Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Great films that almost didn't get made (or didn't get distributed)

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    Great films that almost didn't get made (or didn't get distributed)

    Saw this brief piece in the Guardian today about Das Leben der Anderen, probably my joint all-time favourite film and a brilliantly crafted work of extraordinary emotional power.

    Apparently, even after being made, it narrowly escaped never being distributed because, until Buena Vista came along, all the distributors invited to take it on weren't interested, the utter morons.

    How we made The Lives of Others | Film | The Guardian

    #2
    Brazil is the poster child for this, isn't it?

    Comment


      #3
      The film company hated The Wicker Man, and if it wasn't for Christopher Lee's star power it would have been totally buried.

      Comment


        #4
        Originally posted by Evariste Euler Gauss View Post
        Saw this brief piece in the Guardian today about Das Leben der Anderen, probably my joint all-time favourite film and a brilliantly crafted work of extraordinary emotional power.

        Apparently, even after being made, it narrowly escaped never being distributed because, until Buena Vista came along, all the distributors invited to take it on weren't interested, the utter morons.

        How we made The Lives of Others | Film | The Guardian
        Fucking hell, "with one funder even wanting it remade as a comedy"! That would be a different film indeed.

        Comment


          #5
          This is increasingly true of all films that aren’t sequels or based on IP that guarantees some success.

          Comment


            #6
            Fucking hell, "with one funder even wanting it remade as a comedy"! That would be a different film indeed.
            Yes, it's insane, isn't it. The fuckers must have been thinking "well, "Goodbye Lenin" was a success, can't you just remake that?"

            Comment


              #7
              Originally posted by Evariste Euler Gauss View Post
              Saw this brief piece in the Guardian today about Das Leben der Anderen, probably my joint all-time favourite film ...
              Well, don't leave us hanging. Is it The Damned United?

              Comment


                #8
                Life of Brian

                Comment


                  #9
                  [edit: in reply to tee rex] ha ha. Billy Wilder's The Apartment. I accept that it's not objectively the greatest, and in some respects it has dated badly but for some reason it found a special place in my heart a long time ago.

                  Comment


                    #10
                    It's a damn good film tho.

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Didn't Idiocracy get pulled by Fox, ending up barely getting distributed anywhere?

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Originally posted by Stumpy Pepys View Post
                        Life of Brian
                        That was the only one I could think of in response to the OP. So that's me screwed then.

                        I've got loads of suggestions for films that shouldn't have been made, if that helps?

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Psycho only got made because Hitchcock financed it himself.

                          Comment


                            #14
                            The Colour of Pomegranates. Not everyone's arty cup of tea but consistently cited as a true world great, and possibly wouldn't have been there for me to watch as it is now, but for for Marty Scorcese and his film foundation. But I would imagine the troubles the film had getting a wide release in its intended form are true of many soviet films, let alone those with overt Armenian religious dissident imagery.

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Easy Rider was nearly torpedoed because Dennis Hopper spent the entire budget (only $400,000 to be fair) on drugs and the cemetery scene in New Orleans.

                              (Whether it qualifies as a "great" film is debatable, but it is an important one.)

                              Comment

                              Working...
                              X