brainee

That's my pick too. It's really an astonishing story, if you've seen "My Best Fiend" and/or "Burden of Dreams". You've got a nightmare getting funding -- at one point filming a big chunk of the film, losing your funding, losing all your actors, and having to start from scratch. You have shifting locations because of conflicts with governments and guerilla armies -- and you get PC-motivated crap dumped on you as well for harming the jungle. You have the director and lead actor literally plotting to kill one another during filming. You have a director resort to directing his actors at gunpoint. Needless to say there are numerous breaks in sanity for many involved along the way. There are stunts gone wrong in which crew get seriously injured. Not to mention the sheer insanity of making a movie about a madman directing Amazon native to pull a giant boat over a mountain and go headlong into deadly rapids, by filming a madman direct real Amazon natives to pull a real ship over a real mountain and then actually take the thing into deadly rapids.

obscurelabel

Such a mess that it bankrupted its studio, United Artists, leading to its sale to MGM and effectively ending its run (founded 1919) as an independent studio.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heaven%27s_Gate_%28film%29



While not at the top of the list, here are a few movies that had personnel problems:

Three extras were killed and others seriously injured during a flood scene during the production of the 1929 film Noah's Ark.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0020223/trivia

Brainstorm endured a number of problems caused by the death of actress Natalie Wood during production. Producers wanted to scrap the movie and take the insurance money; director Douglas Trumbull had the authority to complete the movie and did so, covering for the missing Wood in a variety of ways. Trumbull has not directed a Hollywood film since (1983).

Bert Lahr died during the production of The Night They Raided Minsky's, necessitating the use of a voice impersonater and filming a double from the back for some scenes, and the movie had to be re-written to reduce his role.

Elizabeth Taylor took over from Vivien Leigh for Elephant Walk after Leigh left with health (mental) problems. Some of the long shots in the movie are still Leigh.

All That Money Can Buy (re-released as The Devil and Daniel Webster) originaly featured Thomas Mitchell as Daniel Webster. During filming, he was thrown from a horse drawn cart, fracturing his skull and landing him in the hospital for six weeks. All of his scenes had to be re-shot with emergency replacement Edward Arnold. The additional money that this cost caused the film to go over budget; it did not recoup its cost in its initial run.

The Crow was completed despite the death of star Brandon Lee (aged 28) during filming. This event eerily echoed the early death of his father Bruce Lee who died at age 32. Computer effects were used to cover for Lee missing from several shots.

A couple of well known movies that didn't make it to completion, like Gilliam's Quixote film:

I, Claudius (1937), abandonded after Merle Oberon's injury in a car crash. Much of the footage was preserved and shows up on one of the DVD editions of the BBC version of I, Claudius

Errol Flynn's production of William Tell, directed by Jack Cardiff. Flynn put $500,000 of his own money into the project, but other financing fell through, and the project was shut down with about 30 minutes of footage completed. None has survived as far as anyone knows.

Dan1boy

Dunno until we watch the DVD documentary of it coming soon, but I'd think "March of the Penguins" had to be a difficult shoot for the French crew filming in sub-zero freezing Antarctica. Right? How miserable.

majorjoe23

Are you talking about the film they're documenting in "Lost in La Mancha? If so, it was called "The Man Who Killed Don Quixote."

Mondo Kane

That's what made me start this topic. Filming could no longer continue on that movie, but dozens of other movies in similar circumstances (Listed here) managed to be completed.

And thanks for many of these picks, guys. I especially wanted to know if there were many tough shoots for films of the 20's through the 50's.

wendersfan

Ding ding ding!

lamphorn

Barry Lyndon- lighting everything with candles was a huge continuity problem as they had to keep track of how tall each candle was from shot to shot. The rest of the production was undoubtedly tortuous with how obsessed Kubrick was with authenticity and quality.

baracine

For sheer manslaughter, I suggest the silent (1925) Ben-Hur started in Italy where unemployed Fascists and Commies were pitted against each other during a naval battle (with real ships, not miniatures) that turned sour when at least two galleys accidentally (?) caught fire. This resulted in untold loss of life by drowning and other causes. The resulting mayhem was preserved in the theatrical release.

The same goes for the incredible chariot pile-up of men and horses when they had brought the production back to Hollywood in order to control runaway costs. This pile-up is also preserved on film.

The 1959 version of "Ben-Hur" only claimed the life of its producer Sam Zimbalist (of a heart attack). He won the Best Film Oscar posthumously.

talemyn

Sounds like Fitzcarraldo and Apocalypse Now are giving each other a run for their money . . . it would be fascinating to see "Making Of"'s for both of them.

Coral

My pick is Fitzcarraldo as well.

Hiro11

Can't tell if you're joking. If not, you're in luck:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083702/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102015/

Also, these are two of the best documentaries ever made.

bhk

Fitzcarraldo was the movie I thought of immediately when I saw the title of this thread.

Cameron

where did you see the footage at?

story

Didn't that shot-for-shot remake of Raiders of the Lost Ark pretty much take up over ten years?

Mondo Kane

Traces of Death

talemyn

I knew about Heart Of Darkness but haven't seen it yet (I've been waiting for the DVD ), but didn't know about Burden of Dreams . . . I'll have to check that out. Thanks!

Mondo Kane

I last saw "Hearts of Darkness" in '98 on VHS. Three moments I remembered most about it:

1)Poor Francis looking helplessy at the jets he desperately needed for the filming, flying away from the set.
2)Audio capturing the scene where Sheen destroys his room in a drunken rage. Scary!
3)Brando's bloopers (Forgetting his lines and swallowing a bug)

I had seen a little bit of behind-the-scenes footage of Fitzcarraldo on "My best Fiend", but had no idea it was that drastic on the set.

rw2516

Let's not forget Bela Lugosi dying mid-way throughPlan 9 From Outer Space .

Grubert

Actually, he died before principal photography even began.

I'd like to add Blade Runner to the list. The crew referred to it as 'Blood Runner', and there's a very good account of it on the book Future Noir: the Making of Blade Runner.

As Katy Haber (production executive) says, "On one level, Blade Runner was an incredibly contentious production, even when measured against the typical horror that's called making a motion picture. Tandem Productions was furious with Michael and Ridley, Ridley and Michael were battling Tandem, and our leading man and director got to the point where they were barely speaking to one another. Ridley was also exasperated by the crew, and many on the crew hated Ridley. It was just wretched awfulness, really; Blade Runner was a monument to stress".

ftsoh

I am surprise that nobody mentioned Gone with the Wind. While it might not be as bad as Fitzcarraldo or Apocalypse Now, it's still very problematic especially during pre-production and before Victor Fleming stepped in. The documentary on the 4 disc GWTW is a must see.

I also have to agree that chaotic film production makes fascinating film making documentary. To bad we can't see the making of James Cameron's Titanic on the new DVD.

grim_tales

The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to The Galaxy?

Douglas Adams re-wrote the script so many times - originally he wanted Ivan Reitman to direct and Bill Murray to star but they made Ghostbusters instead.
In development hell for over 20 years, complicated by Adams tragically dying in 2001.

grim_tales

I heard that fortunately no lives were lost during that incident in the 1925 Ben Hur, according to the documentary When the Lion Roars. That was the point LB Mayer said "This debacle must be brought home to the safety and control of Culver City" when the sea battle had finished.
It also went way, way over budget, as you probably know it was the most expensive film ever made in 1925.