\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\nWhether because of production issues, on-set drama, or massively underestimated budgets – it took even more than sweat and tears to bring these iconic masterpieces to the big screen.
\n[post_page_title]The Wizard Of Oz[\/post_page_title]
\nYou can’t talk about iconic movies, without mentioning The Wizard Of Oz. And it might be hard to believe, but this classic from 1939 was a chaotic mess of a production. Five directors and 17 script writers were involved, which of course led to way too many opinions , artistic visions – and arguments.
\n
![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/23154436\/tzfg98c.jpg\")
\nOnce the filming finally started, the original Tin Man had to be replaced because the first was allergic to aluminum, the dog who originally played Toto ruined every take, and Margaret Hamilton (who played the Wicked Witch) got badly burned on set. Yikes!
\n
\n[post_page_title]Groundhog Day [\/post_page_title]
\nBill Murray and late director Harold Ramis had already created beloved blockbusters such as Ghostbusters and Caddyshack together, but when they teamed up yet again in 1993 to make Groundhog Day – everything went wrong.
\n
![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/23154436\/WYeUDCZ.jpg\")
\nThe two former best buddies fought so much, they didn’t speak to each other for over a decade once they were done filming. Murray was going through a divorce at the time, bringing plenty of tension to the set, and him and Ramis could not even agree on the direction of the movie, forcing the script writer to mediate.
\n
\n[post_page_title]Jaws [\/post_page_title]
\nJaws was nicknamed “Flaws” during shooting, that’s how many issues this summer blockbuster had. And most of them were because of the three mechanical sharks used on set. They proved very difficult to work with and contributed to filming taking 159 days instead of 55, leading to costs increasing significantly.
\n
![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/23154436\/m2IiKru.jpg\")
\nAs Jaws was Spielberg’s first major film, the entire project was something of one big trial and error, but somehow it still turned into a movie that made back its $9 million dollar budget already during the opening weekend.
\n
\n[post_page_title]Star Wars [\/post_page_title]
\nThe most epic space themed movie franchise ever had more than a rough start back in 1977. First storms delayed the beginning of shooting. Then the special effects department turned out to have little experience with the at the time very advanced special effects George Lucas insisted on, which also led to costs shooting through the roof.
\n
![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/23154436\/a3aFzp3.jpg\")
\nBut despite all the problems, the joint efforts between actors, special effects, and the editing room led to a true masterpiece.
\n
\n[post_page_title]World War Z [\/post_page_title]
\nWorld War Z was an extremely ambitious movie project, and for anyone who has seen it and been impressed by the unusually convincing CGI – that’s because a lot of it isn’t. This movie was shot in several countries, and required up to thousands of extras (to play zombies and panicked crowds) at every location.
\n
![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/23154437\/3Qwxa91.jpg\")
\nThis of course caused logistical difficulties, and put financial strain on the entire production. Not to mention the first ending was scrapped and had to be reshot, adding another $20 million to the $170 million already spent.
\n
\n[post_page_title]The Shining [\/post_page_title]
\nIf you think Jack Nicholson is a little too convincing as the increasingly terrifying Jack in Stanley Kubrick’s horror classic The Shining, that’s probably because Kubrick pushed him way beyond his limits.
\n
![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/23154437\/BGgIOte.jpg\")
\nKubrick was a known perfectionist, and many of his masterpieces came at the expense of his actors well-being (and sanity). His demanding attitude combined with Nicholson’s temper, led to a more than uncomfortable vibe on set. Shelley Duvall, who played Jack’s poor wife Wendy, was reportedly so stressed her hair started falling out.
\n
\n[post_page_title]Donnie Darko [\/post_page_title]
\nDonnie Darko is one of the most famous indie classics out there, and is the movie that truly catapulted Jake Gyllenhaal to stardom. But if it wasn’t for a very stubborn Drew Barrymore, this would have been a straight-to-DVD hidden gem most of us would probably never have seen.
\n
![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/23154437\/aMvAUBl.jpg\")
\nIt was Drew and her production company Flower Films that saw enough potential in this odd, melancholic movie to insist it got showed in movie theaters. As a result, it got the praise and awards it deserved.
\n
\n[post_page_title]Gremlins [\/post_page_title]
\nGremlins was made long before CGI came around and made it so much easier to have supernatural creatures as part of the cast. So during the shooting of this 1984 horror comedy, dozens of puppeteers had to be present (but stay hidden) during pretty much every take, while they made the Gremlin puppets come to life.
\n
![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/23154437\/I50It1u.jpg\")
\nFilming took months to complete because of all these puppets, and had not better technology developed so quickly in the years following – it’s highly unlikely any sequels would have been made.
\n
\n[post_page_title]Waterworld [\/post_page_title]
\nIf you think a movie budget of $100 million (back in 1995) sounds like more than enough, Waterworld can assure you it’s not. Besides the unavoidable complications that come with building an island for the set, many of the scenes involved a lot of danger.
\n
![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/23154437\/JrVa9SX.jpg\")
\nKevin Costner nearly lost his life in a storm, young Tina Majorino got stung by jellyfishes, and two of the stuntmen were badly injured. It’s probably a miracle the movie was finished at all, but it also came at a cost of going $75 million over budget.
\n
\n[post_page_title]Mad Max: Fury Road [\/post_page_title]
\nEven though Mad Max: Fury Road premiered in 2015, production actually started already back in 2009. A combination of financial concerns and weather issues kept postponing the project.
\n
![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/23154437\/jcYl5nr.jpg\")
\nOnce filming started, leads Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron neither got along with each other, nor director George Miller. Miller for some reason refused to stick to the script, and also wanted to use as many real effects (aka not CGI) as possible. So the poor cast and crew spent eight grueling months shooting in the Namibian desert to get the job done.
\n
\n[post_page_title]Little Miss Sunshine [\/post_page_title]
\nThere is no better underdog movie out there than Little Miss Sunshine. It was written by Matthew Broderick’s former assistant Michael Arndt, who decided to quit his assistant job to pursue his real dream; writing a movie script.
\n
![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/23154437\/vyjmVHA.jpg\")
\nTwo directors who had previously only done commercials, loved the drama-comedy about a dysfunctional family, but no one else believed it had potential. After five years of being rejected by studios, a producer involved decided to self-finance, and the movie got made. It went on to win no less than 81 awards.
\n
\n[post_page_title]Mary Poppins[\/post_page_title]
\nThe majority of the difficult journey behind bringing Mary Poppins to the bring screen, happened years before shooting even started. And that’s because P.L. Travers, the author who invented this beloved nanny, refused to sell Walt Disney the movie rights.
\n
![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/23154437\/0Y6neAA.jpg\")
\nDisney pursued the rights for over twenty years, culminating in a long series of one-on-one meetings with Travers in the early 1960s. She eventually agreed, partly due to her desperately needing the money. And luckily, her reluctantly agreeing led to a movie both her and the entire world fell in love with.
\n
\n[post_page_title]Dirty Dancing[\/post_page_title]
\nDirty Dancing was an immediate hit when it premiered back in 1987. But producer Linda Gittlieb got rejected over 40 times before finding a studio who agreed to invest. Talk about a lesson in never giving up!
\n
![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/23154438\/4A8UMLF.jpg\")
\nBut even after getting the all clear to start shooting, it’s a well-known secret, that process was no fun for the majority of cast and crew involved. Since the two leads playing the star-crossed lovers basically hated each other, emotions often ran high, with Jennifer Gray bursting out in tears on a regular basis.
\n
\n[post_page_title]State Of Play [\/post_page_title]
\nDespite the big budget and big names involved in State Of Play from the get go, this ended up being a very tedious project. Brad Pitt was cast to play the lead, but he backed out a week before filming was set to start – due to disagreements with the director Kevin Macdonald.
\n
![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/23154438\/BJvzij4.jpg\")
\nFinding a replacement took so long, second Edward Norton was forced to ditch the project too. Eventually Russel Crowe and Ben Affleck stepped in and helped make the movie a huge hit.
\n
\n[post_page_title]The Abyss[\/post_page_title]
\nJames Cameron sure loves his complicated water-themed movie projects. Titanic may be his most famous one, but The Abyss was no less ambitious, or messy. Just the sets cost $2 million to build, and the submersible oil rig took no less than 18 months to complete.
\n
![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/23154438\/S3MuVAJ.jpg\")
\nThe cast and crew spent six long months working 70 hours per week to make The Abyss happen, and that started taking a toll on everyone. Both leads Ed Harris and Mary Elizabeth Mastrontonio came close to quitting more than once.
\n
\n[post_page_title]Dumb And Dumber [\/post_page_title]
\nPerhaps it comes as no surprise, no studio had any interest in the script for Dumb And Dumber, both because of the unappealing title and the even more ridiculous plot.
\n
![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/23154438\/dU5Kwvi.jpg\")
\nBut New Line Cinema president president Mike De Luca liked it enough to give it a chance, on one condition. The two leads had to be one of 25 famous actors pre-approved by the studio. Unsurprisingly, the all said no. But then one of the producers remembered an up-and-coming comic by the name of Jim Carey, and the rest is history.
\n
\n[post_page_title]Blade Runner [\/post_page_title]
\nBlade Runner is now considered one of the best sci-fi movies of all times, but it did not get a warm welcome upon its release – and had such tense on-set relationships, it was even the subject of a documentary titled Dangerous Days.
\n
![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/23154438\/oQhBQg7.jpg\")
\nMajority of the drama happened because director Ridley Scott did not get along with his American crew. They hardly harbored warm feelings for him either, and the last scenes were filmed just as producers arrived to shut down production due to all the on-set clashes.
\n
\n[post_page_title]Toy Story [\/post_page_title]
\nToy Story was riddled with obstacles, from start to finish. It started when John Lasseter, a former Disney animator, pitched the idea of a computer-animated film to Disney. They initially said no, but changed their minds once Lasseter co-founded Pixar and made the Academy Award-winning computer-animated short Tin Toy.
\n
![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/23154438\/c2XeymS.jpg\")
\nBut even though Disney then agreed to produce Toy Story, they kept rejecting all the script versions, leaving Lasseter crushed. Eventually, after about a million rewrites the final version made the big screen, and was a huge success.
\n
\n[post_page_title]A Nightmare On Elm Street [\/post_page_title]
\nIt was actually Disney who first showed interest in A Nightmare On Elm Street. But, of course, they wanted writer Wes Craven to make it more child friendly – which was pretty much impossible to do. Craven refused, and the at the time new production company New Line decided to give it a shot.
\n
![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/23154438\/BxH9tyM.jpg\")
\nLike for any new companies, things didn’t run too smoothly, and the cast and crew didn’t even get paid on time. But everyone worked hard to overcome the hurdles, and the result was a timeless horror classic.
\n
\n[post_page_title]Cleopatra [\/post_page_title]
\nEverything about Cleopatra was glamorous, expensive, and problematic. 20th Century Fox had somewhat naively set a budget for $2 million, but even before production started costs amounted to $4 million. Leads Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor were not easy to please, with Taylor alone demanding $1 million.
\n
![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/23154439\/tvivtjv.jpg\")
\nDirectors were replaced, actors walked off set, and things got even more delayed and expensive when filming was moved to Rome. If you take inflation into account, Cleopatra is still one of the most expensive movies ever made – and only just made back its budget.
\n
\n[post_page_title]The Exorcist [\/post_page_title]
\nThe only reason The Exorcist made it from an unknown novel to the big screen (and the hall of horror movie fame), was luck. The writer William Peter Blatty wrote the novel in 1971, but despite it getting good reviews – no one was buying it. Trying to change that, he tried to get on as a guest on The Dick Cavett Show.
\n
![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/23154438\/Z0IxzOY.jpg\")
\nOne night he got called by the show, and asked to come right away – as a more famous guest had cancelled last minute. That cancelation gave Blatty the opportunity to talk about his book for 45 minutes on national TV. Then he got the Hollywood executives’ attention.
\n
\n[post_page_title]Being John Malkovich [\/post_page_title]
\nCharlie Kaufman wrote this odd drama-comedy, and it proved to be a very tough sell. Even John Malkovich himself wasn’t convinced it would succeed, and studio after studio rejected it. Frankly put, no one could see why the masses would be interested in seeing the world through Malkovich’s eyes.
\n
![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/23154439\/SepeDio.jpg\")
\nEventually, five years after Kaufman wrote the script, Propaganda Films agreed to produce it, together with Single Cell Pictures. To almost everyone’s surprise, it was an immediate hit and got nominated for three Oscars.
\n
\n[post_page_title]The Princess Bride[\/post_page_title]
\nMany thought the production of The Princess Bride was cursed. Several producers tried to turn the 1973 novel into a motion picture, but studios kept passing up on the project – for all kinds of reasons. Sometimes they had no funding, sometimes the interested executives got fired (some even passed away!).
\n
![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/23154439\/Mk4rmXT.jpg\")
\nBut finally Rob Reiner made it happen, thanks to having 20th Century Fox tell him to do whatever he wanted. So ten years after the novel was written, cult classic The Princess Bride finally hit theaters.
\n
\n[post_page_title]Apocalypse Now[\/post_page_title]
\nThe documentary Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse was made about the making of Apocalypse Now. That pretty much says it all. It was a nightmare to get this movie done.
\n
![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/23154439\/beVrSnV.jpg\")
\nCoppola spent his own money to fund the project, and decided to shoot in the Philippines. But the constant rain destroyed sets and prolonged shooting significantly, from the estimated five months to over a year. To make matters even worse, Martin Sheen suffered a heart attack and countless other problems just kept piling up.
\n
\n[post_page_title]Psycho [\/post_page_title]
\nPsycho is today considered one of Hitchcock’s best films, but initially he was the only person who believed this movie would be a hit. He bought the movie rights of the novel for only 9,000, but Paramount’s studio heads, who he had worked with several time before, hated the story.
\n
![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/23154439\/nVqQ0en.jpg\")
\nThey didn’t want Psycho to happen, so they refused to give Hitchcock a realistic budget. But he was determined, and found ways to keep production costs low (by for example filming in black and white).
\n
\n[post_page_title]American Graffiti[\/post_page_title]
\nThe main issue with American Graffiti was that many of the people involved had apparently not grown out of their rebellious youth phase yet. Filming fell behind schedule when crew members were arrested for dealing with illegal substances.
\n
![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/23154439\/DVTqYSe.jpg\")
\nFurthermore, San Rafael City got so annoyed by the chaos the filming had brought to their fairly small city, they withdrew the shooting permit. And that’s not all; Richard Dreyfuss got injured in the head, Harrison Ford was arrested for a fight, and Paul Le Mat suffered an almost fatal allergic reaction to a nut.
\n
\n[post_page_title]Chinatown [\/post_page_title]
\nChinatown might be one of the best movies of the noir genre, but the stories from set could deter anyone from ever wanting to pursue acting.
\n
![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/23154439\/bzId8fY.jpg\")
\nActors on set, and especially female lead Faye Dunaway, were treated less than well – and were barely allowed to take bathroom breaks. This of course led to plenty of tension off-camera, and plenty of arguments. This movie is a great example of the suffering many great artists go through just to produce amazing art.
\n
\n[post_page_title]Fast & Furious 4-8[\/post_page_title]
\nMany think this franchise is overrated, which might be true. But that doesn’t change the fact it’s been hugely successful, with 14 movies and counting! But number four through eight barely got made.
\n
![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/23154440\/kMnGriw.jpg\")
\nAfter three movies, the executives at Universal Pictures felt like the franchise had been played out, and could not stay fresh and interesting for much longer. But the producers kept fighting for it, and somehow the studio has kept giving the green light. It’s unclear for how much longer, however.
\n
\n[post_page_title]Platoon[\/post_page_title]
\nPlatoon is considered one of the best and most realistic war movies ever made, and won the Best Picture Academy Award back in 1986. But few know it took director Oliver Stone close to two decades to make his now celebrated film.
\n
![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/23154440\/S8XsDtX.jpg\")
\nDespite writing the first version of the script already in the late ’60s, it kept getting rejected. Until 1985, when Stone’s perseverance and belief in his story paid off, and Platoon finally made it to the big screen.
\n
\n[post_page_title]The Omen [\/post_page_title]
\nThe main reason this movie barely made it to theaters, was that it seemed cursed before, during, and after production. Both actors and producers involved suffered very weird freak accidents.
\n
![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/23154440\/OuEaQ8x.jpg\")
\nAn actor and an executive producer were on planes, on two separate occasions, that were struck by lightning. Special effects artist John Richardson was involved in a car accident on an empty road, where his passenger (assistant Liz Moore) tragically lost her life. As time went by, less and less people wanted anything to do with this movie.
\n
\n[post_page_title]The Emperor’s New Groove [\/post_page_title]
\nProducing animated movies can be just as complex and difficult as producing live-action ones, The Emperor’s New Groove from 2000 is yet another example of that.
\n
![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/23154440\/sNbsw4e.jpg\")
\nSting had initially agreed to produce the soundtrack for the movie originally titled Kingdom Of The Sun. But due to all kinds of disagreements, Sting was dropped and so was the director (and title). Mark Dindal then stepped in, made some order in the production chaos, and created a film that did amazingly at the box office.
\n
\n[post_page_title]Pulp Fiction[\/post_page_title]
\nWhen Quentin Tarantino and his co-writer Roger Avary took the script of Pulp Fiction to TriStar Pictures, they were told it was the worst thing ever written, and both too long and too violent. The studio executives were also critical of the non-linear storytelling, and pretty much every other thing about the unusual movie.
\n
![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/23154437\/9L12dfl.jpg\")
\nBut luckily for Tarantino and Avary, Miramax decided to take a chance on them, and allowed them to make Pulp Fiction just as they had envisioned it from the start. The rest is, as they say, history.
\n
\n[post_page_title]Titanic[\/post_page_title]
\nMost assumed Titanic would flop, based on the long and miserable filming process. Any film with so many water scenes involved is bound to be difficult, and Titanic was certainly no exception.
\n
![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/23154436\/K8JV9hN.jpg\")
\nJames Cameron had allegedly very little concern for the actors – who spent hours on end shooting in freezing water. He also became known for running around with a megaphone and walkie-talkie, constantly yelling at people from both near and far. Pretty impressive the actors did such a great job despite these intense working conditions.
\n
\n[post_page_title]Back To The Future [\/post_page_title]
\nBelieve it or not, but Back To The Future was rejected by Columbia Pictures. And they weren’t even the only one giving it the thumbs down. For four years the writers Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale pitched their movie to countless studios, only to be told no, every time.
\n
![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/23154436\/Rk8nGDl.jpg\")
\nHow anyone could reject such a goofy and unique plot, is beyond us. But eventually Zemeckis and Gale’s friend Steven Spielberg got involved, and he convinced Universal to take a chance on the odd script. Which clearly paid off!
\n
\n[post_page_title]Breakfast At Tiffany’s[\/post_page_title]
\nBreakfast At Tiffany\u2019s was a drama-filled mess from start to finish. Truman Capote, who wrote the book, wanted Marilyn Monroe as the lead – and made it clear he was very unhappy when Audrey Hepburn was cast instead. Then the first screenwriter and director were fired, for unclear reasons, threatening the project making it to filming at all.
\n
![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/23154438\/SXUflj2.jpg\")
\nAnd as the grand finale, once the movie miraculously had gotten made, Capote hated the finished result. Luckily enough, the rest of the world loved it.
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Whether because of production issues, on-set drama, or massively underestimated budgets – it took even more than sweat and tears to bring these iconic masterpieces to the big screen. [post_page_title]The Wizard Of Oz[\/post_page_title] You can’t talk about iconic movies, without mentioning The Wizard Of Oz. And it might be hard to believe, but this classic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":100,"featured_media":90693,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-90691","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories"],"yoast_head":"\n