While the Covid-19 pandemic certainly led to many delays in the movie industry, troubled productions are nothing new, and truly nightmarish shoots stretch back to the early days of cinema.
When a film has a lot of problems on set, many observers' first instinct is to predict it will flop, but many of the best movies of all time had a rocky road getting to the screen. These movies were plagued with budget overruns, clashing egos, and even deadly accidents, but still succeeded against all odds.
Jaws (1975)
Jaws may have made Steven Spielberg a household name, and created the modern summer blockbuster, but its production was enough to give the young director nightmares. Ironically for a film based on a book, the production started without a finished script, leaving writer Carl Gottlieb to turn in scenes the night before they were due to be shot.
Many of the most severe problems came with shooting in open water, with the shark props frequently malfunctioning, and the boat at one point sinking with the actors on board. All of this sent the movie behind schedule by more than 100 days and at more than double the original budget, meaning Paramount gushed a sigh of relief when the movie was a monster hit.
Star Wars (1977)
George Lucas' science-fantasy tale may have spawned a wildly successful franchise beloved by legions of fans, but there was a long list of things that went wrong when filming Star Wars, from the very beginning. From Tunisia's desert heat to actors not understanding the material, Star Wars was a nightmare shoot that led to Lucas staying away from directing for the better part of two decades.
Editing was also a major headache, with the rough cut being such a disaster that a new team of editors (including George's then-wife, Marcia) was brought to dramatically restructure much of the movie into something watchable. Thankfully, Star Wars became the biggest hit of the '70s, but one can forgive Lucas for handing the reins of the next two films to other directors.
Ben-Hur (1959)
The bigger the movie, the more opportunities for problems, and William Wyler's religious epic, Ben-Hur, was not immune to this principle. This included budget overruns, making it the most expensive film ever produced at the time at over $15 million, and the pace of filming was so slow that many of the cast and crew required vitamin injections just to get through the day.
To make matters worse, producer Sam Zimbalist suddenly died during production, forcing Wyler to take over as de-facto co-producer. It's a miracle that, despite the myriad obstacles Ben-Hur faced in getting finished, it still has the grandeur that old-school Hollywood epics are known for.
Caddyshack (1980)
Proving that it's not just epic movies that have to deal with mountains of problems, Caddyshack is a comedy classic that was apparently no fun to work on. It's telling that, despite the movie being a commercial success and only getting more love as time has gone on, director Harold Ramis always regarded it poorly.
A hurricane rolling in on the set was bad enough, but much of the trouble came from the cast, with Chevy Chase and Ted Knight, in particular, having a hard time getting along with anyone. It was a pleasant surprise to everyone involved that Chase and Bill Murray, infamously at odds on SNL, were professional enough to make their scene work.
The Blues Brothers (1980)
At $27.5 million, The Blues Brothers was one of the most expensive comedies of its time, and knowing about its many problems might change the way one watches it. Dan Aykroyd proved his inexperience as a screenwriter when he turned in a 300-plus page first draft, and John Belushi's drug use was allegedly so bad that he frequently showed up to set late after a night-long binge.
Universal Pictures was also worried about the skyrocketing budget and hoped to save money by replacing the movie's Black R&B and soul artists with younger, hipper acts. Fortunately, director John Landis fought for them to stay, and the music is one of the reasons The Blues Brothers is often regarded as one of the best SNL-related films.
Titanic (1997)
By the time James Cameron set out to his seafaring romantic drama, he'd been well acquainted with hellish shoots, but Titanic is arguably the one where everything went wrong in the worst ways. Cameron's allegedly controlling behavior was at some of its worst, leading to him keeping the cast in cold water for hours and verbally abusing crew members for the smallest mistakes.
Also, as Jaws showed the film industry, movies set at sea tend to be incredibly expensive, and sure enough, Cameron's meticulous attention to detail quickly sent the movie over budget. It's a good thing the movie was the highest-grossing of its time because its $200 million budget also made it the most expensive.
The Bridge On The River Kwai (1957)
As a purveyor of lush, grand historical epics, David Lean was frequently at the helm of troubled productions, with The Bridge On the River Kwai setting the trend. Lean was frequently at odds with the actors, particularly Alec Guinness, with the two men being completely at odds on how Colonel Nicholson should be played.
The Bridge on the River Kwai also had to deal with political troubles, such as screenwriters Carl Foreman and Michael Wilson going uncredited due to the Hollywood Blacklist, and the Suez Crisis meaning that all equipment that would normally have been transported by water had to go by air. Luckily, the film was a big hit, and the difficulty of the film's production arguably adds to its grand scale.
The Wizard Of Oz (1939)
While The Wizard of Oz is a beloved film that appeals to all ages, the production was anything but child friendly. Each day of shooting was long and arduous, with call time at 4 A.M. and often continuing into the night, and young Judy Garland, in particular, had to put up with abuse on the Oz set that would not fly today.
Other common sources of disaster were the makeup and special effects, with Margaret Hamilton suffering burns while filming the Wicked Witch of the West's exit from Munchkinland, and Bert Lahr's (Cowardly Lion) costume confining him to a liquid diet. Years later, Jack Haley (Tin Man) surely spoke for everyone involved when he said, "Like hell it was [fun]! It was work!"
Lawrence Of Arabia (1962)
David Lean's follow-up to The Bridge on the River Kwai, Lawrence of Arabia, was even more epic in scale, and with that came even greater headaches. The production hopped from Jordan and Spain to Morocco, and illness and injury plagued the cast and crew wherever they went, to the point that star Peter O'Toole was allegedly nearly killed when he fell off a camel.
In addition, Lean and crew had to contend with several PR nightmares, such as screenwriter Robert Bolt being arrested during a protest shortly after he was hired, forcing producer Sam Spiegel to bail him out. Before the movie's release, the real T.E. Lawrence's brother also tried to discredit the movie, which may have contributed to some initial negative reviews.
Apocalypse Now (1979)
Francis Ford Coppola's 'Nam masterpiece still holds up today as an excellent movie, but not even the infamously difficult production of The Godfather could prepare him for the troubles in store on the Apocalypse Now shoot. From a typhoon destroying most of the sets and the Philippine military recalling equipment to Martin Sheen suffering a heart attack that required his absence for a long period, everything that could have gone wrong, did.
Apocalypse Now's troubles took a toll on everyone involved, but none more so than Coppola himself, who lost over 100 pounds and allegedly attempted suicide due to the stress of making the movie. For more information on this truly legendary shoot, viewers can check out the excellent documentary Hearts of Darkness, which shows the process of the shoot that was just barely less intense than the actual movie.