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** The cast members' availability meant that many scenes had to be shot using stand-ins, and any scenes featuring their faces had to be shot all at once; Creator/JohnGielgud, as King Henry IV, was only available for ten days, while Jeanne Moreau, as Doll Tearsheet, was only available for five days, and Margaret Rutherford, as Mistress Quickly, was available for just four weeks. Welles joked that in one scene that featured seven principal characters, everyone was played by a stand-in shot over their shoulder.

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** The cast members' availability meant that many scenes had to be shot using stand-ins, and any scenes featuring their faces had to be shot all at once; Creator/JohnGielgud, as King Henry IV, was only available for ten days, while Jeanne Moreau, as Doll Tearsheet, was only available for five days, and Margaret Rutherford, Creator/MargaretRutherford, as Mistress Quickly, was available for just four weeks. Welles joked that in one scene that featured seven principal characters, everyone was played by a stand-in shot over their shoulder.
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** All this paled in comparison to the film's biggest production woe. Creator/WinonaRyder, who was highly in-demand at the time, showed up in Rome with then-boyfriend Creator/JohnnyDepp and fell ill, with doctors later diagnosing that she had extreme exhaustion due to her demanding schedule. When she dropped out at the last minute, Coppola had to scramble for a replacement actress due to the compressed filming schedule -- and asked his daughter, Creator/SofiaCoppola, to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVH7kcdfLkY step in to the part]].[[note]]To show how fast this occurred, Sofia would later write in her diaries for the production of the film, which were republished in ''Vanity Fair'', that she was going to take a shower when Francis called his wife, Eleanor, and asked her to ask Sofia to take the part. Mere hours later, and despite having heavy reservations over the decision, Sofia had already completed a costume test and was filming.[[/note]] While Sofia did have ''some'' acting experience (with bit parts in films like ''Film/TheOutsiders'' ''Film/RumbleFish''), and had performed table reads with the rest of the ''Godfather III'' cast as a stand-in before Ryder was supposed to start filming, to say this caused a backlash within the production crew was an understatement. (Only Creator/AndyGarcia, who played Vincent, really supported the casting, as he was already comfortable reading dialogue with her.)

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** All this paled in comparison to the film's biggest production woe.woe: the casting of Michael's daughter, Mary. Creator/WinonaRyder, who was highly in-demand at the time, showed up in Rome with then-boyfriend Creator/JohnnyDepp and fell ill, with doctors later diagnosing that she had extreme exhaustion due to her demanding schedule. When she dropped out at the last minute, Coppola had to scramble for a replacement actress due to the compressed filming schedule -- and asked his daughter, Creator/SofiaCoppola, to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVH7kcdfLkY step in to the part]].[[note]]To show how fast this occurred, Sofia would later write in her diaries for the production of the film, which were republished in ''Vanity Fair'', that she was going to take a shower when Francis called his wife, Eleanor, and asked her to ask Sofia to take the part. Mere hours later, and despite having heavy reservations over the decision, Sofia had already completed a costume test and was filming.[[/note]] While Sofia did have ''some'' acting experience (with bit parts in films like ''Film/TheOutsiders'' ''Film/RumbleFish''), and had performed table reads with the rest of the ''Godfather III'' cast as a stand-in before Ryder was supposed to start filming, to say this caused a backlash within the production crew was an understatement. (Only Creator/AndyGarcia, who played Vincent, really supported the casting, as he was already comfortable reading dialogue with her.)
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** Filming began at Glacier National Park in Montana in April 1979 and was expected to finish in June, with a projected release date of December 1979. However, Cimino's almost fanatical dedication to his artistic vision for the film meant the shoot was five days behind schedule after just six days, and the delays and inflated costs grew from there. Getting to the filming site from the cast and crew's hotel in Kalispell took two hours each way. Many cast and crew members were on site (and on the payroll) for months just to complete a few hours of shooting. Cimino insisted on taking full advantage of the location's [[SceneryPorn natural beauty]] by shooting many scenes at twilight, scenes which could thus only be shot during a time window of a few minutes each day. Cimino also insisted on countless retakes; a single-second shot of Kristofferson cracking a whip took an entire day and 52 takes to film.

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** Filming began at Glacier National Park in Montana in April 1979 and was expected to finish in June, with a projected release date of December 1979. However, Cimino's almost fanatical dedication to his artistic vision for the film meant the shoot was five days behind schedule after just six days, and the delays and inflated costs grew from there. Getting to the filming site from the cast and crew's hotel in Kalispell took two hours each way. Many cast and crew members were on site (and on the payroll) for months just to complete a few hours of shooting. Cimino insisted on taking full advantage of the location's [[SceneryPorn natural beauty]] by shooting many scenes at twilight, scenes which could thus only be shot during a time window of a few minutes each day.day, and he once held up filming for several hours while waiting for a cloud he liked the look of to roll into shot. Cimino also insisted on countless retakes; a single-second shot of Kristofferson cracking a whip took an entire day and 52 takes to film.
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This is a dangling participle as written; Coppola wasn't the one who dropped out at the last minute.


** All this paled in comparison to the film's biggest production woe. Creator/WinonaRyder, who was highly in-demand at the time, showed up in Rome with then-boyfriend Creator/JohnnyDepp and fell ill, with doctors later diagnosing that she had extreme exhaustion due to her demanding schedule. Dropping out at the last minute, Coppola had to scramble for a replacement actress due to the compressed filming schedule -- and asked his daughter, Creator/SofiaCoppola, to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVH7kcdfLkY step in to the part]].[[note]]To show how fast this occurred, Sofia would later write in her diaries for the production of the film, which were republished in ''Vanity Fair'', that she was going to take a shower when Francis called his wife, Eleanor, and asked her to ask Sofia to take the part. Mere hours later, and despite having heavy reservations over the decision, Sofia had already completed a costume test and was filming.[[/note]] While Sofia did have ''some'' acting experience (with bit parts in films like ''Film/TheOutsiders'' ''Film/RumbleFish''), and had performed table reads with the rest of the ''Godfather III'' cast as a stand-in before Ryder was supposed to start filming, to say this caused a backlash within the production crew was an understatement. (Only Creator/AndyGarcia, who played Vincent, really supported the casting, as he was already comfortable reading dialogue with her.)

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** All this paled in comparison to the film's biggest production woe. Creator/WinonaRyder, who was highly in-demand at the time, showed up in Rome with then-boyfriend Creator/JohnnyDepp and fell ill, with doctors later diagnosing that she had extreme exhaustion due to her demanding schedule. Dropping When she dropped out at the last minute, Coppola had to scramble for a replacement actress due to the compressed filming schedule -- and asked his daughter, Creator/SofiaCoppola, to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVH7kcdfLkY step in to the part]].[[note]]To show how fast this occurred, Sofia would later write in her diaries for the production of the film, which were republished in ''Vanity Fair'', that she was going to take a shower when Francis called his wife, Eleanor, and asked her to ask Sofia to take the part. Mere hours later, and despite having heavy reservations over the decision, Sofia had already completed a costume test and was filming.[[/note]] While Sofia did have ''some'' acting experience (with bit parts in films like ''Film/TheOutsiders'' ''Film/RumbleFish''), and had performed table reads with the rest of the ''Godfather III'' cast as a stand-in before Ryder was supposed to start filming, to say this caused a backlash within the production crew was an understatement. (Only Creator/AndyGarcia, who played Vincent, really supported the casting, as he was already comfortable reading dialogue with her.)
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** As noted in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVH7kcdfLkY online retrospectives]], the crew made their disdain for Sofia known, while Paramount attempted to pressure Francis into changing his mind on the casting, up to and including sending producers to Rome to try to convince him -- yet, Coppola had ProtectionFromEditors and refused to budge, both because he believed in his daughter and wanted to get the movie out on time. The situation got so bad that crew members were allegedly mocking Sofia to her face. While the film ultimately turned a profif, critical reviews of the film were mixed, with much of the media coverage of its behind-the-scenes turmoil leading to venomous criticism leveled at both Sofia's performance and Francis' decision to cast her..

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** As noted in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVH7kcdfLkY online retrospectives]], the crew made their disdain for Sofia known, while Paramount attempted to pressure Francis into changing his mind on the casting, up to and including sending producers to Rome to try to convince him -- yet, Coppola had ProtectionFromEditors and refused to budge, both because he believed in his daughter and wanted to get the movie out on time. The situation got so bad that crew members were allegedly mocking Sofia to her face. While the film ultimately turned a profif, profit, critical reviews of the film were mixed, with much of the media coverage of its behind-the-scenes turmoil leading to venomous criticism leveled at both Sofia's performance and Francis' decision to cast her..

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* Shooting went smoothly on Coppola's first feature,[[note]]He had directed a couple of [[BleachedUnderpants softcore pornos]] prior to this[[/note]] the indie horror flick ''Film/Dementia13'', but post-production was a different story. Despite having been given total creative control of the film, and having delivered the gory ''Film/{{Psycho}}'' clone demanded by producer Creator/RogerCorman, Corman stormed out of the screening room upon seeing the rough cut and [[ExecutiveMeddling demanded changes]]. Among said changes were new scenes (not shot by Coppola) that featured a joke character who was killed off by the film's axe murderer, plus a tacked-on prologue tying into the film's promotional gimmick,[[note]]A so-called "D-13 Test" which quizzed moviegoers on whether they were psychologically ready to watch the film[[/note]] both of which were added [[{{Padding}} just to pad out the runtime]]. Ironically, Coppola's problems on ''Dementia 13'' would be downright ''quaint'' compared to what was in store for him...

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* Shooting went smoothly on Coppola's first feature,[[note]]He feature,[[note]][[PornCreatorGoingMainstream He had directed a couple of [[BleachedUnderpants softcore pornos]] prior to this[[/note]] the indie horror flick ''Film/Dementia13'', but post-production was a different story. Despite having been given total creative control of the film, and having delivered the gory ''Film/{{Psycho}}'' clone demanded by producer Creator/RogerCorman, Corman stormed out of the screening room upon seeing the rough cut and [[ExecutiveMeddling demanded changes]]. Among said changes were new scenes (not shot by Coppola) that featured a joke character who was killed off by the film's axe murderer, plus a tacked-on prologue tying into the film's promotional gimmick,[[note]]A so-called "D-13 Test" which quizzed moviegoers on whether they were psychologically ready to watch the film[[/note]] both of which were added [[{{Padding}} just to pad out the runtime]]. Ironically, Coppola's problems on ''Dementia 13'' would be downright ''quaint'' compared to what was in store for him...

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** The project had been in DevelopmentHell for over a decade, with [[http://articles.latimes.com/1990-12-25/entertainment/ca-7119_1_godfather-iii numerous scripts written throughout the '70s and '80s]] and other directors attached. Coppola repeatedly refused the project until financial woes forced him to take it. After accepting, Paramount gave Coppola and Mario Puzo just six weeks to write the script, and a hard year to complete filming. Coppola and Puzo initially wanted to call it ''The Death of Michael Corleone'', emphasizing it was a standalone "epilogue" rather than a direct sequel. In an ironic reversal of ''Part II'', Paramount insisted on the numbered title.
** Again, the biggest problems involved the cast, who weren't any more eager than Coppola to revisit the franchise. Al Pacino and Creator/DianeKeaton both demanded massive salary hikes: Pacino initially demanded such an exorbitant amount that Coppola threatened to open the movie with Michael's funeral. Robert Duvall refused to return over a pay dispute, while Joe Spinell died just before filming started, forcing Coppola and Puzo to [[RememberTheNewGuy create replacement characters]]. Most notoriously, Creator/WinonaRyder dropped out of the part of Mary at the last minute, forcing Creator/SofiaCoppola to step in, never mind how she allegedly REALLY didn't want to do it. Actual filming was relatively smooth, but media coverage of its behind-the-scenes turmoil led to a massive backlash after its eventual release.

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** The project had been in DevelopmentHell for over a decade, with Paramount reportedly spending millions to produce [[http://articles.latimes.com/1990-12-25/entertainment/ca-7119_1_godfather-iii numerous scripts written throughout the '70s and '80s]] and other directors attached. Coppola repeatedly refused Paramount's overtures to helm the project film until financial woes forced him to take it. After accepting, Paramount gave Coppola and Mario Puzo just six weeks to write the script, and a hard year to complete filming. Coppola and Puzo initially wanted to call it ''The Death of Michael Corleone'', emphasizing it was a standalone "epilogue" rather than a direct sequel. In an ironic reversal of ''Part II'', Paramount insisted on the numbered title.
** Again, the biggest problems involved the cast, who weren't any more eager than Coppola to revisit the franchise. Al Pacino and Creator/DianeKeaton both demanded massive salary hikes: Pacino initially demanded such an exorbitant amount that Coppola threatened to open the movie with Michael's funeral. Robert Duvall refused to return over a pay dispute, while Joe Spinell died just before filming started, forcing Coppola and Puzo to [[RememberTheNewGuy create replacement characters]]. Most notoriously, Creator/WinonaRyder dropped
** All this paled in comparison to the film's biggest production woe. Creator/WinonaRyder, who was highly in-demand at the time, showed up in Rome with then-boyfriend Creator/JohnnyDepp and fell ill, with doctors later diagnosing that she had extreme exhaustion due to her demanding schedule. Dropping
out of the part of Mary at the last minute, forcing Creator/SofiaCoppola Coppola had to scramble for a replacement actress due to the compressed filming schedule -- and asked his daughter, Creator/SofiaCoppola, to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVH7kcdfLkY step in, never in to the part]].[[note]]To show how fast this occurred, Sofia would later write in her diaries for the production of the film, which were republished in ''Vanity Fair'', that she was going to take a shower when Francis called his wife, Eleanor, and asked her to ask Sofia to take the part. Mere hours later, and despite having heavy reservations over the decision, Sofia had already completed a costume test and was filming.[[/note]] While Sofia did have ''some'' acting experience (with bit parts in films like ''Film/TheOutsiders'' ''Film/RumbleFish''), and had performed table reads with the rest of the ''Godfather III'' cast as a stand-in before Ryder was supposed to start filming, to say this caused a backlash within the production crew was an understatement. (Only Creator/AndyGarcia, who played Vincent, really supported the casting, as he was already comfortable reading dialogue with her.)
** As noted in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVH7kcdfLkY online retrospectives]], the crew made their disdain for Sofia known, while Paramount attempted to pressure Francis into changing his
mind how she on the casting, up to and including sending producers to Rome to try to convince him -- yet, Coppola had ProtectionFromEditors and refused to budge, both because he believed in his daughter and wanted to get the movie out on time. The situation got so bad that crew members were allegedly REALLY didn't want mocking Sofia to do it. Actual filming was relatively smooth, but her face. While the film ultimately turned a profif, critical reviews of the film were mixed, with much of the media coverage of its behind-the-scenes turmoil led leading to a massive backlash after its eventual release.venomous criticism leveled at both Sofia's performance and Francis' decision to cast her..

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Redundant. Casino Royale 1967 is already covered under James Bond and this only serves to summarize that example.


* He was one of the directors of ''Film/CasinoRoyale1967'', in addition to playing M. That film's troubled production is covered in more detail on [[TroubledProduction/JamesBond the James Bond subpage]], but to recap: ''Literature/CasinoRoyale'' was the only Creator/IanFleming novel EON Productions failed to secure the rights to due to a bunch of legal issues, and it ended up with Charles Feldman. Unable to get EON on board and do a straight movie, he turned it into an insane, psychedelic parody of spy films with an AllStarCast. There were multiple directors, none of them working with a finished script but all working independently, and there were also numerous screenwriters. Creator/PeterSellers argued with Creator/OrsonWelles, and the former was eventually fired ''despite playing the lead character''. Many of the other actors were brought in to make up for this, many of whom assume the 007 moniker at some point. The editor seemed to be instructed to put the film together in the most disjointed, nonsensical fashion possible. Huston himself compared the constant on-set rewrites to the production of ''Beat the Devil'', saying that "that was discipline compared to this. It was day to day then, it's moment to moment here." Ironically, several people connected with the film agreed that Huston's segments were by far and away the ''least'' troublesome, likely because he had experience of how chaotic major Hollywood productions could be, whereas the other directors had mostly worked on smaller-scale British films with much more managed budgets, shoots, and studio oversight.



** But ''Convoy'''s biggest bugbear remained Peckinpah, whose substance abuse spiraled out of control. He was taking heavy amounts of cocaine, Quaaludes, and vitamin shots that left him both irritable and irrational. At one point, Peckinpah called his nephew David from the set, ranting that Creator/SteveMcQueenActor -- who had forced [=MacGraw=] to retire from acting when the two married earlier in the decade, promptly served her with divorce papers when she decided to come out of retirement for ''Convoy'', and in fairness to Peckinpah, ''did'' allegedly send him a threatening note or two early in filming -- and the Executive Car Leasing Company were conspiring to kill him. He also fired several crew members and assistants as filming dragged on. On the day the climactic funeral scene was set to film, with the cast, crew, and 3,000 extras assembled, Peckinpah locked himself in the trailer for twelve hours, refusing to communicate with anyone. With their director incapacitated, Coburn and the other assistant directors essentially finished directing ''Convoy'' themselves.

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** But ''Convoy'''s biggest bugbear remained Peckinpah, whose substance abuse spiraled out of control. He was taking heavy amounts of cocaine, Quaaludes, and vitamin shots that left him both irritable and irrational. At one point, Peckinpah called his nephew David from the set, ranting that Creator/SteveMcQueenActor -- who had forced [=MacGraw=] to retire from acting when the two married earlier in the decade, promptly served her with divorce papers when she decided to come out of retirement for ''Convoy'', and in fairness to Peckinpah, ''did'' allegedly send him a threatening note or two early in filming -- and the Executive Car Leasing Company were conspiring to kill him.him[[note]]in fairness, [=McQueen=] allegedly sent Peckinpah a threatening note or two early in filming over [=MacGraw=] being in the film, as he forced her to retire when the two married earlier in the decade and promptly served her with divorce papers when she came out of retirement for ''Convoy''[[/note]]. He also fired several crew members and assistants as filming dragged on. On the day the climactic funeral scene was set to film, with the cast, crew, and 3,000 extras assembled, Peckinpah locked himself in the trailer for twelve hours, refusing to communicate with anyone. With their director incapacitated, Coburn and the other assistant directors essentially finished directing ''Convoy'' themselves.
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Moved Looney Tunes: Back in Action to Joe Dante's section.

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* Creator/JoeDante described the production of ''Film/LooneyTunesBackInAction'' as "a nightmarish year and a half of [his] life that [he would] never get back", and an experience he wasn't eager to repeat.
** Dante's biggest headache came from Creator/WarnerBros Feature Animation, which handled animated films at the time. Warner Bros., who, like other studios, was eager to ride the coattails of the 1990s Disney Renaissance, had no conception on how to actually produce animation, and slapped together animation teams without understanding the effort their work took or having any infrastructure in place. The studio rushed films into production before they were properly prepped, truncated their schedules, and engaged in top-heavy micromanagement, leading to high turnover rates and scripts being repeatedly retooled. As a result, of the six animated flicks Warner Bros. Feature Animation put out in its fourteen-year existence, five were [[BoxOfficeBomb Box Office Bombs]].
** When ''Film/SpaceJam'' became the studio's first success (and their only one at the time), Warner Bros. spent years trying to get a follow-up off the ground, floating ideas like having the Looney Tunes star in movies with Creator/JackieChan, [[UsefulNotes/{{NASCAR}} Jeff Gordon]], Tony Hawk, and Tiger Woods. (''Space Jam'' wouldn't get a true sequel until ''[[Film/SpaceJamANewLegacy A New Legacy]]'' twenty-four years later.)
** When Dante joined the production for ''Back in Action'' in the early 2000s, he found himself caught in the middle between Warner Bros. execs who weren't really interested in making the movie and studio marketeers who did, with the two sides not agreeing to what the tone and humor of the film would be. Lacking any basic understanding of how the animation process works, Warner Bros. executives [[ExecutiveMeddling demanded for dialogue to be changed]] even after the animation for that dialogue had been produced. They also believed the movie wasn't funny, which led to 25 gag writers being hired, but only one writer being credited.
** What well and truly killed the movie was once again Warner failing to choose a proper release date for the film, just as it killed each of WBFA's previous projects. Originally set for release in July 2003, it was abruptly moved to November when Warner claimed that ''Finding Nemo'' was hogging the family audience at that time. However, the studio had effectively moved it from the frying pan to the fire, placing it in the middle of a particularly intense competition at the box office, amidst films like ''WesternAnimation/BrotherBear'', ''Film/TheCatInTheHat'', and ''Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheReturnOfTheKing''... ''all'' of which had far more advertising. Not to mention, the initial invasion of Iraq that triggered the Second Gulf War would occur ''that week'', even further distracting the intended audience. With little-to-no promotion and no faith from Warner Bros., the film flopped ''hard'' at the box office, only making a total of $68 million on a budget believed to be around $80 million, directly resulting in the shuttering of Warner Bros. Feature Animation, killing any goodwill Dante still had in Hollywood, and almost singlehandedly ending any popularity the Tunes still had at the time. It wasn't until 2011 that they had [[WesternAnimation/TheLooneyTunesShow a particular revival on]] Creator/CartoonNetwork once more (whereas it was a staple of the net beforehand), but they wouldn't see theater again until ''Space Jam: A New Legacy'' in 2021.
** All that said, the film ''does'' have a following of sorts despite mixed reviews, many fans in particular citing it as a better representation of the characters than ''either'' of the ''Space Jam'' films.
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Obvious Beta is meant for video games and software, not films.


* Production for ''Film/{{Explorers}}'' was thrown into turmoil when three top executives at Paramount Pictures left to join other studios -- Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenberg for Disney, and Barry Diller for 20th Century Fox. As a result, Dante -- who had already been working on a time crunch by joining the project in late 1984 with a projected August 1985 release date -- was [[ScrewedByTheNetwork told by Paramount]] that the release had been pushed up to early July and that the cast and crew were to just stop working; whatever they had managed to finish would be what they would put in theaters as the final cut. Not surprisingly, ''Explorers'' would be criticized for its [[ObviousBeta patchy story and underwhelming climax]]. It also had the misfortune of being both released on the same weekend as UsefulNotes/LiveAid ''and'' the weekend after the release of megahit ''Film/BackToTheFuture1'', sealing its fate as a BoxOfficeBomb.

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* Production for ''Film/{{Explorers}}'' was thrown into turmoil when three top executives at Paramount Pictures left to join other studios -- Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenberg for Disney, and Barry Diller for 20th Century Fox. As a result, Dante -- who had already been working on a time crunch by joining the project in late 1984 with a projected August 1985 release date -- was [[ScrewedByTheNetwork told by Paramount]] that the release had been pushed up to early July and that the cast and crew were to just stop working; whatever they had managed to finish would be what they would put in theaters as the final cut. Not surprisingly, ''Explorers'' would be criticized for its [[ObviousBeta patchy story and underwhelming climax]].climax. It also had the misfortune of being both released on the same weekend as UsefulNotes/LiveAid ''and'' the weekend after the release of megahit ''Film/BackToTheFuture1'', sealing its fate as a BoxOfficeBomb.
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* Production for ''Film/{{Explorers}}'' was thrown into turmoil when three top executives at Paramount Pictures left to join other studios -- Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenberg for Disney, and Barry Diller for 20th Century Fox. As a result, Dante -- who had already been working on a time crunch by joining the project in late 1984 with a projected August 1985 release date -- was [[ScrewedByTheNetwork told by Paramount]] that the release had been pushed up to early July and that the cast and crew were to just stop working; whatever they had managed to finish would be what they would put in theaters as the final cut. Not surprisingly, ''Explorers'' would be criticized for its [[ObviousBeta patchy story and underwhelming climax]]. It also had the misfortune of being both released on the same weekend as UsefulNotes/LiveAid ''and'' the weekend after the release of megahit ''Film/BackToTheFuture'', sealing its fate as a BoxOfficeBomb.

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* Production for ''Film/{{Explorers}}'' was thrown into turmoil when three top executives at Paramount Pictures left to join other studios -- Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenberg for Disney, and Barry Diller for 20th Century Fox. As a result, Dante -- who had already been working on a time crunch by joining the project in late 1984 with a projected August 1985 release date -- was [[ScrewedByTheNetwork told by Paramount]] that the release had been pushed up to early July and that the cast and crew were to just stop working; whatever they had managed to finish would be what they would put in theaters as the final cut. Not surprisingly, ''Explorers'' would be criticized for its [[ObviousBeta patchy story and underwhelming climax]]. It also had the misfortune of being both released on the same weekend as UsefulNotes/LiveAid ''and'' the weekend after the release of megahit ''Film/BackToTheFuture'', ''Film/BackToTheFuture1'', sealing its fate as a BoxOfficeBomb.
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* Cameron's directorial debut was the 1981 film ''Film/PiranhaPartTwoTheSpawning''. According to Creator/LanceHenriksen, making this movie was the most trying time in Cameron's life production-wise. Producer Ovidio G. Assonitis wanted to spend only $300,000 on the film (even though he had made a deal for $500,000), which meant that they had to cut cost wherever they could.

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* Cameron's directorial debut was the 1981 film ''Film/PiranhaPartTwoTheSpawning''. According to Creator/LanceHenriksen, making this movie was the most trying time in Cameron's life production-wise. Producer Ovidio G. Assonitis wanted to spend only $300,000 on the film (even though he had made a deal for $500,000), which meant that they had to cut cost costs wherever they could.



** Due to budget limitations, the crew was composed essentially of Italians, none of whom spoke English. Some, however, did have prior experience on horror/fantasy movies, so they were able to satisfy Cameron's requirements to some extent.
** Henriksen was told that they couldn't afford a uniform for his character and that he should play the role in his own plain clothes, to which Henriksen objected, insisting that a harbor patrolman couldn't do his job without a uniform as if he's some plain clothes undercover cop. The situation was resolved when Henriksen noticed a sharp dressed waiter the same size as him, and asked him to sell his uniform for 75 bucks of his own money. He also had to use whale-shaped pins as his police badge and epaulets that showed his rank. Additionally, Henriksen had to carve the wooden gun in his holster by himself.
** As Cameron wanted an explosive finale, he added to the script that Henriksen's character jumps out of a helicopter to save his drowning family. The helicopter had been used by Jamaican police to chase drug smugglers, and was flown by a professional pilot. However, a boat snuck under the chopper at one point and nearly hit Henriksen's legs, so the pilot had to raise the chopper quickly, and Cameron accidentally dropped the shooting camera into the sea, which was never recovered. Both Cameron and Henriksen considered themselves lucky to still be alive after that. Additionally, during his scripted jump, Henriksen almost broke an arm and his boots immediately started filling up with water as soon as he landed, so he almost drowned.
** To make matters worse, Assonitis didn't like the way that Cameron was shooting and fired him as well, taking over directorial duties himself. Cameron was not allowed to see his footage and was not involved in editing. He broke into the editing room in Rome and cut his own version while the film's producers were at Cannes, but was caught and Assonitis recut it again. However, when he presented his version of the film to Creator/WarnerBros, they didn't like it and decided not to release the film. The movie was only released two years later by a smaller company that normally distributed pornographic films. Years later, a different distributor allowed Cameron to create his own cut.
* ''Film/{{Aliens}}'' was one of Cameron's most contentious productions, and one of the few times when his {{Jerkass}} demeanour is kind of understandable.

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** Due to budget limitations, the crew was composed essentially of Italians, none of whom spoke English. Some, however, did have prior experience on with horror/fantasy movies, so they were able to satisfy Cameron's requirements to some extent.
** Henriksen was told that they couldn't afford a uniform for his character and that he should play the role in his own plain clothes, to which Henriksen objected, insisting that a harbor patrolman couldn't do his job without a uniform as if he's some plain clothes undercover cop. The situation was resolved when Henriksen noticed a sharp dressed sharp-dressed waiter the same size as him, him and asked him to sell his uniform for 75 bucks of his own money. He also had to use whale-shaped pins as his police badge and epaulets that showed his rank. Additionally, Henriksen had to carve the wooden gun in his holster by himself.
** As Cameron wanted an explosive finale, he added to the script that Henriksen's character jumps out of a helicopter to save his drowning family. The helicopter had been used by Jamaican police to chase drug smugglers, smugglers and was flown by a professional pilot. However, a boat snuck under the chopper at one point and nearly hit Henriksen's legs, so the pilot had to raise the chopper quickly, and Cameron accidentally dropped the shooting camera into the sea, which was never recovered. Both Cameron and Henriksen considered themselves lucky to still be alive after that. Additionally, during his scripted jump, Henriksen almost broke an arm and his boots immediately started filling up with water as soon as he landed, so he almost drowned.
** To make matters worse, Assonitis didn't like the way that Cameron was shooting and fired him as well, taking over directorial duties himself. Cameron was not allowed to see his footage and was not involved in editing. He broke into the editing room in Rome and cut his own version while the film's producers were at Cannes, Cannes but was caught and Assonitis recut it again. However, when he presented his version of the film to Creator/WarnerBros, they didn't like it and decided not to release the film. The movie was only released two years later by a smaller company that normally distributed pornographic films. Years later, a different distributor allowed Cameron to create his own cut.
* ''Film/{{Aliens}}'' was one of Cameron's most contentious productions, productions and one of the few times when his {{Jerkass}} demeanour is kind of understandable.



** The first signs of trouble appeared during casting of the female lead. The male leads - Creator/KrisKristofferson, Creator/ChristopherWalken, and Creator/JohnHurt - were more character actors than box office stars when casting began in 1979, and UA hoped that they could bolster the cast's marquee power with a high profile lead actress, but after Jane Fonda and Diane Keaton rejected the role, Cimino insisted on little-known French actress Creator/IsabelleHuppert, whose English was hesitant and heavily accented. United Artists [[ExecutiveMeddling insisted that another actress be found]]; Cimino threatened (not for the last time) to take the film to Creator/WarnerBrothers, and UA capitulated (even afterwards, Bach at one point told Cimino ''to his face'' that his leading lady was so unappealing that the audience was going to wonder why Kristofferson and Walken "[weren't] fucking each other instead of her").

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** The first signs of trouble appeared during casting of the female lead. The male leads - Creator/KrisKristofferson, Creator/ChristopherWalken, and Creator/JohnHurt - were more character actors than box office stars when casting began in 1979, and UA hoped that they could bolster the cast's marquee power with a high profile high-profile lead actress, but after Jane Fonda and Diane Keaton rejected the role, Cimino insisted on little-known French actress Creator/IsabelleHuppert, whose English was hesitant and heavily accented. United Artists [[ExecutiveMeddling insisted that another actress be found]]; Cimino threatened (not for the last time) to take the film to Creator/WarnerBrothers, and UA capitulated (even afterwards, Bach at one point told Cimino ''to his face'' that his leading lady was so unappealing that the audience was going to wonder why Kristofferson and Walken "[weren't] fucking each other instead of her").



** The glacial pace of filming was not the only factor in the skyrocketing costs. Upon deciding that the spacing of buildings either side of a street on an outdoor set "didn't look right", Cimino ordered ''both'' sides torn down and re-built.[[note]] A crew member even pointed out, to no avail, that it would be easier and cheaper to just tear ''one'' side down and build it twice as far back.[[/note]] A 19th-century locomotive was shipped on flatbed rail trucks from Colorado; as it was too big to fit into the modern tunnels, it had to take a longer and more expensive route to Montana. Cimino put an irrigation system in the rocky field in which the climactic battle sequence was shot so that it would be green with grass at the beginning of the battle, and red with blood at the end of it. And of the masses of footage shot by Cimino, an unusually high fraction was printed for possible inclusion in the finished film (far exceeding the part of the budget devoted to printing); ultimately, of over 1.5 million feet of exposed film, 1.3 million feet were printed, amounting to ''220 hours'' of raw footage.

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** The glacial pace of filming was not the only factor in the skyrocketing costs. Upon deciding that the spacing of buildings on either side of a street on an outdoor set "didn't look right", Cimino ordered ''both'' sides torn down and re-built.rebuilt.[[note]] A crew member even pointed out, to no avail, that it would be easier and cheaper to just tear ''one'' side down and build it twice as far back.[[/note]] A 19th-century locomotive was shipped on flatbed rail trucks from Colorado; as it was too big to fit into the modern tunnels, it had to take a longer and more expensive route to Montana. Cimino put an irrigation system in the rocky field in which the climactic battle sequence was shot so that it would be green with grass at the beginning of the battle, and red with blood at the end of it. And of the masses of footage shot by Cimino, an unusually high fraction was printed for possible inclusion in the finished film (far exceeding the part of the budget devoted to printing); ultimately, of over 1.5 million feet of exposed film, 1.3 million feet were printed, amounting to ''220 hours'' of raw footage.



** Location shooting in Montana finally wrapped in October 1979,[[note]] By this point, local cars sported bumper stickers reading "To Hell with ''Heaven's Gate''", and Cimino had a very public falling out with production manager and longtime friend Charlie Okun at the wrap party.[[/note]] with only a Harvard-set prologue and Rhode Island-set epilogue to film. However, Harvard refused permission to film on campus, so the prologue was instead shot at [[UsefulNotes/{{Oxbridge}} Mansfield College, Oxford]].[[note]] Creator/JohnHurt had returned to England in a hurry after filming wrapped in Montana to honour his commitment to ''Film/TheElephantMan'' - a role he took to stave off the boredom of waiting long hours to do nothing on the ''Heaven's Gate'' set - and took a few days off to film his scenes in the Harvard segment.[[/note]] Though this was the only part of the shoot to finish on time and on budget, Cimino was refused permission to film near Christ Church on Sunday, and had to prepare and shoot the scene in secret just after dawn before the Sunday morning services. The final production budget came to nearly $40 million, over three times the original figure.

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** Location shooting in Montana finally wrapped in October 1979,[[note]] By this point, local cars sported bumper stickers reading "To Hell with ''Heaven's Gate''", and Cimino had a very public falling out with production manager and longtime friend Charlie Okun at the wrap party.[[/note]] with only a Harvard-set prologue and Rhode Island-set epilogue to film. However, Harvard refused permission to film on campus, so the prologue was instead shot at [[UsefulNotes/{{Oxbridge}} Mansfield College, Oxford]].[[note]] Creator/JohnHurt had returned to England in a hurry after filming wrapped in Montana to honour his commitment to ''Film/TheElephantMan'' - a role he took to stave off the boredom of waiting long hours to do nothing on the ''Heaven's Gate'' set - and took a few days off to film his scenes in the Harvard segment.[[/note]] Though this was the only part of the shoot to finish on time and on budget, Cimino was refused permission to film near Christ Church on Sunday, Sunday and had to prepare and shoot the scene in secret just after dawn before the Sunday morning services. The final production budget came to nearly $40 million, over three times the original figure.



** The reputation of ''Heaven's Gate'' has, however, improved in the years since its initial release. Cimino assembled a 216-minute "director's cut" of the film which won acclaim at film festivals in 2012, and Creator/KrisKristofferson and supporting cast member Creator/JeffBridges still speak fondly of their experiences making and seeing the film.

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** The reputation of ''Heaven's Gate'' has, however, [[VindicatedByHistory improved in the years since its initial release.release]]. Cimino assembled a 216-minute "director's cut" of the film which won acclaim at film festivals in 2012, and Creator/KrisKristofferson and supporting cast member Creator/JeffBridges still speak fondly of their experiences making and seeing the film.



** The film was an adaptation of the Mario Puzo novel, and Puzo was paid $1 million for the rights. Producers David Begelman and Bruce [=McNall=] hired Cimino, but Cimino butted heads with Begelman over the screenplay and casting - Cimino wanted Creator/ChristopherLambert to play the lead, but Begelman (understandably) didn't want a French actor to play an Italian-American in an English-language movie. Begelman and [=McNall=] eventually caved so that production could move forward. Meanwhile, Creator/GoreVidal had been hired for major rewrites, and sued the Writer's Guild of America and screenwriter Steve Shagan for a writing credit.

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** The film was an adaptation of the Mario Puzo novel, and Puzo was paid $1 million for the rights. Producers David Begelman and Bruce [=McNall=] hired Cimino, but Cimino butted heads with Begelman over the screenplay and casting - Cimino wanted Creator/ChristopherLambert to play the lead, but Begelman (understandably) didn't want a French actor to play an Italian-American in an English-language movie. Begelman and [=McNall=] eventually caved so that production could move forward. Meanwhile, Creator/GoreVidal had been hired for major rewrites, rewrites and sued the Writer's Guild of America and screenwriter Steve Shagan for a writing credit.



** Coppola stated his terms up front: he would only return if Paramount would a) give him complete AuteurLicense, b) produce his pet project ''Film/TheConversation'' in return, and c) ensure that Robert Evans have nothing to do with the movie. To Coppola's surprise, Paramount complied with his requests; their only concern was his decision to [[NumberedSequel include "Part II" in the title]]. However, Al Ruddy (with whom Coppola had a good relationship with the first film) refused to return, leaving Coppola to produce it himself.
** Shooting in the Dominican Republic (standing in for Cuba) proved the biggest problem, as nonstop rainstorms delayed filming for weeks, while Al Pacino, Lee Strasberg and several crew members came down with tropical illnesses. Pacino took three weeks to recover, while Strasberg was so debilitated [[WrittenInInfirmity his infirmity was written into his character]]. There were also concerns about the parallel storylines of Vito and Michael, especially after Coppola delivered a disastrous rough cut, forcing a last-minute re-edit.

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** Coppola stated his terms up front: he would only return if Paramount would a) give him complete AuteurLicense, b) produce his pet project ''Film/TheConversation'' in return, and c) ensure that Robert Evans have has nothing to do with the movie. To Coppola's surprise, Paramount complied with his requests; their only concern was his decision to [[NumberedSequel include "Part II" in the title]]. However, Al Ruddy (with whom Coppola had a good relationship with the first film) refused to return, leaving Coppola to produce it himself.
** Shooting in the Dominican Republic (standing in for Cuba) proved the biggest problem, as nonstop rainstorms delayed filming for weeks, while Al Pacino, Lee Strasberg Strasberg, and several crew members came down with tropical illnesses. Pacino took three weeks to recover, while Strasberg was so debilitated [[WrittenInInfirmity his infirmity was written into his character]]. There were also concerns about the parallel storylines of Vito and Michael, especially after Coppola delivered a disastrous rough cut, forcing a last-minute re-edit.



** Filming in the Philippines went on for a year, going nine months behind schedule and $17-19 million over budget.[[note]]The initial budget was projected at $12-14 million, but wound up coming in at $31.5 million.[[/note]] Among other setting-related problems, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1976_Pacific_typhoon_season#Typhoon_Olga_.28Didang.29 Typhoon Olga]] in May 1976, combined with constant rainfall, destroyed most of the sets and totally ground production to a halt for six weeks. The United States military refused to [[BackedByThePentagon lend Coppola any military equipment]] due to the film's unflattering portrayal of the Armed Force and the plot's order to kill Colonel Kurtz. Coppola instead had to borrow local military equipment, and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos disrupted production by recalling the equipment he had lent to Coppola to fight against the Communist insurgents in the South.
** There were also problems with the various cast members. Creator/MarlonBrando was cast as Colonel Kurtz, being his usual prima donna self. He showed up to the set morbidly obese rather than with the muscular physique that was called for, leading to the decision to film him solely from the shoulders up. Worse, when he arrived on set, he had read neither the script or ''Heart of Darkness'' like he had been told to. He also insisted on changing his character's name to Leighley, then insisted on changing it ''back'' after finally reading the novella.[[note]] Which required the briefing scene to be redubbed.[[/note]]
** Several actors were disgruntled because Coppola forced them to sign seven-year term contracts with his production company. Unsurprisingly, many cast and crew members were drunk or stoned while filming; Creator/DennisHopper got a teenaged Creator/LaurenceFishburne addicted to heroin. Hopper also clashed with Brando over what Hopper claimed to be a misunderstanding; he then decided to deliberately antagonize Brando whenever he could, resulting in Brando refusing to share any scenes with him.

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** Filming in the Philippines went on for a year, going nine months behind schedule and $17-19 million over budget.[[note]]The initial budget was projected at $12-14 million, million but wound up coming in at $31.5 million.[[/note]] Among other setting-related problems, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1976_Pacific_typhoon_season#Typhoon_Olga_.28Didang.29 Typhoon Olga]] in May 1976, combined with constant rainfall, destroyed most of the sets and totally ground production to a halt for six weeks. The United States military refused to [[BackedByThePentagon lend Coppola any military equipment]] due to the film's unflattering portrayal of the Armed Force and the plot's order to kill Colonel Kurtz. Coppola instead had to borrow local military equipment, and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos disrupted production by recalling the equipment he had lent to Coppola to fight against the Communist insurgents in the South.
** There were also problems with the various cast members. Creator/MarlonBrando was cast as Colonel Kurtz, being his usual prima donna self. He showed up to the set morbidly obese rather than with the muscular physique that was called for, leading to the decision to film him solely from the shoulders up. Worse, when he arrived on set, he had read neither the script or nor ''Heart of Darkness'' like he had been told to. He also insisted on changing his character's name to Leighley, then insisted on changing it ''back'' after finally reading the novella.[[note]] Which required the briefing scene to be redubbed.[[/note]]
** Several actors were disgruntled because Coppola forced them to sign seven-year term contracts with his production company. Unsurprisingly, many cast and crew members were drunk or stoned while filming; Creator/DennisHopper got a teenaged teenage Creator/LaurenceFishburne addicted to heroin. Hopper also clashed with Brando over what Hopper claimed to be a misunderstanding; he then decided to deliberately antagonize Brando whenever he could, resulting in Brando refusing to share any scenes with him.



** Coppola shaved his beard to disguise himself when he traveled back to the US to find a new lead, hoping to keep rumors of production troubles out of the press (it didn't work). Sheen, now available, took over the role of Willard and [[EnforcedMethodActing soon became dangerously immersed in the role]] as filming resumed. Filming the hotel scene, he drunkenly cut his hand open shattering a mirror, and begged the crew to keep filming rather than get medical attention. He later suffered a heart attack in an unrelated incident, and had to struggle a quarter-mile to get help. The heart attack meant that his brother, Joe Estevez, had to fill in as a body double filmed from the back until Sheen recovered enough to resume filming.
** The corpses at Kurtz's compound were real and obtained from a man who turned out to be an actual grave-robber. The cast and crew were grilled by the local authorities as the bodies were removed from the set. The ending had to be rewritten on the fly, and the script was frequently discarded for improvisation. Most notably, the ending was changed from its action-heavy original due to neither Sheen nor Brando being in any sort of state to film it.

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** Coppola shaved his beard to disguise himself when he traveled back to the US to find a new lead, hoping to keep rumors of production troubles out of the press (it didn't work). Sheen, now available, took over the role of Willard and [[EnforcedMethodActing soon became dangerously immersed in the role]] as filming resumed. Filming the hotel scene, he drunkenly cut his hand open shattering a mirror, and begged the crew to keep filming rather than get medical attention. He later suffered a heart attack in an unrelated incident, incident and had to struggle a quarter-mile to get help. The heart attack meant that his brother, Joe Estevez, had to fill in as a body double filmed from the back until Sheen recovered enough to resume filming.
** The corpses at Kurtz's compound were real and obtained from a man who turned out to be an actual grave-robber.graverobber. The cast and crew were grilled by the local authorities as the bodies were removed from the set. The ending had to be rewritten on the fly, and the script was frequently discarded for improvisation. Most notably, the ending was changed from its action-heavy original due to neither Sheen nor Brando being in any sort of state to film it.



** To put the film's disastrous shoot in perspective, Laurence Fishburne lied about his age in order to be cast as a 17-year old in the movie when he was actually 14. By the time the movie was released, he actually ''was'' 17 years old. The film took the heaviest toll on Coppola himself, who lost 100 pounds, threatened suicide several times, and attempted it once. The film also severely strained his relationship with his wife Eleanor, not least when he had an indiscreet affair with a production assistant.

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** To put the film's disastrous shoot in perspective, Laurence Fishburne lied about his age in order to be cast as a 17-year old 17-year-old in the movie when he was actually 14. By the time the movie was released, he actually ''was'' 17 years old. The film took the heaviest toll on Coppola himself, who lost 100 pounds, threatened suicide several times, and attempted it once. The film also severely strained his relationship with his wife Eleanor, not least when he had an indiscreet affair with a production assistant.



** The budget ballooned due to Coppola exclusively filming on lavish, stylized sound stages (reportedly 10 miles of set was built to recreate the various Las Vegas locations of the film). The ever rising costs put Zoetrope on thin ice in terms of finances, and Coppola was in a constant scramble for funds. MGM pulled out as a result of the financial issues. Coppola managed to strike a deal with Creator/{{Paramount}} to distribute the film, but the film had ended up wildly over budget at $26 million.

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** The budget ballooned due to Coppola exclusively filming on lavish, stylized sound stages (reportedly 10 miles of set was built to recreate the various Las Vegas locations of the film). The ever rising ever-rising costs put Zoetrope on thin ice in terms of finances, and Coppola was in a constant scramble for funds. MGM pulled out as a result of the financial issues. Coppola managed to strike a deal with Creator/{{Paramount}} to distribute the film, but the film had ended up wildly over budget at $26 million.



** Former Paramount studio chief Robert Evans (who, as mentioned earlier, was a nemesis of Coppola during filming of ''Film/TheGodfather'') had the idea of producing and directing a film about the 1920s Harlem speakeasy in 1980, but struggled to spark interest among backers in Mario Puzo's script (early donors included Saudi arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi[[note]]The uncle of slain journalist Jamal Khashoggi[[/note]], whose money Evans had to return after rejecting his suggested script changes). Through Miami drug dealer Lanie Jacobs, he was introduced to New York impresario Roy Radin, who offered to help raise the necessary funds. However, Jacobs expected a share of the profits and a production credit for her efforts, which Radin refused. In June 1983, Radin's bullet-riddled corpse was found in the desert outside Los Angeles, and Jacobs was later convicted of ordering his murder and sentenced to life without parole. Although suspicions also fell on Evans, his involvement was never proven. In his memoir ''The Kid Stays In the Picture'', Evans says that experience made the early 1980s, during which he was arrested for trying to smuggle a large quantity of cocaine into the country and required to organize anti-drug events with the big stars he knew as community service, the "good half" of the decade for him.

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** Former Paramount studio chief Robert Evans (who, as mentioned earlier, was a nemesis of Coppola during filming of ''Film/TheGodfather'') had the idea of producing and directing a film about the 1920s Harlem speakeasy in 1980, 1980 but struggled to spark interest among backers in Mario Puzo's script (early donors included Saudi arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi[[note]]The uncle of slain journalist Jamal Khashoggi[[/note]], whose money Evans had to return after rejecting his suggested script changes). Through Miami drug dealer Lanie Jacobs, he was introduced to New York impresario Roy Radin, who offered to help raise the necessary funds. However, Jacobs expected a share of the profits and a production credit for her efforts, which Radin refused. In June 1983, Radin's bullet-riddled corpse was found in the desert outside Los Angeles, and Jacobs was later convicted of ordering his murder and sentenced to life without parole. Although suspicions also fell on Evans, his involvement was never proven. In his memoir ''The Kid Stays In the Picture'', Evans says that experience made the early 1980s, during which he was arrested for trying to smuggle a large quantity of cocaine into the country and required to organize anti-drug events with the big stars he knew as community service, the "good half" of the decade for him.



** Upon being appointed director, Coppola added to the budgetary woes by firing the film crew Evans had assembled ''en masse'' (in some cases requiring large payoffs) and hiring his own crew members, including a music arranger who commuted via Concorde between the shoot in New York and a regular engagement in Switzerland. His quasi-improvisational approach to directing the actors meant the script was in a constant state of flux, and actors would frequently spend all day on set without shooting a single frame of film. There were frequent clashes between Coppola and Gere, who insisted on showing off his (modest) skills on the cornet in the film, and seemed more concerned about possible damage to his reputation than about the film itself.

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** Upon being appointed director, Coppola added to the budgetary woes by firing the film crew Evans had assembled ''en masse'' (in some cases requiring large payoffs) and hiring his own crew members, including a music arranger who commuted via Concorde between the shoot in New York and a regular engagement in Switzerland. His quasi-improvisational approach to directing the actors meant the script was in a constant state of flux, and actors would frequently spend all day on set without shooting a single frame of film. There were frequent clashes between Coppola and Gere, who insisted on showing off his (modest) skills on the cornet in the film, film and seemed more concerned about possible damage to his reputation than about the film itself.



* Production for ''Film/{{Explorers}}'' was thrown into turmoil when three top executives at Paramount Pictures left to join other studios -- Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenburg for Disney, and Barry Diller for 20th Century Fox. As a result, Dante -- who had already been working on a time crunch by joining the project in late 1984 with a projected August 1985 release date -- was [[ScrewedByTheNetwork told by Paramount]] that the release had been pushed up to early July and that the cast and crew were to just stop working; whatever they had managed to finish would be what they would put in theaters as the final cut. Not surprisingly, ''Explorers'' would be criticized for its [[ObviousBeta patchy story and underwhelming climax]]. It also had the misfortune of being both released on the same weekend as UsefulNotes/LiveAid ''and'' the weekend after the release of megahit ''Film/BackToTheFuture'', sealing its fate as a BoxOfficeBomb.

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* Production for ''Film/{{Explorers}}'' was thrown into turmoil when three top executives at Paramount Pictures left to join other studios -- Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenburg Katzenberg for Disney, and Barry Diller for 20th Century Fox. As a result, Dante -- who had already been working on a time crunch by joining the project in late 1984 with a projected August 1985 release date -- was [[ScrewedByTheNetwork told by Paramount]] that the release had been pushed up to early July and that the cast and crew were to just stop working; whatever they had managed to finish would be what they would put in theaters as the final cut. Not surprisingly, ''Explorers'' would be criticized for its [[ObviousBeta patchy story and underwhelming climax]]. It also had the misfortune of being both released on the same weekend as UsefulNotes/LiveAid ''and'' the weekend after the release of megahit ''Film/BackToTheFuture'', sealing its fate as a BoxOfficeBomb.



* ''Film/BeatTheDevil'' started out having its screenplay written by Claud Cockburn, the author of the novel the film was based on. However, Cockburn didn't finish the screenplay in time for the shoot, and what he ''had'' written was mostly unworkable, forcing Huston to hire Creator/TrumanCapote to polish up what they could salvage from Cockburn's screenplay while writing new material during the shoot. In several cases, Huston and Capote were literally writing new pages and handing them to the actors minutes before the cameras were due to roll. Astoundingly, the shoot otherwise wasn't overly problematic, other than some mild bickering between Huston and Humphrey Bogart... at least until Bogart was injured in a car accident, forcing Huston to resort to filming scenes with a body double and Creator/JenniferJones for a couple of days. Even when Bogart recovered enough to resume working, they couldn't find a decent dentist to replace the teeth Bogart had lost in the accident, forcing Huston to rely on, of all people, a young Creator/PeterSellers to overdub some of Bogart's lines in the finished product. The finished product ended up flopping at the box-office, and Bogart -- who invested a substantial amount of money into the production, and lost nearly all of it -- ended up blaming Huston, resulting in the two never working together again.

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* ''Film/BeatTheDevil'' started out having its screenplay written by Claud Cockburn, the author of the novel the film was based on. However, Cockburn didn't finish the screenplay in time for the shoot, and what he ''had'' written was mostly unworkable, forcing Huston to hire Creator/TrumanCapote to polish up what they could salvage from Cockburn's screenplay while writing new material during the shoot. In several cases, Huston and Capote were literally writing new pages and handing them to the actors minutes before the cameras were due to roll. Astoundingly, the shoot otherwise wasn't overly problematic, other than some mild bickering between Huston and Humphrey Bogart... at least until Bogart was injured in a car accident, forcing Huston to resort to filming scenes with a body double and Creator/JenniferJones for a couple of days. Even when Bogart recovered enough to resume working, they couldn't find a decent dentist to replace the teeth Bogart had lost in the accident, forcing Huston to rely on, of all people, a young Creator/PeterSellers to overdub some of Bogart's lines in the finished product. The finished product ended up flopping at the box-office, box office, and Bogart -- who invested a substantial amount of money into the production, and lost nearly all of it -- ended up blaming Huston, resulting in the two never working together again.



* ''The Roots of Heaven'', a "save the African elephant" film from 1958 he made for Creator/TwentiethCenturyFox, is a lesser known but brutal example of a troubled production.

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* ''The Roots of Heaven'', a "save the African elephant" film from 1958 he made for Creator/TwentiethCenturyFox, is a lesser known lesser-known but brutal example of a troubled production.



** Filming took place in Nevada in peak summer temperatures of over 100 degrees thanks to production of Monroe's previous film, ''Let's Make Love'', lagging behind schedule due to a Screen Actor's Guild strike. Huston took advantage of the location to spend long nights drinking and gambling instead of sleeping, causing him to occasionally doze off on set, and forcing the production company to cover his gambling losses, contributing to the film going over budget. Gable was particularly annoyed by Huston's carousing, especially his penchant for ''bragging'' about his massive losses at the gambling tables. The film's ballooning budget caused United Artists to shut down production, and it took two weeks of meetings in New York and Los Angeles to get it re-opened.

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** Filming took place in Nevada in peak summer temperatures of over 100 degrees thanks to production of Monroe's previous film, ''Let's Make Love'', lagging behind schedule due to a Screen Actor's Guild strike. Huston took advantage of the location to spend long nights drinking and gambling instead of sleeping, causing him to occasionally doze off on set, and forcing the production company to cover his gambling losses, contributing to the film going over budget. Gable was particularly annoyed by Huston's carousing, especially his penchant for ''bragging'' about his massive losses at the gambling tables. The film's ballooning budget caused United Artists to shut down production, and it took two weeks of meetings in New York and Los Angeles to get it re-opened.reopened.



** Among the other cast members, Clift had been struggling with drug problems ever since he had been seriously injured in a car accident in 1956, and he and Monroe required onset doctors. Monroe allegedly said of working with Clift, "It's good to meet someone who's in worse shape than I am."[[note]] Huston cast Clift in the lead role in his next film, ''Freud: The Secret Passion'', and for that film, it was Clift's drug problems that caused the shoot to go over time and over budget, rendering him uninsurable and unemployable. He only made one other film, the largely forgotten ''The Defector'', in an attempt to show that he was fit to play the male lead in Huston's ''Reflections in a Golden Eye'' opposite his close friend Creator/ElizabethTaylor; he died before filming began on the latter. His final conversation with anyone before his death came when he told his housekeeper "Absolutely ''not!''" when she asked if he wanted to watch a TV screening of ''The Misfits'' that evening.[[/note]] Thelma Ritter's health problems were much more minor, as she was rushed to hospital after suffering from exhaustion as the shoot shuddered to a close. Wallach had no health problems, but did receive a verbal jab from the cinematographer about him not having a career.

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** Among the other cast members, Clift had been struggling with drug problems ever since he had been seriously injured in a car accident in 1956, and he and Monroe required onset doctors. Monroe allegedly said of working with Clift, "It's good to meet someone who's in worse shape than I am."[[note]] Huston cast Clift in the lead role in his next film, ''Freud: The Secret Passion'', and for that film, it was Clift's drug problems that caused the shoot to go over time and over budget, rendering him uninsurable and unemployable. He only made one other film, the largely forgotten ''The Defector'', in an attempt to show that he was fit to play the male lead in Huston's ''Reflections in a Golden Eye'' opposite his close friend Creator/ElizabethTaylor; he died before filming began on the latter. His final conversation with anyone before his death came when he told his housekeeper "Absolutely ''not!''" when she asked if he wanted to watch a TV screening of ''The Misfits'' that evening.[[/note]] Thelma Ritter's health problems were much more minor, as she was rushed to hospital after suffering from exhaustion as the shoot shuddered to a close. Wallach had no health problems, problems but did receive a verbal jab from the cinematographer about him not having a career.



** And then things went to hell. Belushi went everywhere in Chicago when he wasn't on set—and when he did, ''everybody'' was slipping him vials and packets of coke. That was in addition to what he could procure, or had already procured for himself, often consumed in his trailer or at the private bar on set he had built for himself, his longtime friends, the cast and any visiting celebrities. Creator/CarrieFisher, who Landis had warned to keep Belushi away from drugs if she could, said almost everyone who had a job there also dealt, and the patrons could (and did) score almost anything there. Aykroyd, who unlike Belushi or Fisher kept his use under control, says there was money in the budget set aside for coke for night shoots.
** After Belushi's late nights partying, he'd either be really late for unit calls, tanking almost a whole day's worth of shooting, or only an hour or two late ... but then he'd go back to his trailer and sleep it off. One night, he wandered away from the set to a nearby house, where Aykroyd found him conked out on the couch after he'd raided the owner's fridge. On another, Landis went in to Belushi's trailer and found a gigantic pile of coke on a table inside, which he flushed down the toilet. Belushi attacked him when he came back, Landis knocked him down with a single punch and Belushi collapsed into tears.[[note]]It should be noted however that this incident, or at least Landis punching Belushi, while widely reported during the film's production and after Belushi's death, was denied by Landis himself after it was depicted in the Belushi biopic ''Wired''.[[/note]]

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** And then things went to hell. Belushi went everywhere in Chicago when he wasn't on set—and when he did, ''everybody'' was slipping him vials and packets of coke. That was in addition to what he could procure, or had already procured for himself, often consumed in his trailer or at the private bar on set he had built for himself, his longtime friends, the cast cast, and any visiting celebrities. Creator/CarrieFisher, who Landis had warned to keep Belushi away from drugs if she could, said almost everyone who had a job there also dealt, and the patrons could (and did) score almost anything there. Aykroyd, who unlike Belushi or Fisher kept his use under control, says there was money in the budget set aside for coke for night shoots.
** After Belushi's late nights partying, he'd either be really late for unit calls, tanking almost a whole day's worth of shooting, or only an hour or two late ... but then he'd go back to his trailer and sleep it off. One night, he wandered away from the set to a nearby house, where Aykroyd found him conked out on the couch after he'd raided the owner's fridge. On another, Landis went in to into Belushi's trailer and found a gigantic pile of coke on a table inside, which he flushed down the toilet. Belushi attacked him when he came back, Landis knocked him down with a single punch and Belushi collapsed into tears.[[note]]It should be noted however that this incident, or at least Landis punching Belushi, while widely reported during the film's production and after Belushi's death, was denied by Landis himself after it was depicted in the Belushi biopic ''Wired''.[[/note]]



* His segment for ''Film/TwilightZoneTheMovie'', starring Creator/VicMorrow, was supposed to climax with a scene where his character Bill Connor rescues two children during UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar. Landis chose to use Morrow, My-Ca Dinh Le and Renee Shin-Yi Chen, the two non-professionals hired to play the children for the scene, [[NoStuntDouble rather than stunt doubles]], despite the presence of helicopters and explosives. In fact, proper work permits had never been obtained for the kids (to circumvent child labor laws; their families were also paid under the table using the production's petty cash fund). The lengthy setup for the scene at the Indian Dunes ranch near Six Flags Magic Mountain on Thursday, July 22, 1982 delayed filming until the early hours of July 23, which also violated laws about work conditions for child actors. Even though the pilot and special effects people were experienced pros, the mix of controlled explosives and a low-flying helicopter was still very risky, and around 2AM the worst happened--shrapnel from an explosive got caught in the copter's rotor, causing it to crash near the three actors, [[FatalMethodActing killing them all]]. This led to nearly a decade's worth of lawsuits, changes in the law about child actors doing stunts, and fewer helicopter scenes in movies thereafter until CGI made it possible to put them in digitally. Landis was acquitted of manslaughter charges in 1987. While the film he signed on to specifically to get a break from the immediate wake of the scandal -- ''Film/TradingPlaces'' -- ended up released the month after ''Twilight Zone'' and became one of his biggest hits, and he would remain a bankable director for the rest of the decade (only ''Film/IntoTheNight'' lost money), [[CreatorKiller the disaster understandably cast a long, dark shadow over his career that remains to this day]]. It also abruptly ended Landis' friendship with Creator/StevenSpielberg, who was co-producing the film with Landis. The tragedy happened right when ''Film/ETTheExtraTerrestrial'' was dominating the summer box office, so media reports constantly mentioned Spielberg's name in connection with it. There were even reports that he was on-set when the accident occurred, which were quickly debunked.

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* His segment for ''Film/TwilightZoneTheMovie'', starring Creator/VicMorrow, was supposed to climax with a scene where his character Bill Connor rescues two children during UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar. Landis chose to use Morrow, My-Ca Dinh Le Le, and Renee Shin-Yi Chen, the two non-professionals hired to play the children for the scene, [[NoStuntDouble rather than stunt doubles]], despite the presence of helicopters and explosives. In fact, proper work permits had never been obtained for the kids (to circumvent child labor laws; their families were also paid under the table using the production's petty cash fund). The lengthy setup for the scene at the Indian Dunes ranch near Six Flags Magic Mountain on Thursday, July 22, 1982 1982, delayed filming until the early hours of July 23, which also violated laws about work conditions for child actors. Even though the pilot and special effects people were experienced pros, the mix of controlled explosives and a low-flying helicopter was still very risky, and around 2AM the worst happened--shrapnel from an explosive got caught in the copter's rotor, causing it to crash near the three actors, [[FatalMethodActing killing them all]]. This led to nearly a decade's worth of lawsuits, changes in the law about child actors doing stunts, and fewer helicopter scenes in movies thereafter until CGI made it possible to put them in digitally. Landis was acquitted of manslaughter charges in 1987. While the film he signed on to specifically to get a break from the immediate wake of the scandal -- ''Film/TradingPlaces'' -- ended up released the month after ''Twilight Zone'' and became one of his biggest hits, and he would remain a bankable director for the rest of the decade (only ''Film/IntoTheNight'' lost money), [[CreatorKiller the disaster understandably cast a long, dark shadow over his career that remains to this day]]. It also abruptly ended Landis' friendship with Creator/StevenSpielberg, who was co-producing the film with Landis. The tragedy happened right when ''Film/ETTheExtraTerrestrial'' was dominating the summer box office, so media reports constantly mentioned Spielberg's name in connection with it. There were even reports that he was on-set on set when the accident occurred, which were quickly debunked.



** Murphy was averse to creating a third film in the series, claiming that he didn't like ''Cop II'''s over-reliance of similar gags and character motivations to that of the first in various talk show appearances. He claimed that if he were to get involved in a third film, it would be because Paramount Pictures footed a giant paycheck for him... and that's exactly what happened when they forked over $15 million for him to reprise his role.
** Like its predecessors, the film was fraught with problems deciding on a plot or script. Many ideas were batted around, including one where Axel would journey to London, England to arrest a pair of criminal brothers after his colleague Jeffrey is killed trying to arrest them, and teaming up with a British detective (envisioned to be played by either Creator/SeanConnery or Creator/JohnCleese) to find the culprit. Another unused script idea had Foley, Rosewood, and Taggart going to London to rescue Captain Bogomil (Ronny Cox), who was being held hostage by terrorists during a International Police Convention. However, numerous problems, such as scripting issues and the budget, caused pre-production to drag out to the point that John Ashton and Cox had to drop out, due to obligations to other pending film projects. Cox would later claim in 2012 that the script was the big reason why he refused to return for the film, and his character simply isn't [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse mentioned or referenced in the finished film]].

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** Murphy was averse to creating a third film in the series, claiming that he didn't like ''Cop II'''s over-reliance of on similar gags and character motivations to that of the first in various talk show appearances. He claimed that if he were to get involved in a third film, it would be because Paramount Pictures footed a giant paycheck for him... and that's exactly what happened when they forked over $15 million for him to reprise his role.
** Like its predecessors, the film was fraught with problems deciding on a plot or script. Many ideas were batted around, including one where Axel would journey to London, England to arrest a pair of criminal brothers after his colleague Jeffrey is killed trying to arrest them, and teaming up with a British detective (envisioned to be played by either Creator/SeanConnery or Creator/JohnCleese) to find the culprit. Another unused script idea had Foley, Rosewood, and Taggart going to London to rescue Captain Bogomil (Ronny Cox), who was being held hostage by terrorists during a an International Police Convention. However, numerous problems, such as scripting issues and the budget, caused pre-production to drag out to the point that John Ashton and Cox had to drop out, due to obligations to other pending film projects. Cox would later claim in 2012 that the script was the big reason why he refused to return for the film, and his character simply isn't [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse mentioned or referenced in the finished film]].



** Creator/JohnBelushi died from a drug overdose a couple of years after the original film's release, leaving the follow-up in limbo (during which time co-stars Creator/JohnCandy and Music/CabCalloway also died) for the better part of two decades. During that timespan it was widely assumed that Belushi's younger brother Creator/JamesBelushi would be the obvious candidate to co-star with Creator/DanAykroyd in a sequel. In the end however, he turned it down, ostensibly because of a schedule conflict, resulting in Creator/JohnGoodman being cast in [[SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute the entirely new role of Mighty Mac]].
** When Aykroyd and Landis presented their first draft script to Universal, the studio responded by saying their script was essentially just a carbon-copy of the first film, except with Belushi's character swapped out for Goodman's... which Aykroyd [[JerkassHasAPoint later admitted was actually a valid criticism]]. Unfortunately, what the studio did next would ultimately send the project down in flames, as they decided they wanted the film to appeal to a younger audience, and forced the insertion of a TagalongKid sidekick to Aykroyd and Goodman, while also forcing a GenreShift that made the film much more overt fantasy than the first one.
** The actual shoot wasn't ''quite'' as problematic as that of the first film, but Aykroyd and Goodman had to work essentially for free in order to get the film produced under the less-than-adequate budget that they were given. Aykroyd and Landis became increasingly despondent due to the continued ExecutiveMeddling throughout the shoot, which resulted in the two threatening to quit, until the studio counter-threatened them with a lawsuit for breach of contract. Still, they roughed it out, and eventually finished the shoot.

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** Creator/JohnBelushi died from a drug overdose a couple of years after the original film's release, leaving the follow-up in limbo (during which time co-stars Creator/JohnCandy and Music/CabCalloway also died) for the better part of two decades. During that timespan timespan, it was widely assumed that Belushi's younger brother Creator/JamesBelushi would be the obvious candidate to co-star with Creator/DanAykroyd in a sequel. In the end end, however, he turned it down, ostensibly because of a schedule conflict, resulting in Creator/JohnGoodman being cast in [[SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute the entirely new role of Mighty Mac]].
** When Aykroyd and Landis presented their first draft script to Universal, the studio responded by saying their script was essentially just a carbon-copy carbon copy of the first film, except with Belushi's character swapped out for Goodman's... Goodman's...which Aykroyd [[JerkassHasAPoint later admitted was actually a valid criticism]]. Unfortunately, what the studio did next would ultimately send the project down in flames, as they decided they wanted the film to appeal to a younger audience, and forced the insertion of a TagalongKid sidekick to Aykroyd and Goodman, while also forcing a GenreShift that made the film much more overt fantasy than the first one.
** The actual shoot wasn't ''quite'' as problematic as that of the first film, but Aykroyd and Goodman had to work essentially for free in order to get the film produced under the less-than-adequate budget that they were given. Aykroyd and Landis became increasingly despondent due to the continued ExecutiveMeddling throughout the shoot, which resulted in the two threatening to quit, until the studio counter-threatened them with a lawsuit for breach of contract. Still, they roughed it out, out and eventually finished the shoot.



** The script was initially adapted by Carl Foreman from the book by French author Pierre Boulle. After Lean was chosen to direct, producer Sam Spiegel brought him and Foreman together to work on the script, and was delighted to see the men take an almost instant dislike to each other, feeling that many great films were born from such animosity. Unfortunately, they hated each other so much that Foreman eventually resigned and was replaced by Michael Wilson. Since both Foreman and Wilson were on the Hollywood blacklist, the screenwriting credit (and Oscar) went to Boulle, who did not even speak English.[[note]] Foreman and Wilson were awarded retroactive - and posthumous - Oscars for their work on the script in 1984.[[/note]] When Columbia executives read the script, they [[ExecutiveMeddling objected to the lack of any romantic subplots]], and Lean was forced to shoehorn in an [[RomanticPlotTumor affair between Commander Shears and a British nurse at the military hospital.]]

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** The script was initially adapted by Carl Foreman from the book by French author Pierre Boulle. After Lean was chosen to direct, producer Sam Spiegel brought him and Foreman together to work on the script, script and was delighted to see the men take an almost instant dislike to each other, feeling that many great films were born from such animosity. Unfortunately, they hated each other so much that Foreman eventually resigned and was replaced by Michael Wilson. Since both Foreman and Wilson were on the Hollywood blacklist, the screenwriting credit (and Oscar) went to Boulle, who did not even speak English.[[note]] Foreman and Wilson were awarded retroactive - and posthumous - Oscars for their work on the script in 1984.[[/note]] When Columbia executives read the script, they [[ExecutiveMeddling objected to the lack of any romantic subplots]], and Lean was forced to shoehorn in an [[RomanticPlotTumor affair between Commander Shears and a British nurse at the military hospital.]]



** Location scouts found that the actual River Kwai was a mere trickle, so, at Jack Hawkins' suggestion, production was set up near Kitulgala in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). The remote location required a special construction of a bungalow complex to house the cast and crew. Though Lean was right at home in the tropical climate, most of the other personnel suffered in the intense heat and humidity. They were frequently forced to call in sick, and had to share the area with snakes, leeches,[[note]] Though the swamps through which the demo squad treks were specially constructed - the local swamps were too dangerous to use for filming - the leeches were real.[[/note]] and other wildlife. The slow pace of filming resulting from Lean's rampant perfectionism did not help. Furthermore, Spiegel did not allocate money for extras, so the British soldiers were mostly played by crew members and Ceylon natives wearing Caucasian makeup.

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** Location scouts found that the actual River Kwai was a mere trickle, so, at Jack Hawkins' suggestion, production was set up near Kitulgala in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). The remote location required a special construction of a bungalow complex to house the cast and crew. Though Lean was right at home in the tropical climate, most of the other personnel suffered in from the intense heat and humidity. They were frequently forced to call in sick, sick and had to share the area with snakes, leeches,[[note]] Though the swamps through which the demo squad treks were specially constructed - the local swamps were too dangerous to use for filming - the leeches were real.[[/note]] and other wildlife. The slow pace of filming resulting from Lean's rampant perfectionism did not help. Furthermore, Spiegel did not allocate money for extras, so the British soldiers were mostly played by crew members and Ceylon natives wearing Caucasian makeup.



** The spectacle of the construction and destruction of the bridge itself provided some of the film's most memorable images, as well as some of the production's most troublesome moments. In the film, the bridge is built in two months; the actual construction took eight months and required 500 men and 35 elephants. The elephants would take breaks every four hours to lie in the water, whatever the wishes of the construction crew. When the cameras were set up to film the bridge's destruction - with an audience including the Prime Minister of Ceylon - a cameraman was unable to get out of the way of the intended path of the explosion in time, and Lean halted filming. The train crossed the bridge safely, but crashed into a generator on the far side. The cameras were set up again the following day for the take that went into the finished film...
** ... but it very nearly didn't make it into the film at all. Filming took place during the Suez Crisis in 1956, so equipment that would normally have been transported by sea instead had to be transported by air.[[note]] As Ceylon had no film processing facilities, each day's footage had to be flown to London to be processed and then back to Ceylon for viewing.[[/note]] The film of the bridge's destruction failed to arrive in London as scheduled, and a worldwide search was undertaken. To the crew's horror, the cans of film were eventually found in Cairo, where they had been sitting on the airport tarmac in the hot sun for a week. The prints should have been ruined, leaving the film without its climactic scene, but somehow they had survived undamaged.
** Finally, Spiegel was determined to release the film before the end of 1957 to make it eligible for the year's Academy Awards. However, because of the chaotic production, by early December 1957, the film still had no music score - no-one had even been hired to compose it. The composer ultimately hired by Spiegel, Malcolm Arnold, had to write and record the score in just ten days.[[note]] His compressed time limit did pay off, as the film was ''the'' big winner at the 1957 Oscars, with awards going to Spiegel for Best Picture, Lean for Best Director, and Arnold for Best Score. It was also a hit with audiences, topping the year's box office charts.[[/note]]

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** The spectacle of the construction and destruction of the bridge itself provided some of the film's most memorable images, as well as some of the production's most troublesome moments. In the film, the bridge is built in two months; the actual construction took eight months and required 500 men and 35 elephants. The elephants would take breaks every four hours to lie in the water, whatever the wishes of the construction crew. When the cameras were set up to film the bridge's destruction - with an audience including the Prime Minister of Ceylon - a cameraman was unable to get out of the way of the intended path of the explosion in time, and Lean halted filming. The train crossed the bridge safely, safely but crashed into a generator on the far side. The cameras were set up again the following day for the take that went into the finished film...
** ... but it very nearly didn't make it into the film at all. Filming took place during the Suez Crisis in 1956, so equipment that would normally have been transported by sea instead had to be transported by air.[[note]] As Ceylon had no film processing facilities, each day's footage had to be flown to London to be processed and then back to Ceylon for viewing.[[/note]] The film of the bridge's destruction failed to arrive in London as scheduled, and a worldwide search was undertaken. To the crew's horror, the cans of film were eventually found in Cairo, where they had been sitting on the airport tarmac in the hot sun for a week. The prints should have been ruined, leaving the film without its climactic scene, but somehow they had survived undamaged.
** Finally, Spiegel was determined to release the film before the end of 1957 to make it eligible for the year's Academy Awards. However, because of the chaotic production, by early December 1957, the film still had no music score - no-one no one had even been hired to compose it. The composer ultimately hired by Spiegel, Malcolm Arnold, had to write and record the score in just ten days.[[note]] His compressed time limit did pay off, as the film was ''the'' big winner at the 1957 Oscars, with awards going to Spiegel for Best Picture, Lean for Best Director, and Arnold for Best Score. It was also a hit with audiences, topping the year's box office charts.[[/note]]



** First, it's worth noting that filmmakers had been trying to make a Lawrence movie since the mid-'20s. Two of the better known examples were an Alexander Korda epic in the '30s with Creator/LaurenceOlivier as Lawrence, and a '50s Rank Organisation picture starring Dirk Bogarde. Both films fell apart due to political pressure: the former because of fear of alienating Turkey in the run-up to World War II; the latter because of a coup d'état in Iraq, where the film was set to shoot. Lean and Spiegel narrowly beat a competing project, an adaptation of Terence Rattigan's play ''Ross'', to the screen.
** Spiegel originally planned an AllStarCast. At a press conference he announced Creator/MarlonBrando as Lawrence, Horst Buchholz as Sherif Ali, Creator/LaurenceOlivier as Feisal, Creator/KirkDouglas as the journalist Bentley and Creator/CaryGrant as General Allenby. Unfortunately for Spiegel, every single one of them declined.[[note]]Spiegel did secure Creator/AnthonyQuinn as Auda, and Jose Ferrer for the minor role of the Turkish Bey by paying him $25,000 plus a custom-made Porsche.[[/note]] Creator/OmarSharif and Jack Hawkins, originally cast in minor roles,[[note]]Sharif was originally to play Tafas, Lawrence's guide killed by Ali at the well; Hawkins was initially cast as Colonel Brighton[[/note]] were re-cast as Ali and Allenby, respectively, after Buchholz and Grant declined. Still angry over ''Kwai'', Lean resisted casting Alec Guinness as Feisal but Spiegel insisted. One oft-repeated anecdote claims that Spiegel feigned a heart attack to trick Lean into changing his mind.
** After Brando bowed out, Lean and Spiegel settled on Creator/AlbertFinney as Lawrence. They were impressed enough with Finney, a relative unknown, that they filmed an elaborate screen test. Finney declined the role, however, after Spiegel demanded that he sign a multi-picture contract. [[note]]He made ''Film/SaturdayNightAndSundayMorning'' instead, becoming a star in his own right.[[/note]] At this point, Creator/KatharineHepburn, who'd worked with Lean on ''Summertime'', suggested a young Irish stage actor struggling to break into films: Creator/PeterOToole. Thus the film had its leading man despite adamant objections from Spiegel, who had been irritated by O'Toole's flippant ad libbing when he auditioned for the film adaptation of ''Theatre/SuddenlyLastSummer'' (which Spiegel had produced).

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** First, it's worth noting that filmmakers had been trying to make a Lawrence movie since the mid-'20s. Two of the better known better-known examples were an Alexander Korda epic in the '30s with Creator/LaurenceOlivier as Lawrence, and a '50s Rank Organisation picture starring Dirk Bogarde. Both films fell apart due to political pressure: the former because of fear of alienating Turkey in the run-up to World War II; the latter because of a coup d'état in Iraq, where the film was set to shoot. Lean and Spiegel narrowly beat a competing project, an adaptation of Terence Rattigan's play ''Ross'', to the screen.
** Spiegel originally planned an AllStarCast. At a press conference conference, he announced Creator/MarlonBrando as Lawrence, Horst Buchholz as Sherif Ali, Creator/LaurenceOlivier as Feisal, Creator/KirkDouglas as the journalist Bentley and Creator/CaryGrant as General Allenby. Unfortunately for Spiegel, every single one of them declined.[[note]]Spiegel did secure Creator/AnthonyQuinn as Auda, and Jose Ferrer for the minor role of the Turkish Bey by paying him $25,000 plus a custom-made Porsche.[[/note]] Creator/OmarSharif and Jack Hawkins, originally cast in minor roles,[[note]]Sharif was originally to play Tafas, Lawrence's guide killed by Ali at the well; Hawkins was initially cast as Colonel Brighton[[/note]] were re-cast as Ali and Allenby, respectively, after Buchholz and Grant declined. Still angry over ''Kwai'', Lean resisted casting Alec Guinness as Feisal but Spiegel insisted. One oft-repeated anecdote claims that Spiegel feigned a heart attack to trick Lean into changing his mind.
** After Brando bowed out, Lean and Spiegel settled on Creator/AlbertFinney as Lawrence. They were impressed enough with Finney, a relative unknown, that they filmed an elaborate screen test. Finney declined the role, however, after Spiegel demanded that he sign a multi-picture contract. [[note]]He made ''Film/SaturdayNightAndSundayMorning'' instead, becoming a star in his own right.[[/note]] At this point, Creator/KatharineHepburn, who'd worked with Lean on ''Summertime'', suggested a young Irish stage actor struggling to break into films: Creator/PeterOToole. Thus the film had its leading man despite adamant objections from Spiegel, who had been irritated by O'Toole's flippant ad libbing ad-libbing when he auditioned for the film adaptation of ''Theatre/SuddenlyLastSummer'' (which Spiegel had produced).



** Eventually shooting in Jordan got so expensive that the production moved to Spain. More difficulties arose: production designer John Box had to build the Aqaba set from scratch. The crew had difficulty finding camels and camel riders. O'Toole nearly died filming a battle scene when he fell off his camel, and injured himself on another occasion. Edmond O'Brien (playing Bentley) had an onset heart attack and Arthur Kennedy was flown direct from New York to replace him. Flash floods in Almeria delayed filming. Lean and his actors grew increasingly tense; Lean once exploded at Jack Hawkins for trying to lighten the mood on-set. Finally, Lean couldn't find suitable locations for the climactic battle and there was a final move to...

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** Eventually shooting in Jordan got so expensive that the production moved to Spain. More difficulties arose: production designer John Box had to build the Aqaba set from scratch. The crew had difficulty finding camels and camel riders. O'Toole nearly died filming a battle scene when he fell off his camel, camel and injured himself on another occasion. Edmond O'Brien (playing Bentley) had an onset heart attack and Arthur Kennedy was flown direct from New York to replace him. Flash floods in Almeria delayed filming. Lean and his actors grew increasingly tense; Lean once exploded at Jack Hawkins for trying to lighten the mood on-set.on set. Finally, Lean couldn't find suitable locations for the climactic battle and there was a final move to...



** Producer Carlo Ponti won a bidding war for the film rights to Boris Pasternak's novel, and wanted it to be a spectacle on the same scale as ''Lawrence of Arabia'', so he hired many of the same crew members, including David Lean, script writer Robert Bolt, composer Maurice Jarre, and production designer John Box. He wanted location shooting to take place in the Soviet Union, but was refused permission by the government due to the content of the novel. Scandinavia was deemed too cold for a lengthy film shoot, while Yugoslavia was ruled out for both the cold weather and the obstructive bureaucracy; the location shooting was mostly done in Spain. Construction of the Moscow set in a suburb of Madrid took nearly eighteen months, while filming itself fell behind schedule as Lean hoped to shoot scenes during each of the various seasons as depicted in the novel. Unfortunately, the winter scenes did not go as planned due to the unusually mild winter, and they were instead mostly filmed in summer in temperatures as high as 90 degrees Fahrenheit, with marble dust and plastic snow standing in for actual snow and the actors' profuse sweating requiring frequent makeup touchups.[[note]] Some of the winter scenes were filmed in more appropriate weather in Finland and Canada.[[/note]]

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** Producer Carlo Ponti won a bidding war for the film rights to Boris Pasternak's novel, and wanted it to be a spectacle on the same scale as ''Lawrence of Arabia'', so he hired many of the same crew members, including David Lean, script writer scriptwriter Robert Bolt, composer Maurice Jarre, and production designer John Box. He wanted location shooting to take place in the Soviet Union, Union but was refused permission by the government due to the content of the novel. Scandinavia was deemed too cold for a lengthy film shoot, while Yugoslavia was ruled out for both the cold weather and the obstructive bureaucracy; the location shooting was mostly done in Spain. Construction of the Moscow set in a suburb of Madrid took nearly eighteen months, months while filming itself fell behind schedule as Lean hoped to shoot scenes during each of the various seasons as depicted in the novel. Unfortunately, the winter scenes did not go as planned due to the unusually mild winter, and they were instead mostly filmed in summer in temperatures as high as 90 degrees Fahrenheit, with marble dust and plastic snow standing in for actual snow and the actors' profuse sweating requiring frequent makeup touchups.[[note]] Some of the winter scenes were filmed in more appropriate weather in Finland and Canada.[[/note]]



** The original director of photography was Creator/NicolasRoeg, but he resigned after creative differences with Lean led to a major falling out between the two. Freddie Young, the director of photography from ''Lawrence of Arabia'', was offered the job, and though he was reluctant to work with Lean again after the exhausting experience of shooting ''Lawrence'', he eventually agreed, but needed two weeks to re-shoot the scenes that Roeg had shot before his resignation.

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** The original director of photography was Creator/NicolasRoeg, but he resigned after creative differences with Lean led to a major falling out between the two. Freddie Young, the director of photography from ''Lawrence of Arabia'', was offered the job, and though he was reluctant to work with Lean again after the exhausting experience of shooting ''Lawrence'', he eventually agreed, agreed but needed two weeks to re-shoot the scenes that Roeg had shot before his resignation.



** Like ''Lawrence'' before it, the film continued to stumble in its first weeks in cinemas. Critics thought the film too long, the love affair between Zhivago and Lara too soap operatic, and the depiction of historical events too facile. Jarre's score, especially "Lara's Theme", was widely dismissed as "syrupy". Lean later said that during the first few weeks, "you could hurl boulders in the theatre and not hit anyone." However, the film and especially "Lara's Theme" eventually caught on with audiences, netting five awards from ten nominations at the 1965 Oscars[[note]] Including repeat awards for Freddie Young for Best Cinematography, Maurice Jarre for Best Score, and John Box and co. for Best Art Decoration - Set Decoration (Color), and first time wins for Robert Bolt for Best Adapted Screenplay and Phyllis Dalton for Best Costumes.[[/note]] and having one of the ten highest box office takes in cinema history (adjusted for inflation).[[note]] Although in contrast to ''Kwai'' and ''Lawrence'', it isn't the highest grossing film from its year of release, as 1965 also saw the initial release of ''Film/TheSoundOfMusic''.[[/note]]

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** Like ''Lawrence'' before it, the film continued to stumble in its first weeks in cinemas. Critics thought the film too long, the love affair between Zhivago and Lara too soap operatic, and the depiction of historical events too facile. Jarre's score, especially "Lara's Theme", was widely dismissed as "syrupy". Lean later said that during the first few weeks, "you could hurl boulders in the theatre and not hit anyone." However, the film and especially "Lara's Theme" eventually caught on with audiences, netting five awards from ten nominations at the 1965 Oscars[[note]] Including repeat awards for Freddie Young for Best Cinematography, Maurice Jarre for Best Score, and John Box and co. for Best Art Decoration - Set Decoration (Color), and first time wins for Robert Bolt for Best Adapted Screenplay and Phyllis Dalton for Best Costumes.[[/note]] and having one of the ten highest box office takes in cinema history (adjusted for inflation).[[note]] Although in contrast to ''Kwai'' and ''Lawrence'', it isn't the highest grossing highest-grossing film from its year of release, as 1965 also saw the initial release of ''Film/TheSoundOfMusic''.[[/note]]



** Then came its release. MGM was expecting ''Film/RyansDaughter'' to repeat the huge success of ''Zhivago'', and unveiled it with a suitably lavish publicity campaign and roadshow release. Unfortunately, the movie was roundly savaged by critics, who typically complained it was too grand in scale for a modest love story. Lean took this criticism extremely personally; at a meeting of New York film critics he was confronted by Pauline Kael, Richard Schickel and others who seemingly took delight in insulting ''Ryan''.[[note]]It was here that Schickel asked Lean "Can you explain how the man who directed ''Film/BriefEncounter'' could produce a piece of shit like ''Ryan's Daughter''?" Lean singled out this particular comment as causing him to reconsider a career in film directing.[[/note]] This time, critical scorn matched audience indifference, and ''Ryan'''s box office take proved mediocre. It earned four nominations at the 1970 Oscars[[note]] It won two: Best Supporting Actor for Creator/JohnMills as Michael, and Best Cinematography for Freddie Young, his third Oscar in a row for a Creator/DavidLean film.[[/note]] and eventually turned a profit, but fell short of MGM's hopes for a massive blockbuster. Lean wouldn't make another film for fourteen years, which was...

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** Then came its release. MGM was expecting ''Film/RyansDaughter'' to repeat the huge success of ''Zhivago'', and unveiled it with a suitably lavish publicity campaign and roadshow release. Unfortunately, the movie was roundly savaged by critics, who typically complained it was too grand in scale for a modest love story. Lean took this criticism extremely personally; at a meeting of New York film critics he was confronted by Pauline Kael, Richard Schickel Schickel, and others who seemingly took delight in insulting ''Ryan''.[[note]]It was here that Schickel asked Lean "Can you explain how the man who directed ''Film/BriefEncounter'' could produce a piece of shit like ''Ryan's Daughter''?" Lean singled out this particular comment as causing him to reconsider a career in film directing.[[/note]] This time, critical scorn matched audience indifference, and ''Ryan'''s box office take proved mediocre. It earned four nominations at the 1970 Oscars[[note]] It won two: Best Supporting Actor for Creator/JohnMills as Michael, and Best Cinematography for Freddie Young, his third Oscar in a row for a Creator/DavidLean film.[[/note]] and eventually turned a profit, but fell short of MGM's hopes for a massive blockbuster. Lean wouldn't make another film for fourteen years, which was...



** So Peckinpah started drinking. Heavily, even by his standards. And then showing up this way on set. He began firing people for the most insignificant things, and threatening everyone else to the point that the film's star and Peckinpah's friend Creator/CharltonHeston frequently had to pull his costume's cavalry sabre on the director repeatedly. Peckinpah fell for actress Begoña Palacios, who played a minor character in the film,[[note]]The Mexican girl whom Tim the bugler falls for, and it's implied sleeps with, in the village Dundee liberates from the French[[/note]] and spent much of his time courting her rather than directing.
** It didn't help either that Heston and costar Creator/RichardHarris hated each other. They'd worked together previously, on ''The Wreck of the Mary Deare'', and their antipathy carried over into ''Dundee'': Heston called Harris a "professional Irishman" while Harris labelled Heston a "holy Joe." Senta Berger recounted the two engaging in macho posturing, like Harris hiking his boots up to seem taller than Heston. Heston was so annoyed by Harris's general behavior (he frequently showed up late on set, and argued with Peckinpah and his costars) that he lodged a formal complaint with producer Jerry Bresler.

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** So Peckinpah started drinking. Heavily, even by his standards. And then showing up this way on set. He began firing people for the most insignificant things, things and threatening everyone else to the point that the film's star and Peckinpah's friend Creator/CharltonHeston frequently had to pull his costume's cavalry sabre on the director repeatedly. Peckinpah fell for actress Begoña Palacios, who played a minor character in the film,[[note]]The Mexican girl whom Tim the bugler falls for, and it's implied sleeps with, in the village Dundee liberates from the French[[/note]] and spent much of his time courting her rather than directing.
** It didn't help either that Heston and costar co-star Creator/RichardHarris hated each other. They'd worked together previously, on ''The Wreck of the Mary Deare'', and their antipathy carried over into ''Dundee'': Heston called Harris a "professional Irishman" while Harris labelled Heston a "holy Joe." Senta Berger recounted the two engaging in macho posturing, like Harris hiking his boots up to seem taller than Heston. Heston was so annoyed by Harris's general behavior (he frequently showed up late on set, and argued with Peckinpah and his costars) that he lodged a formal complaint with producer Jerry Bresler.



** When principal photography was finally over, Columbia broke its contract with Peckinpah and hired editors itself to put the film together. The film was cut from a reported 155 minute run time to 121 minutes, with a [[SoundtrackDissonance poorly-matched]] musical score by Daniele Amfitheatrof (featuring a title march by Mitch Miller and his Sing-Along Gang) added. Critics regarded the finished film as an interesting failure; however, stories of Peckinpah's difficult behavior percolated throughout Hollywood. He was fired from his next film, ''Film/TheCincinnatiKid'', and spent several years blackballed by Hollywood studios.

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** When principal photography was finally over, Columbia broke its contract with Peckinpah and hired editors itself to put the film together. The film was cut from a reported 155 minute 155-minute run time to 121 minutes, with a [[SoundtrackDissonance poorly-matched]] musical score by Daniele Amfitheatrof (featuring a title march by Mitch Miller and his Sing-Along Gang) added. Critics regarded the finished film as an interesting failure; however, stories of Peckinpah's difficult behavior percolated throughout Hollywood. He was fired from his next film, ''Film/TheCincinnatiKid'', and spent several years blackballed by Hollywood studios.



* ''Film/PatGarrettAndBillyTheKid'' was filmed almost entirely on location in Durango, Mexico. Dust storms, hot weather and defective cameras delayed shooting from the start. Much of the cast and crew came down with influenza. Peckinpah's severe alcohol problems created tensions with coworkers. In this case, though, ExecutiveMeddling proved the most persistent issue: penny-pinching MGM honcho James Aubrey repeatedly slashed the budget and refused to sanction re-shoots for several key scenes, after which the movie was cut from 124 minutes to 106 minutes, smuggled quietly into theaters and flopped. The film sunk into ignominy (aside from its Music/BobDylan [[BreakawayPopHit soundtrack]]) until the [[VindicatedByHistory preview cut resurfaced in the '90s]].

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* ''Film/PatGarrettAndBillyTheKid'' was filmed almost entirely on location in Durango, Mexico. Dust storms, hot weather weather, and defective cameras delayed shooting from the start. Much of the cast and crew came down with influenza. Peckinpah's severe alcohol problems created tensions with coworkers. In this case, though, ExecutiveMeddling proved the most persistent issue: penny-pinching MGM honcho James Aubrey repeatedly slashed the budget and refused to sanction re-shoots for several key scenes, after which the movie was cut from 124 minutes to 106 minutes, smuggled quietly into theaters and flopped. The film sunk into ignominy (aside from its Music/BobDylan [[BreakawayPopHit soundtrack]]) until the [[VindicatedByHistory preview cut resurfaced in the '90s]].



** Location shooting for this UsefulNotes/WorldWarII drama was mostly done in Yugoslavia, with the Yugoslav government agreeing to provide the period accurate tanks and machine guns the production needed. Unfortunately, according to the film's star, Creator/JamesCoburn, because only a fraction of the $4 million budget promised by producer Wolf C. Hartwig was available when filming began, half the equipment was still held up in negotiations when the cameras started rolling, causing severe delays to the shooting schedule.

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** Location shooting for this UsefulNotes/WorldWarII drama was mostly done in Yugoslavia, with the Yugoslav government agreeing to provide the period accurate tanks and machine guns the production needed. Unfortunately, according to the film's star, star Creator/JamesCoburn, because only a fraction of the $4 million budget promised by producer Wolf C. Hartwig was available when filming began, half the equipment was still held up in negotiations when the cameras started rolling, causing severe delays to the shooting schedule.



** The production delays naturally led to budget overruns to the tune of $2 million. On July 6, 1976, eighty-nine days into the shoot and with the last of the money spent, Hartwig and his co-producer Alex Winitsky tried to halt the production before the final scene had been filmed. The original ending was expected to take three days to film in an abandoned rail yard, and the special effects teams had already spent several days wiring pyrotechnics for the shoot. Coburn was so annoyed by the producers' attempted interference that he had them thrown off the set and worked with Peckinpah and his co-star, Creator/MaximilianSchell, to improvise the ending that went into the finished film. Once the final scene was shot, the cast and crew packed their luggage and caught their trains or planes home, as there was no money left for a wrap party.

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** The production delays naturally led to budget overruns to the tune of $2 million. On July 6, 1976, eighty-nine days into the shoot and with the last of the money spent, Hartwig and his co-producer Alex Winitsky tried to halt the production before the final scene had been filmed. The original ending was expected to take three days to film in an abandoned rail yard, and the special effects teams had already spent several days wiring pyrotechnics for the shoot. Coburn was so annoyed by the producers' attempted interference that he had them thrown off the set and worked with Peckinpah and his co-star, Creator/MaximilianSchell, co-star Creator/MaximilianSchell to improvise the ending that went into the finished film. Once the final scene was shot, the cast and crew packed their luggage and caught their trains or planes home, as there was no money left for a wrap party.



** But ''Convoy'''s biggest bugbear remained Peckinpah, whose substance abuse spiraled out of control. He was taking heavy amounts of cocaine, Quaaludes and vitamin shots that left him both irritable and irrational. At one point, Peckinpah called his nephew David from the set, ranting that Creator/SteveMcQueenActor -- who had forced [=MacGraw=] to retire from acting when the two married earlier in the decade, promptly served her with divorce papers when she decided to come out of retirement for ''Convoy'', and in fairness to Peckinpah, ''did'' allegedly send him a threatening note or two early in filming -- and the Executive Car Leasing Company were conspiring to kill him. He also fired several crew members and assistants as filming dragged on. On the day the climactic funeral scene was set to film, with the cast, crew and 3,000 extras assembled, Peckinpah locked himself in the trailer for twelve hours, refusing to communicate with anyone. With their director incapacitated, Coburn and the other assistant directors essentially finished directing ''Convoy'' themselves.
** Filming finally wrapped in early September 1977, two months behind schedule and $3,000,000 over-budget. A month later, however, Peckinpah was assigned to re-shoot several scenes, which he did without incident. After several months of editing, Peckinpah delivered a rough cut that was nearly four hours long... without bothering to include the final half-hour of the movie. EMI finally lost patience with Peckinpah, booted him off the project, and brought in two other editors to recut the film essentially from scratch; yet again, Peckinpah was barred from finishing his own movie.

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** But ''Convoy'''s biggest bugbear remained Peckinpah, whose substance abuse spiraled out of control. He was taking heavy amounts of cocaine, Quaaludes Quaaludes, and vitamin shots that left him both irritable and irrational. At one point, Peckinpah called his nephew David from the set, ranting that Creator/SteveMcQueenActor -- who had forced [=MacGraw=] to retire from acting when the two married earlier in the decade, promptly served her with divorce papers when she decided to come out of retirement for ''Convoy'', and in fairness to Peckinpah, ''did'' allegedly send him a threatening note or two early in filming -- and the Executive Car Leasing Company were conspiring to kill him. He also fired several crew members and assistants as filming dragged on. On the day the climactic funeral scene was set to film, with the cast, crew crew, and 3,000 extras assembled, Peckinpah locked himself in the trailer for twelve hours, refusing to communicate with anyone. With their director incapacitated, Coburn and the other assistant directors essentially finished directing ''Convoy'' themselves.
** Filming finally wrapped in early September 1977, two months behind schedule and $3,000,000 over-budget.over budget. A month later, however, Peckinpah was assigned to re-shoot several scenes, which he did without incident. After several months of editing, Peckinpah delivered a rough cut that was nearly four hours long... without bothering to include the final half-hour of the movie. EMI finally lost patience with Peckinpah, booted him off the project, and brought in two other editors to recut the film essentially from scratch; yet again, Peckinpah was barred from finishing his own movie.



** Production itself was relatively smooth, but it had some problems. Jon Finch, originally cast as Kane, had to drop out by the second day of shooting when he became severely ill due to his diabetes, and Creator/JohnHurt (the producers' first choice) was cast instead. There was also friction between the producers and screenwriter Dan O'Bannon, who didn't like that Hill had rewritten the screenplay to have more gritty and realistic dialogue. The visual effects team was also sorely under-funded and under-equipped, which resulted in cinematographer Derek Vanlint having to gather up all his lighting equipment and lend it to the VFX team at the end of each day.

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** Production itself was relatively smooth, but it had some problems. Jon Finch, originally cast as Kane, had to drop out by the second day of shooting when he became severely ill due to his diabetes, and Creator/JohnHurt (the producers' first choice) was cast instead. There was also friction between the producers and screenwriter Dan O'Bannon, who didn't like that Hill had rewritten the screenplay to have more gritty and realistic dialogue. The visual effects team was also sorely under-funded underfunded and under-equipped, underequipped, which resulted in cinematographer Derek Vanlint having to gather up all his lighting equipment and lend it to the VFX team at the end of each day.



** Creator/HarrisonFord, cast as Deckard, did not get along with Scott or co-star Creator/SeanYoung. Young's inexperience at the time led to her breaking character and ruining takes, frustrating Ford, while Scott's directorial style and sudden insistance on Deckard being a Replicant led to many disagreements and flared tempers between Ford and Scott. During a BBC interview in 2006, Scott named Ford when asked "Who's the biggest pain in the arse you've ever worked with?", though Scott admitted they had patched things up by that point.
** Given the film is mostly set at night, it was filmed at the darkest possible hours, making everyone very exhausted, not helped by the constant fake rain. It even led to a well-known blooper: when Roy Batty releases the dove, the shot of it flying is in bright day, because the one during the night shoot got soaked and couldn't be bothered to take off. And the Director of Photography, Jordan Cronenwith, suffered from Parkinson's disease and during the shoot was very weak and in a great deal of pain. By the final month of shooting, he was working from a wheelchair.

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** Creator/HarrisonFord, cast as Deckard, did not get along with Scott or co-star Creator/SeanYoung. Young's inexperience at the time led to her breaking character and ruining takes, frustrating Ford, while Scott's directorial style and sudden insistance insistence on Deckard being a Replicant led to many disagreements and flared tempers between Ford and Scott. During a BBC interview in 2006, Scott named Ford when asked "Who's the biggest pain in the arse you've ever worked with?", though Scott admitted they had patched things up by that point.
** Given the film is mostly set at night, it was filmed at the darkest possible hours, making everyone very exhausted, not helped by the constant fake rain. It even led to a well-known blooper: when Roy Batty releases the dove, the shot of it flying is in bright day, day because the one during the night shoot got soaked and couldn't be bothered to take off. And the Director of Photography, Jordan Cronenwith, suffered from Parkinson's disease and during the shoot was very weak and in a great deal of pain. By the final month of shooting, he was working from a wheelchair.



** Scott's perfectionist tendencies led to double-digit numbers of takes, including for seemingly innocuous scenes, leading cast and crew alike to wonder if he was out for perfection or just infuriating his producers. It got to the point where the exasperated crew nicknamed the film ''Blood Runner''. The final scene was shot literally hours before the studio was going to step in and remove Scott from the project, having lost their patience with him over the course the four month long shoot.
** Test screenings were sharply divided over the film, leading to [[ExecutiveMeddling sweeping executive mandates]], among them being a less ambigious ending (which ended up using StockFootage from ''Film/TheShining'') and Deckard providing narration. The producers themselves called the voiceovers "dull", and Ford said he "went kicking and screaming to the studio" to record them. Ford [[FlipFlopOfGod flip-flopped]] over the years if he deliberately made them dull in the hope they would be removed, or did the best he could with material he hated.
* ''Film/{{Legend 1985}}'' took three years to complete, to the point Mia Sara started production at 15 but had already come of age by its 1985 release. Production was halted twice, once when a whole soundstage burned down (though thankfully with no one inside), and again when Creator/TomCruise's father died. The extensive make-up that everyone but the two stars had to go through wasn't easy - Creator/TimCurry suffered so much with his claustrophobic demon full body make-up that he eventually injured himself removing it too fast. Also, during post-production Scott ended up cutting the film profusely and changing its soundtrack from Music/JerryGoldsmith's orchestra to Music/TangerineDream's electronica (both were restored in the director's cut).

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** Scott's perfectionist tendencies led to double-digit numbers of takes, including for seemingly innocuous scenes, leading cast and crew alike to wonder if he was out for perfection or just infuriating his producers. It got to the point where the exasperated crew nicknamed the film ''Blood Runner''. The final scene was shot literally hours before the studio was going to step in and remove Scott from the project, having lost their patience with him over the course of the four month long four-month-long shoot.
** Test screenings were sharply divided over the film, leading to [[ExecutiveMeddling sweeping executive mandates]], among them being a less ambigious ambiguous ending (which ended up using StockFootage from ''Film/TheShining'') and Deckard providing narration. The producers themselves called the voiceovers "dull", and Ford said he "went kicking and screaming to the studio" to record them. Ford [[FlipFlopOfGod flip-flopped]] over the years if he deliberately made them dull in the hope they would be removed, or did the best he could with material he hated.
* ''Film/{{Legend 1985}}'' took three years to complete, to the point Mia Sara started production at 15 but had already come of age by its 1985 release. Production was halted twice, once when a whole soundstage burned down (though thankfully with no one inside), and again when Creator/TomCruise's father died. The extensive make-up that everyone but the two stars had to go through wasn't easy - Creator/TimCurry suffered so much with his claustrophobic demon full body make-up that he eventually injured himself removing it too fast. Also, during post-production post-production, Scott ended up cutting the film profusely and changing its soundtrack from Music/JerryGoldsmith's orchestra to Music/TangerineDream's electronica (both were restored in the director's cut).



** The controversy of the novel resulted in key players from ''Film/TheSilenceOfTheLambs'' (Creator/JonathanDemme, Ted Tally and Creator/JodieFoster) withdrawing from the project, which initially cast doubt on whether or not the film would even get made. Some executives were wary of proceeding without Demme's budget-conscious involvement, and feared the price tag might spiral out of control with the notoriously temperamental Dino [=De Laurentiis=] at the helm. Media scrutiny was intense.

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** The controversy of the novel resulted in key players from ''Film/TheSilenceOfTheLambs'' (Creator/JonathanDemme, Ted Tally Tally, and Creator/JodieFoster) withdrawing from the project, which initially cast doubt on whether or not the film would even get made. Some executives were wary of proceeding without Demme's budget-conscious involvement, involvement and feared the price tag might spiral out of control with the notoriously temperamental Dino [=De Laurentiis=] at the helm. Media scrutiny was intense.



** The film was hit with ExecutiveMeddling from the start, with the execs being very uncomfortable with the length of the script and the subplot of Creator/EvaGreen's Princess Sibylla and her son Baldwin V, who briefly rules Jerusalem after King Baldwin IV (Creator/EdwardNorton) dies. In Scott's words on the 4 disc DVD set and the Ultimate Edition Blu Ray, he mentioned that studio heads said that the plot "went off on a tangent". The studio demanded Monahan write two different versions of the script: one with and one without the kid. Scott and co. shot the former.

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** The film was hit with ExecutiveMeddling from the start, with the execs being very uncomfortable with the length of the script and the subplot of Creator/EvaGreen's Princess Sibylla and her son Baldwin V, who briefly rules Jerusalem after King Baldwin IV (Creator/EdwardNorton) dies. In Scott's words on the 4 disc 4-disc DVD set and the Ultimate Edition Blu Ray, Blu-Ray, he mentioned that studio heads said that the plot "went off on a tangent". The studio demanded Monahan write two different versions of the script: one with and one without the kid. Scott and co. shot the former.



* As noted in this [[http://www.boldoutlaw.com/robint/reiff.html interview]], the script for ''Film/RobinHood2010'' got hit with extensive re-writes, turning it from a SympatheticPOV story of the Sheriff of Nottingham, to a [[Film/FightClub Fight Club-esque]] story, to the origin story of the title character. Also, regular collaborators Russell Crowe and Scott weren't getting along well on set, which eventually soured their relationship. In addition to that, the film's budget ballooned from $155 million to around $200 million, according to some sources, and around 16 minutes were cut before its theatrical release (which were later reinserted into the home video release).

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* As noted in this [[http://www.boldoutlaw.com/robint/reiff.html interview]], the script for ''Film/RobinHood2010'' got hit with extensive re-writes, turning it from a SympatheticPOV story of the Sheriff of Nottingham, Nottingham to a [[Film/FightClub Fight Club-esque]] story, to the origin story of the title character. Also, regular collaborators Russell Crowe and Scott weren't getting along well on set, which eventually soured their relationship. In addition to that, the film's budget ballooned from $155 million to around $200 million, according to some sources, and around 16 minutes were cut before its theatrical release (which were later reinserted into the home video release).



** The film was originally envisioned to be a straight-up prequel to ''{{Film/Alien}}'', via a script written by Jon Spaihts (who was in-demand at the time due to his previous script being on the unofficial Hollywood "black list" of best screenplays) called "Alien: Engineers". Creator/RidleyScott then contacted Damon Lindelof for advice on the script, and was told to rein in many of the parts that made it an identifiable ''Alien'' film (including the fact that it was originally set on LV-426, the location of the derelict ship from the first two films) and make it an original creation. This, coupled with Spaihts supposedly constraining Scott's vision, led to Lindelof being hired to rewrite the screenplay. It took another four drafts (and more than a year of pre-production time) to get the script to a point where everyone was happy with it, and even then the cast and crew (as evidenced by their remarks in the Blu-Ray extras) seemed convinced that they were shooting a prequel that led into the original film.
** The character of Elizabeth Shaw was originally named Elizabeth Watts, but was renamed due to fear of confusion for Fox's President of Production, Emma Watts. It took the CEO of the company, Tom Rothman, to name the film ''Prometheus'' because the filmmakers couldn't decide on what title to use (with their previous suggestion being "Paradise").

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** The film was originally envisioned to be a straight-up prequel to ''{{Film/Alien}}'', via a script written by Jon Spaihts (who was in-demand in demand at the time due to his previous script being on the unofficial Hollywood "black list" of best screenplays) called "Alien: Engineers". Creator/RidleyScott then contacted Damon Lindelof for advice on the script, script and was told to rein in many of the parts that made it an identifiable ''Alien'' film (including the fact that it was originally set on LV-426, the location of the derelict ship from the first two films) and make it an original creation. This, coupled with Spaihts supposedly constraining Scott's vision, led to Lindelof being hired to rewrite the screenplay. It took another four drafts (and more than a year of pre-production time) to get the script to a point where everyone was happy with it, and even then the cast and crew (as evidenced by their remarks in the Blu-Ray extras) seemed convinced that they were shooting a prequel that led into the original film.
** The character of Elizabeth Shaw was originally named Elizabeth Watts, Watts but was renamed due to fear of confusion for Fox's President of Production, Production Emma Watts. It took the CEO of the company, Tom Rothman, to name the film ''Prometheus'' because the filmmakers couldn't decide on what title to use (with their previous suggestion being "Paradise").



* Even ''Film/TheCounselor'' wasn't completely safe from this. Scott took up the project after trying to get Creator/CormacMcCarthy's ''Literature/BloodMeridian'' away from DevelopmentHell (a script was written but they execs wouldn't greenlight it due to the book's [[{{Gorn}} grim]] [[DownerEnding content]]). About halfway during filming, Scott's brother [[Creator/TonyScott Tony]] committed suicide; the tragedy halted production for a week. After production finished up, some of the higher-ups demanded changes, such as trimming down the film's running time ([[RunningGag which was reinserted back into the film on video]]) and redubbing the lines of Creator/CameronDiaz's character Malkina. When the film came out, it was widely panned by most critics, but over the years has become something of a cult classic among fans of Scott and [=McCarthy=].

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* Even ''Film/TheCounselor'' wasn't completely safe from this. Scott took up the project after trying to get Creator/CormacMcCarthy's ''Literature/BloodMeridian'' away from DevelopmentHell (a script was written but they the execs wouldn't greenlight it due to the book's [[{{Gorn}} grim]] [[DownerEnding content]]). About halfway during through filming, Scott's brother [[Creator/TonyScott Tony]] committed died of suicide; the tragedy halted production for a week. After production finished up, finished, some of the higher-ups demanded changes, such as trimming down the film's running time ([[RunningGag which was reinserted back into the film on video]]) and redubbing the lines of Creator/CameronDiaz's character Malkina. When the film came out, it was widely panned by most critics, but over the years has become something of a cult classic among fans of Scott and [=McCarthy=].



** Singer and Creator/ChristopherMcQuarrie were brought on-board with the intention of filming in early 1999 for release in that year's holiday season, only for it to have to be pushed back to the following summer after it turned out that [=McQuarrie=] had grossly overstated his familiarity with the ''ComicBook/XMen'' comics (as had Singer, for that matter), resulting in him failing to produce a usable draft. This resulted in [=McQuarrie=] being fired and a revolving door of writers coming and going over the next few months; the final script ended up being spliced together from a bunch of rejected drafts by Creator/DavidHayter, then a little-known voice actor who worked part-time as one of Singer's assistants. However, it's also been claimed that [=McQuarrie=] and Ed Solomon wrote most of the filmed script but asked for their names to be removed out of anger at the messy process.
** Casting was a whole other story, with many of Singer's suggested choices raising eyebrows. The producers reluctantly agreed to let him have Creator/RebeccaRomijn as the key role of Mystique, despite her acting experience at the time only extending to an episode of ''Series/{{Friends}}'' and a brief role in ''Film/AustinPowersTheSpyWhoShaggedMe'' (the studio were a lot happier with Romijn, however, for [[MsFanservice the reasons you might expect]]), but drew a line with Singer's initially advocating ''Music/MichaelJackson'' for the role of Professor Xavier, before he eventually suggested Creator/PatrickStewart.

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** Singer and Creator/ChristopherMcQuarrie were brought on-board on board with the intention of filming in early 1999 for release in that year's holiday season, only for it to have to be pushed back to the following summer after it turned out that [=McQuarrie=] had grossly overstated his familiarity with the ''ComicBook/XMen'' comics (as had Singer, for that matter), resulting in him failing to produce a usable draft. This resulted in [=McQuarrie=] being fired and a revolving door of writers coming and going over the next few months; the final script ended up being spliced together from a bunch of rejected drafts by Creator/DavidHayter, then a little-known voice actor who worked part-time as one of Singer's assistants. However, it's also been claimed that [=McQuarrie=] and Ed Solomon wrote most of the filmed script but asked for their names to be removed out of anger at the messy process.
** Casting was a whole other story, with many of Singer's suggested choices raising eyebrows. The producers reluctantly agreed to let him have Creator/RebeccaRomijn as the key role of Mystique, despite her acting experience at the time only extending to an episode of ''Series/{{Friends}}'' and a brief role in ''Film/AustinPowersTheSpyWhoShaggedMe'' (the studio were a lot happier with Romijn, however, for [[MsFanservice the reasons you might expect]]), but drew a line with Singer's initially advocating ''Music/MichaelJackson'' for the role of Professor Xavier, Xavier before he eventually suggested Creator/PatrickStewart.



** The on-set troubles did have one very unexpected silver lining, however. Feige's first-hand experience of the troubled production on ''X-Men'' gave him an idea what to expect when he ended up being hired to oversee something called the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse later that decade.

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** The on-set troubles did have one very unexpected silver lining, however. Feige's first-hand experience of the troubled production on of ''X-Men'' gave him an idea of what to expect when he ended up being hired to oversee something called the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse later that decade.



* Filming for ''Film/BohemianRhapsody'' was already [[https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/bryan-singer-fired-directing-queen-biopic-set-chaos-1063977 suffering heavily]] from Singer's repeated absences on shooting days, to the point that Creator/TomHollander briefly quit the film while star Creator/RamiMalek complained to Fox studio heads, who issued warnings to Singer and actually visited the set to monitor his behavior.[[note]]Tensions between Singer and Malek grew so bad that at one point Singer ''threw'' something at Malek, but the two eventually made up, according to reports.[[/note]] Then Singer went AWOL after the Thanksgiving break, not showing up for ''ten days straight'', which proved to be the breaking point for Fox, resulting in his firing. Creator/DexterFletcher took his place as director, but his work was uncredited.[[note]]Union rules state that a replacement director who has shot at least 51% of a film will get sole credit.[[/note]] While Singer eventually claimed his sudden disappearance was due to "personal health matters", a number of industry insiders suspected that he was hiding in fears of [[http://www.dailywire.com/news/23096/attention-circles-back-director-bryan-singers-past-paul-bois past allegations of rape and sexual abuse resurfacing]] due to the [=#MeToo=] movement which was taking the entertainment industry by storm in late 2017. And then, ''the day after'' the film received five Oscar nominations including Best Actor and Picture, an explosive investigative article on those allegations was published in ''Vanity Fair'', which more or less sank the film's hopes of winning Best Picture and made any awards it did win contentious.

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* Filming for ''Film/BohemianRhapsody'' was already [[https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/bryan-singer-fired-directing-queen-biopic-set-chaos-1063977 suffering heavily]] from Singer's repeated absences on shooting days, days to the point that Creator/TomHollander briefly quit the film while star Creator/RamiMalek complained to Fox studio heads, who issued warnings to Singer and actually visited the set to monitor his behavior.[[note]]Tensions between Singer and Malek grew so bad that at one point Singer ''threw'' something at Malek, but the two eventually made up, according to reports.[[/note]] Then Singer went AWOL after the Thanksgiving break, not showing up for ''ten days straight'', which proved to be the breaking point for Fox, resulting in his firing. Creator/DexterFletcher took his place as director, but his work was uncredited.[[note]]Union rules state that a replacement director who has shot at least 51% of a film will get sole credit.[[/note]] While Singer eventually claimed his sudden disappearance was due to "personal health matters", a number of industry insiders suspected that he was hiding in fears of [[http://www.dailywire.com/news/23096/attention-circles-back-director-bryan-singers-past-paul-bois past allegations of rape and sexual abuse resurfacing]] due to the [=#MeToo=] movement which was taking the entertainment industry by storm in late 2017. And then, ''the day after'' the film received five Oscar nominations including Best Actor and Picture, an explosive investigative article on those allegations was published in ''Vanity Fair'', which more or less sank the film's hopes of winning Best Picture and made any awards it did win contentious.



* Smith's first film ''Film/{{Clerks}}'' was a ''very'' on-the-cheap affair which naturally led to quite a few issues. Most notably, the film's financing was a real life AbsurdlyHighStakesGame for Smith, with him cashing out his life savings and maxing all his credit cards, potentially leaving himself broke and hopelessly in debt if he couldn't actually finish the film and then get it released to any kind of profit. On top of that, filming was done in the real convenience store he worked in at the time, all done late at night, which is the reason for the whole bit with the gum in the locks preventing the window shutters from being raised. And he had to reach deep into his group of friends to populate the film, with one guy in particular playing four roles over the course of the film (Smith calls him their Creator/LonChaney in the commentary). Luckily, it worked out very well and he's been able to move on to a successful career.

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* Smith's first film ''Film/{{Clerks}}'' was a ''very'' on-the-cheap affair which naturally led to quite a few issues. Most notably, the film's financing was a real life real-life AbsurdlyHighStakesGame for Smith, with him cashing out his life savings and maxing all his credit cards, potentially leaving himself broke and hopelessly in debt if he couldn't actually finish the film and then get it released to any kind of profit. On top of that, filming was done in the real convenience store he worked in at the time, all done late at night, which is the reason for the whole bit with the gum in the locks preventing the window shutters from being raised. And he had to reach deep into his group of friends to populate the film, with one guy in particular playing four roles over the course of the film (Smith calls him their Creator/LonChaney in the commentary). Luckily, it worked out very well and he's been able to move on to a successful career.



* Smith has frequently spoken of the bad memories he has from shooting ''Film/JayAndSilentBobStrikeBack'', mostly owing to Jason Mewes' drug and alcohol abuse turning him into a "ticking time bomb" which threatened to shut the project down at any moment. During pre-production, Mewes would have constant mood swings due to heroin withdrawal, to the point that Smith threw him out of his car on their way to the set one day. Mewes would compensate for his lack of drugs by drinking heavily after every day of shooting and nearly got into a fist fight with Scott Mosier when he had to come back one night for a reshoot while drunk (Mewes later said that he was too intoxicated to remember anything that happened during production). When the shoot wrapped, Smith told Mewes point-blank to get sober or he'd never speak to him again.

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* Smith has frequently spoken of the bad memories he has from shooting ''Film/JayAndSilentBobStrikeBack'', mostly owing to Jason Mewes' drug and alcohol abuse turning him into a "ticking time bomb" which threatened to shut the project down at any moment. During pre-production, Mewes would have constant mood swings due to heroin withdrawal, to the point that Smith threw him out of his car on their way to the set one day. Mewes would compensate for his lack of drugs by drinking heavily after every day of shooting and nearly got into a fist fight fistfight with Scott Mosier when he had to come back one night for a reshoot while drunk (Mewes later said that he was too intoxicated to remember anything that happened during production). When the shoot wrapped, Smith told Mewes point-blank to get sober or he'd never speak to him again.



** Lectured Smith and his crew on their choice of camera lenses during a sequence shot in front of a green-screen.

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** Lectured Smith and his crew on their choice of camera lenses during a sequence shot in front of a green-screen.green screen.



** So Welles changed direction and decided to shoot a black and white feature film adaptation, using his salaries from acting roles in other directors' films and $25,000 from his friend Creator/FrankSinatra. He initially offered the role of Don Quixote to Creator/CharltonHeston (whom he had just directed in ''Film/TouchOfEvil'' before being forced out of the project), but Heston was only available for two weeks when shooting began in 1957, so Welles instead offered the role to Spanish actor Francisco Reiguera, with Tamiroff returning as Sancho Panza. Patty [=McCormack=], fresh from her star turn in the film adaptation of ''Film/TheBadSeed1956'', was offered the role of Dulcie, an American girl visiting present day Mexico City in the film's framing story who would be told of the Don's adventures by Welles (AsHimself) and then meet the self-styled knight and squire for herself.
** Scenes were shot in various Mexican locations from July to October 1957, mostly on silent 16mm film (Welles planned to dub the dialogue himself later) and with a bare-bones script around which the actors were instructed to improvise. True to form, the budget ran out, and Mexican producer Oscar Dancigers pulled the plug on the project before backing out entirely, leaving Welles to fund the film himself. He had to accept roles in commercially viable films (including narration for ''Film/TheVikings'' and ''Film/KingOfKings'') to raise funds, and switched the location shooting to Spain and Italy when the cast and crew and money were all available simultaneously (including filming sequences he described as "the prologue and the epilogue" in Malaga while commuting to Paris to edit his adaptation of ''Film/TheTrial'').

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** So Welles changed direction and decided to shoot a black and white feature film adaptation, using his salaries from acting roles in other directors' films and $25,000 from his friend Creator/FrankSinatra. He initially offered the role of Don Quixote to Creator/CharltonHeston (whom he had just directed in ''Film/TouchOfEvil'' before being forced out of the project), but Heston was only available for two weeks when shooting began in 1957, so Welles instead offered the role to Spanish actor Francisco Reiguera, with Tamiroff returning as Sancho Panza. Patty [=McCormack=], fresh from her star turn in the film adaptation of ''Film/TheBadSeed1956'', was offered the role of Dulcie, an American girl visiting present day present-day Mexico City in the film's framing story who would be told of the Don's adventures by Welles (AsHimself) and then meet the self-styled knight and squire for herself.
** Scenes were shot in various Mexican locations from July to October 1957, mostly on silent 16mm film (Welles planned to dub the dialogue himself later) and with a bare-bones script around which the actors were instructed to improvise. True to form, the budget ran out, and Mexican producer Oscar Dancigers pulled the plug on the project before backing out entirely, leaving Welles to fund the film himself. He had to accept roles in commercially viable films (including narration for ''Film/TheVikings'' and ''Film/KingOfKings'') to raise funds, funds and switched the location shooting to Spain and Italy when the cast and crew and money were all available simultaneously (including filming sequences he described as "the prologue and the epilogue" in Malaga while commuting to Paris to edit his adaptation of ''Film/TheTrial'').



** The cast members' availability meant that many scenes had to be shot using stand-ins, and any scenes featuring their faces had to be shot all at once; Creator/JohnGielgud, as King Henry IV, was only available for ten days, while Jeanne Moreau, as Doll Tearsheet, was only available for five days, and Margaret Rutherford, as Mistress Quickly, was available for just four weeks. Welles joked that in one scene that featured seven principal characters, every one was played by a stand-in shot over their shoulder.

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** The cast members' availability meant that many scenes had to be shot using stand-ins, and any scenes featuring their faces had to be shot all at once; Creator/JohnGielgud, as King Henry IV, was only available for ten days, while Jeanne Moreau, as Doll Tearsheet, was only available for five days, and Margaret Rutherford, as Mistress Quickly, was available for just four weeks. Welles joked that in one scene that featured seven principal characters, every one everyone was played by a stand-in shot over their shoulder.



** The initial screening at the Cannes Film Festival in 1966 was a success, but Bosley Crowther of ''The New York Times'' took the film to task for the poor sound quality, the confusing editing, and Welles' performance as Falstaff. Saltzman lost confidence in the film in light of the early criticism and gave it almost no promotion, causing it to sink without trace at the box office. Its reputation has improved in the years since, with the Battle of Shrewsbury sequence still regarded as one of the greatest, most harrowing depictions of a mediaeval battle in the history of cinema, but legal wrangling over ownership of the film (by Saltzman's widow Adriana, Welles' daughter Beatrice, and the families of Piedra and fellow producer Angel Escolano) meant that home video releases were few and far between until 2015.

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** The initial screening at the Cannes Film Festival in 1966 was a success, but Bosley Crowther of ''The New York Times'' took the film to task for the poor sound quality, the confusing editing, and Welles' performance as Falstaff. Saltzman lost confidence in the film in light of the early criticism and gave it almost no promotion, causing it to sink without a trace at the box office. Its reputation has improved in the years since, with the Battle of Shrewsbury sequence still regarded as one of the greatest, most harrowing depictions of a mediaeval battle in the history of cinema, but legal wrangling over ownership of the film (by Saltzman's widow Adriana, Welles' daughter Beatrice, and the families of Piedra and fellow producer Angel Escolano) meant that home video releases were few and far between until 2015.



** Welles first got the idea in 1961 when his friend Creator/ErnestHemingway committed suicide. He originally envisioned the film as a tale of an aging bullfighting fan with an interest for a young bullfighter, but the project didn't progress for five years. As Welles kept working on the script, with a working title of ''Sacred Beasts'', he changed the bullfight fan into an aging filmmaker [[{{Expy}} resembling Hemingway]] as he navigates the changing Hollywood landscape. Welles was unable to get full financial support from investors and like most of his projects, he ultimately funded the film with his own money.

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** Welles first got the idea in 1961 when his friend Creator/ErnestHemingway committed died of suicide. He originally envisioned the film as a tale of an aging bullfighting fan with an interest for in a young bullfighter, but the project didn't progress for five years. As Welles kept working on the script, with a the working title of ''Sacred Beasts'', he changed the bullfight fan into an aging filmmaker [[{{Expy}} resembling Hemingway]] as he navigates the changing Hollywood landscape. Welles was unable to get full financial support from investors and like most of his projects, he ultimately funded the film with his own money.



** In the meantime, Welles made the documentary ''Film/FForFake'' with the Iranian-French owned Les Films de l'Astrophore. Seeing an opportunity to finish his pet project, Welles struck a three-way deal with the company. He would raise a third of the funds himself while Iranian producer Mehdi Bushehri would supply another third and the remaining funds would come from Spanish producer Andrés Vicente Gómez.

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** In the meantime, Welles made the documentary ''Film/FForFake'' with the Iranian-French owned Iranian-French-owned Les Films de l'Astrophore. Seeing an opportunity to finish his pet project, Welles struck a three-way deal with the company. He would raise a third of the funds himself while Iranian producer Mehdi Bushehri would supply another third and the remaining funds would come from Spanish producer Andrés Vicente Gómez.



** Further complicating matters was the timeframe Welles needed to edit the film, due to its unconventional and experimental feel. It would require an entire year of full-time work, with Welles using the same editing techniques as ''F for Fake'' where he used three separate moviolas to simultaneously edit the film. ''The Other Side of the Wind'' required two extra moviolas, all circulating a table with a team of assistants to help him. To make matters worse, Les Films de l'Astrophore was under new management who refused to pay for the editing job. As Welles was considered a liability, they threatened to reduce his share of the profits and take creative control away from him for the final cut. This prompted Welles to find more investors that ended up completely fruitless. In spite of the film's growing financial instability, Welles managed to complete principal photography in early 1976, albeit with a few elements unfinished. However, Welles could only edit the film whenever he had time and by 1979, 40% of the editing was done.

to:

** Further complicating matters was the timeframe Welles needed to edit the film, due to its unconventional and experimental feel. It would require an entire year of full-time work, with Welles using the same editing techniques as ''F for Fake'' where he used three separate moviolas to simultaneously edit the film. ''The Other Side of the Wind'' required two extra moviolas, all circulating a table with a team of assistants to help him. To make matters worse, Les Films de l'Astrophore was under new management who refused to pay for the editing job. As Welles was considered a liability, they threatened to reduce his share of the profits and take creative control away from him for the final cut. This prompted Welles to find more investors that ended up completely fruitless. In spite of the film's growing financial instability, Welles managed to complete principal photography in early 1976, albeit with a few elements unfinished. However, Welles could only edit the film whenever he had time time, and by 1979, 40% of the editing was done.



** There were more hurdles in store for them. When Kodar screened Graver's rough cut of the film to various A-list directors in the late 1980's and early 1990's for help with the completion, they all declined for one reason or another. Among the ones who turned down the offer, Huston was in very poor health while Creator/GeorgeLucas was confused by the footage he saw, finding it too avant-garde for audiences to handle. Another legal headache arose when Welles' daughter Beatrice claimed that she was the true owner of all of Welles' incomplete projects by California law and effectively blocked any attempts to complete the film. This is despite the fact that she only inherited the assets from the death of his widow (and Beatrice's mother) Paola Mori in 1986, and those did not include his unfinished films.
** Back in Iran, Khomeini's government later found the negative worthless, and the tangled ownership came under litigation. Mehdi Bushehri held tight to his claims that he owned two-thirds of ''The Other Side of the Wind'', but after hearing about the remaining crew's efforts to finish the film, which got to a point where Frank Marshall was showing the rough cut to major studios in the late 1990's but couldn't reach a deal due to the legal troubles, he decided that the best way to recoup his investment was to get the film released. So in 1998, he arbitrated his claims and reduced his shares, resolving some of the legal issues. With a deal in place, Creator/{{Showtime}} pitched in to help finance the film's completion. These plans were undermined when Beatrice Welles filed a lawsuit later that year. Making matters worse, Kodar could not enforce the late Orson Welles' clause in his will that gives disinheritance to anyone that questions the ownership of Kodar's inheritance, which Beatrice was doing, due to her lack of legal fees.

to:

** There were more hurdles in store for them. When Kodar screened Graver's rough cut of the film to various A-list directors in the late 1980's 1980s and early 1990's 1990s for help with the completion, they all declined for one reason or another. Among the ones who turned down the offer, Huston was in very poor health while Creator/GeorgeLucas was confused by the footage he saw, finding it too avant-garde for audiences to handle. Another legal headache arose when Welles' daughter Beatrice claimed that she was the true owner of all of Welles' incomplete projects by California law and effectively blocked any attempts to complete the film. This is despite the fact that she only inherited the assets from the death of his widow (and Beatrice's mother) Paola Mori in 1986, and those did not include his unfinished films.
** Back in Iran, Khomeini's government later found the negative worthless, and the tangled ownership came under litigation. Mehdi Bushehri held tight to his claims that he owned two-thirds of ''The Other Side of the Wind'', but after hearing about the remaining crew's efforts to finish the film, which got to a point where Frank Marshall was showing the rough cut to major studios in the late 1990's 1990s but couldn't reach a deal due to the legal troubles, he decided that the best way to recoup his investment was to get the film released. So in 1998, he arbitrated his claims and reduced his shares, resolving some of the legal issues. With a deal in place, Creator/{{Showtime}} pitched in to help finance the film's completion. These plans were undermined when Beatrice Welles filed a lawsuit later that year. Making matters worse, Kodar could not enforce the late Orson Welles' clause in his will that gives disinheritance to anyone that questions the ownership of Kodar's inheritance, which Beatrice was doing, due to her lack of legal fees.

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