Top 10 Movie Shoots From Hell

[Dotpattern]

Interesting read. I've still never seen Heaven's Gate.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Movi...ots/index.html

[kpkelley]

1. 'Apocalypse Now' (Francis Ford Coppola, 1979)
A typhoon that destroyed sets, illness and madness, all marred this notoriously difficult production in the Philippines. With no ending, an overweight Marlon Brando and his reputation on the line, Coppola withdrew into himself and the shoot spiraled out of control, according to his wife Eleanor, whose footage was used in making-of documentary "Hearts of Darkness." The shoot drove Coppola to breaking point and also took a toll on the cast -- star Martin Sheen suffered a heart attack aged 38.

2. 'Heaven's Gate' (Michael Cimino, 1980)
A disastrous Western that nearly brought down United Artists, the studio founded by Charlie Chaplin. Given free rein, Cimino overspent massively and the original budget of $8 million ballooned to a whopping $36 million. The historical drama eventually clocked in at three and a half hours. It was slammed by critics and bombed at the box office, paving the way for the sale of United Artists to MGM. Shaken by the extent of the failure, which is still considered one of the biggest in Hollywood history, studios clamped down on the freewheeling excesses of the 1970s and a new, more conservative era was born.

3. 'Fitzcarraldo' (Werner Herzog, 1982)
During a shoot that remains one of the most dangerous of all time, Herzog made cast and crew haul a steamship over a mountain to tell the story of an music fanatic who wants to build an opera house in jungle. Herzog, who didn't want to use special effects, hired local Indians to achieve the feat. As if the challenge of pulling a 320-ton boat wasn't enough to deal with, the production was plagued by heavy rains, casting problems -- lead actor Jason Robards had to be replaced by Klaus Kinski due to illness, while Mick Jagger dropped out due to a Rolling Stones concert -- and a border war that broke out between Peru and Ecuador.

4. 'Twilight Zone: The Movie' (John Landis, 1983)
Tragedy hit the production of John Landis' feature film version of the TV series when a special-effects explosion caused a helicopter to lose control during a Vietnam War scene. Lead actor Vic Morrow and child actors Renee Chen and My-ca Dinh Le were killed when the helicopter crashed on them. Landis and other crew members were charged with involuntary manslaughter. All plead not guilty and were acquitted of the charges.

5. 'Cleopatra' (Joseph Mankiewicz, 1963)
The historical epic starring Elizabeth Taylor, Rex Harrison and Richard Burton nearly bankrupted 20th Century Fox. Shooting dragged on for years, with production being halted several times due to Taylor's illnesses. At one point, she nearly died after catching pneumonia and had to undergo an emergency tracheotomy. The movie had its fair share of scandal too, thanks to the affair Taylor and Burton started during filming. By the time the movie was finally finished, it had a new director (Joseph Mankiewicz signed on after Rouben Mamoulian resigned), was over schedule and way over budget. Some estimates put the final cost at $60 million, making it one of the most expensive movies ever made if translated into today's dollars.

6. 'The Man Who Killed Don Quixote' (Terry Gilliam, unfinished)
Terry Gilliam's attempt to bring Cervantes's hero to the big screen began unraveling from the first day of filming. Lead actor Jean Rochefort immediately fell ill, and if that wasn't calamitous enough, a flash flood washed away the entire set in northern Spain. Rochefort eventually ended up in the hospital and since co-star Johnny Depp had other commitments and couldn't wait for Rochefort to recover, Gilliam was forced to abandon the film. The ambitious director recently told movie magazine, Empire, that the project is up and running again and that shooting will begin next spring. No word yet though on who will play the man of La Mancha.

7. 'The Crow' (Alex Proyas, 1994)
This ill-fated production took a tragic turn after lead Brandon Lee died on set. He was shot by a misloaded prop gun. The untimely death of Brandon Lee, the son of martial arts legend Bruce Lee who suffered a bizarre death of his own, added an eerie dimension to the already dark film about a man who comes back from the dead. An inexperienced crew and cost cuts were believed to have contributed to Brandon Lee's accidental death.

8. 'Aguirre: The Wrath of God' (Werner Herzog, 1972)
It's no surprise that controversial director Herzog makes this list twice. While filming "Aguirre," he threatened to shoot Klaus Kinski when the actor tried to bail on the film. Herzog has said that as Kinski was packing this things into a speed boat to make his escape, he told him very quietly that he "would have eight bullets through his head before he reached the next bend of the river." While Herzog denies wielding a gun at the time he made the threat, he has said he did have a gun on set.

9. 'Dancer in the Dark' (Lars von Trier, 2000)
Lars von Trier has a reputation for being hard on his actors and for Icelandic singer Bjork's acting debut, he certainly didn't pull any punches. It's rumored that Bjork became so unhinged during the shoot that she ate her own cardigan. Von Trier has claimed that every morning Bjork would say, "Mr. von Trier, I despise you," and spit at him. The experience was so traumatic for Bjork that afterwards she insisted she'd never act again.

10. 'Three Kings' (David O. Russell, 1999)
Director David O. Russell and actor George Clooney came to blows on the set of this Iraq war drama. The two famously got in a fistfight after Clooney stepped in following Russell's apparent abuse of an extra. Russell has developed notoriety in Hollywood for his explosive behavior, as chronicled by former New York Times entertainment correspondent Sharon Waxman in her book "Rebels on the Backlot." He blew up at veteran actress Lily Tomlin after she berated him while filming "I Heart Huckabees" in 2004 -- an episode that became a hit on YouTube.

[FindYourWay]

Check out Lost in La Mancha. A true nightmare for any filmmaker. It's cool that they turned the film, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, into this documentary of a film production gone wrong, terribly wrong.

[cathexist]

Originally Posted by FindYourWay

Check out Lost in La Mancha. A true nightmare for any filmmaker. It's cool that they turned the film, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, into this documentary of a film production gone wrong, terribly wrong.

Definitely a good documentary to watch. I really hope the project is in the works again as he said.

[Secretagentnumber6]

I had heard about a few of these, the Aguirre Wrath of God one is my favorite because if you know anything about Kinski and Herzog you know they were best friends. You also know both of them were completely Insane, and Herzog would have followed through with his promise.

[EricJ]

What, no "Waterworld"?
Where the set not only sank at one point, but the producer finally threw a public open-letter tantrum at all the reports of disaster on the set that, when other producers do it, is still referred today as "a Waterworld tantrum".
(Y'know, whenever producers put out that AICN statement saying "Sure, we've had setbacks, but we've found a total new direction for the movie, the cast is happy and back at work again, it's better than before, and I don't see why the media has to keep picking on us, but you'll all be sorry when it finally opens and becomes the biggest smash hit of the summer!"?)

Or, if they wanted to be particularly show-off geeky about how much Michael Medved they've read, no mention of the 1976 "The Blue Bird"?--
Which thought it would be a nice diplomatic stunt to send Hollywood stars over to film at a Soviet-era Russian studio, and then...found out the technical level at which most Russian studios were still operating.
The result?: Imagine a big-budget Hollywood remake of those Russian Technicolor fairytale movies from MST3K...

Originally Posted by Secretagentnumber6

I had heard about a few of these, the Aguirre Wrath of God one is my favorite because if you know anything about Kinski and Herzog you know they were best friends. You also know both of them were completely Insane, and Herzog would have followed through with his promise.

Some of the on-set Kinski vs. Herzog hijinx footage in Aguirre and Fitzcarraldo is featured in Herzog's documentary "My Best Fiend", where it becomes pretty darn hard to believe that Kinski's loopiness was genuine, and not indulgently diva-faked.

[Propellarhead9]

Originally Posted by cathexist

Definitely a good documentary to watch. I really hope the project is in the works again as he said.

He is getting ready to start making it again. He's in the casting process. Unfortunately Johnny Depp isn't going to do it.

[Mr.White]

I'm surprised no Stanley Kubrick films made the top ten!

[fatediesel]

Originally Posted by EricJ

What, no "Waterworld"?
Where the set not only sank at one point, but the producer finally threw a public open-letter tantrum at all the reports of disaster on the set that, when other producers do it, is still referred today as "a Waterworld tantrum".
(Y'know, whenever producers put out that AICN statement saying "Sure, we've had setbacks, but we've found a total new direction for the movie, the cast is happy and back at work again, it's better than before, and I don't see why the media has to keep picking on us, but you'll all be sorry when it finally opens and becomes the biggest smash hit of the summer!"?)

.

Good point on Waterworld. In addition it's widely believed that director Kevin Reynolds walked off the set with 2 weeks to go and Costner took over as director.

[KubrickFan]

Still, Apocalypse Now might be a hell to make, but I would kill to be on that set. It would be amazing, I think. The same for any Kubrick movie. Totally fascinating.

[GLaDOS]

It was that bad when they made Apocalypse Now? Damn!

[surfdude12]

i'd throw the FOuntain in there: warner bros shut down production on Aranofsky, Pitt and Blanchett quit, and Aronosfsky had to finish shooting up in Canada at half his original budget, 5 years after he started (approx).

[Moefiz]

Interesting read...