/RichardPryor, was fraught with difficulty. Pryor -- normally an energetic, if difficult, presence on set -- had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1986, and, five years and another heart attack later, was at the mercy of his body: he had lost significant mobility, looked painfully thin, struggled with depression, and couldn't even control his bladder. Acclaimed director Creator/PeterBogdanovich, who had only managed to get the film greenlit by getting Richard involved, spent most of his time on set trying to accommodate Pryor's needs; this [[HostilityOnTheSet angered Gene Wilder]], who had most of the dialogue in the movie, but had been teamed up with Pryor yet again because studio executives believed he couldn't carry a movie on his own any more (''Film/HauntedHoneymoon'', made with his recently deceased wife Gilda Radner, and ''Funny About Love'' had both been failures). Within weeks, Bogdanovich was out -- at Wilder's demand, he believed -- and replaced with a new director. Although the script was retooled to make it easier on Pryor, the story was retooled as well... which meant that he was forced to shoot all of the scenes he'd done with Bogdanovich ''again'', despite being barely able to get through them the first time. When the film came out to terrible box office, reviewers were left shocked and saddened at how badly Pryor had deteriorated. Wilder never made another film, and Pryor would only appear in a handful of small supporting roles or cameos afterward.

* ''Film/BordelloOfBlood'' owes its status as ''Series/TalesFromTheCrypt'' 's FranchiseKiller and Creator/DennisMiller's OldShame to this trope:

** Miller made it abundantly clear that he absolutely didn't want to be making the film. He often had his assistant go and ask the producer and director if he could shoot his scenes first and then go,[[note]]or sometimes not even show up at all[[/note]] a request they almost always granted, leaving the other members of the cast to do any takes which didn't require his presence dependent on the script supervisor, and [[HostilityOnTheSet angry and resentful of Miller]].[[note]]As it happened, Everhart was about the only person with significant screen time who maintained an upbeat attitude throughout the production[[/note]] The crew, too, came to despise Miller since his frequent absences from the set often meant they had to work weekends at the expense of their family time.
*** At one point Miller tried to steal one of the Teamsters' vans to leave the set.

** While the film attracted the usually hateful misogynist commentators, Banks went out of her way to steer into the hate in the promotional circuit, claiming in interviews that male audiences as a whole couldn't handle films about empowered women, while also claiming that successful female-led superhero films like ''Film/WonderWoman2017'' and ''Film/CaptainMarvel2019'' didn't count as examples. This not only drew scorn from comic fans but also from people involved in the production of both films, and Banks had little choice but to apologize for her comments. Banks would [[https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/09/26/magazine/elizabeth-banks-interview.html later claim]] that mandates from Sony's marketing had been to blame for this antagonistic approach, which had been credited as negatively affecting the film's box office chances.

* ''Film/ChildrenOfTheLivingDead'', produced by John Russo was indeed one of these. The director, Tor Ramsey claims:

** By November 1958, the film's production slowed down. [[DiedDuringProduction Sam Zimbalist died of a heart attack early in the month]], and both Wyler and Joseph Judson "J.J." Cohn took his place as uncredited producers. Also, over 85% of the extras had no telephones nor permanent addresses, and they resorted to word-of-mouth contact. So in an effort to speed things up, Wyler often kept principal actors on standby to shoot pick-up scenes if the first unit slowed down. Even Martha Scott and Cathy O'Donnell were in leprosy make-up and costumes for the month so Wyler could film their scenes when other shots didn't work out well. Principal photography eventually concluded on January 7, 1959.

** On top of that, Dangerfield wasn't easy to direct, as, unlike many comedians, he had no experience of how to act on a film set; even with Ramis gently ensuring he was alright; For example, when they shot his first scene, the one in the country club gift shop, Ramis would yell ""ACTION", but Dangerfield would do nothing; luckily, Ramis was able to get through to him when he took him aside and said that when he said "action" he was to do his bit. They shot the scene again and Ramis said "Okay, Rodney; do your bit". Dangerfield did so, and, like with his other films, improvised much of his dialogue. (including the bowl of soup line in the scene) From there, Ramis made sure to say "Okay, Rodney; do your bit" for the rest of Dangerfield's scenes.

** The premiere screening was a disaster, with Spielberg having noted he was especially bemused to see so many people covering their ears; he'd seen plenty covering their eyes during ''Jaws'' but this was a new one for him. It was savaged by critics and did middling business, which Spielberg and the Bobs have described as a much-needed humbling experience, after which they were all able to go on to wildly successful careers (with the film's position smack in the middle of what would otherwise be a spectacular [[Film/{{Jaws}} four]] [[Film/CloseEncountersOfTheThirdKind film]] [[Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk smash]] [[Film/ETTheExtraTerrestrial hit]] run for Spielberg ironically causing it to be remembered as a much bigger bomb than it was). Spielberg would produce one of the Bobs' biggest hits, ''Film/BackToTheFuture'', just a few years later.

* ''Film/BackToTheFuture'': Everyone involved in film was sure it would bomb because absolutely nothing went smoothly. (Among the crew, it was nicknamed ''The Film That Would Not Wrap''.) The shoot nearly drove Creator/RobertZemeckis insane, ruined his health, and threatened to wreck his career if the film wasn't a hit.

** A workable Director's Cut was created which cut down the long dialogue scenes and emphasized the action scenes. However Karen Lee Wolf fired everyone in Pittsburgh, hired a new editor and re-cut the film. She reinserted long dialogue scenes and looped even more dialogue without the director, resulting in robotic delivery of many of the lines. She also cut and dubbed over the original ending to turn it into a first date scene between Michael and Laurie.

** Even leaving aside Taylor's extended sick leave, few things went as planned during the abortive Pinewood shoot. The producers had frequent clashes with the studio's labour unions, the film crew did not realize until after settling on Pinewood as the venue for indoor filming that there were fewer available soundstages than anticipated and the ceilings were too low to accommodate the sets as originally planned, and the outdoor sets deteriorated rapidly in the cold, wet English weather. The footage shot at Pinewood ended up being discarded as the filming moved to Cinecittà Studios in Rome so the English weather would not impair Taylor's recovery. ([[PropRecycling The sets were still used]] by the producers of the ''Film/CarryOn'' films in 1964's ''Film/CarryOnCleo''.)

** Of special note is the Spanish-language version of the film, which was shot concurrently at night using the same costumes and sets -- a not-uncommon practice for early talkies. Despite having less shooting time and a smaller budget, the Spanish production averted troubles and benefited from the missteps made by their Anglo counterparts, viewing the English dailies before filming to improve their own work. Considered a lost film until it was rediscovered in the 1970s, it is now considered by many film historians to be the superior film of the two. (Both are in the National Film Registry.)

** Filming was hit by a plane crash that left four people dead and one paralyzed.

** Rather than use MotionCapture, as is standard, CGI artists had to manually [[{{Rotoscoping}} rotoscope]] the actors in post, as director Tom Hooper felt that motion capture suits would interfere with the actors' performances. Hooper's insistance on realism (similar to his success on ''Film/LesMiserables2012'') led to a number of difficulties, especially given the surreal and over-the-top nature of the [[Theatre/{{Cats}} original theater production]]; audio for the musical numbers was done by capturing live audio from the set along with the performance, sometimes with the songs rewritten just prior to shooting, and Hooper wanted the actors to use footage of actual cats performing as reference.

** It took the crew six months just to complete two minutes of footage for the trailer. Said trailer debuted in July, giving them a mere four months to do the rest of the ''nearly two-hour-long'' movie, resulting in ninety hour work weeks where the animators were forced to sleep in their offices just to make the deadline. Near the end of production, a section of the VFX team were given the task of [[https://www.thedailybeast.com/i-edited-the-buttholes-out-of-cats-it-was-a-total-nightmare hastily editing out the visible CGI cat anuses on all of the characters]], resulting in the fabled "butthole cut".

** While the film attracted the usually hateful misogynist commentators, Banks went out of her way to steer into the hate in the promotional circut, claiming in interviews that male audiences as a whole couldn't handle films about empowered women, while also claiming that successful female-led superhero films like ''Film/WonderWoman2017'' and ''Film/CaptainMarvel2019'' didn't count as examples. This not only drew scorn from comic fans but also from people involved in the production of both films, and Banks had little choice but to apologize for her comments. Banks would [[https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/09/26/magazine/elizabeth-banks-interview.html later claim]] that Sony's marketing had been to blame for this antagonistic approach, which had been credited as negatively affecting the film's box office chances.
** Release dates were also constantly shifted, eventually being pushed back nearly six months to accomodate for films like ''Film/TerminatorDarkFate'' (itself an example of a troubled production), along with Sony slashing the film's marketing budget in half as box office projects dropped. The finished product, released on November 15, 2019, was dead on arrival, greeted with lukewarm reviews (many of which called out the film's muddled messaging) and finishing third in its opening weekend, grossing $69.8 million against a $48-55 million budget (not counting advertising).

** A workable Director's Cut was created which cut down the long dialogue scenes and emphasised the action scenes. However Karen Lee Wolf fired everyone in Pittsburgh, hired a new editor and re-cut the film. She reinserted long dialogue scenes and looped even more dialogue without the director, resulting in robotic delivery of many of the lines. She also cut and dubbed over the original ending to turn it into a first date scene between Michael and Laurie.

** Even leaving aside Taylor's extended sick leave, few things went as planned during the abortive Pinewood shoot. The producers had frequent clashes with the studio's labour unions, the film crew did not realise until after settling on Pinewood as the venue for indoor filming that there were fewer available soundstages than anticipated and the ceilings were too low to accommodate the sets as originally planned, and the outdoor sets deteriorated rapidly in the cold, wet English weather. The footage shot at Pinewood ended up being discarded as the filming moved to Cinecittà Studios in Rome so the English weather would not impair Taylor's recovery. ([[PropRecycling The sets were still used]] by the producers of the ''Film/CarryOn'' films in 1964's ''Film/CarryOnCleo''.)

** Of special note is the Spanish-language version of the film, which was shot concurrently at night using the same costumes and sets -- a not-uncommon practice for early talkies. Despite having less shooting time and a smaller budget, the Spanish production averted troubles and benefitted from the missteps made by their Anglo counterparts, viewing the English dailies before filming to improve their own work. Considered a lost film until it was rediscovered in the 1970s, it is now considered by many film historians to be the superior film of the two. (Both are in the National Film Registry.)

* ''Film/FantasticBeastsTheSecretsOfDumbledore'' was initially supposed to go into production in mid-2019 for a November 2020 release, but, to accomodate a script re-write and because Creator/KatherineWaterston was pregnant, the start of production was postponed to March 2020, for a planned November 2021 release. Things didn't go smoothly from there:

** Filming was hit by a plane crash that left four people dead and one paralysed.

* ''Film/AcrossTheUniverse2007'' only had a mildly troubled shoot, though with some spats between director Julie Taymor and the producers, who felt that she was making the film a little too "artsy" and being unrealistically optimistic that the music of Music/TheBeatles would make it a box-office hit. After filming was done, Taymor assembled her director's cut and presented it to the studio, only for studio head Joe Roth to reject it and put together his own cut tailored more for mainstream audiences. One problem, however; between her status as a Broadway legend and her acclaimed films ''Film/{{Titus}}'' and ''Film/{{Frida}}'', Taymor had gotten ProtectionFromEditors in her contract, and she demanded that Roth release her cut unaltered. Roth sent both versions to test audiences in an attempt to show that he was right, and while reactions toward both cuts were mixed, the feedback was clearly more positive toward Taymor's cut than his own. Both parties refused to back down, causing the film's release date to slip from the back-end of 2006 to September 2007, and when it became obvious that the press was firmly on Taymor's side, Roth finally backed down and agreed to release her cut, albeit with little in the way of publicity, causing it to earn back just $30m of its $45m budget worldwide.

** So, after it was one of the biggest hits of 1978, suddenly there was going to be a sequel. Initially it was to include all the characters in some post-high school capacity, with a younger crop of actors playing new students at Rydell, but while even Creator/JohnTravolta and Music/OliviaNewtonJohn expressed interest at initial meetings, delays in getting a script together meant most of the original cast who had played students moved on to other projects save Didi Conn (Frenchy) and Eddie Deezen (Eugene). Paramount, meantime, thought big, envisioning a franchise to consist of, ultimately, four films, the latter two to take place in the mid- and late 1960s, and a TV series.

** Original screenwriter Bronte Woodard {{died|DuringProduction}} young in 1980, further slowing things down. Ultimately writing the first draft would fall on Canadian comedian Ken Finkleman, who had to find time to come up with characters and a story from scratch while writing and directing ''Film/AirplaneIITheSequel''. Patricia Birch, who had choreographed both the original and the stage show, was tapped to direct after Randall Kleiser took the helm of ''Film/TheBlueLagoon''.