With movies like The Disaster Artist garnering critical and commercial acclaim in recent years, it seems as if audiences have developed a strong taste for films about the filmmaking process, the real-life characters in Hollywood, and the layered intricacies that take place behind the camera.
Luckily, with movies being a major, worldwide art form for over a century, and literally hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of them in existence, history provides no shortage of riveting stories from the annals of real-world development, production, and post. Here are 10 movies with behind the scenes stories so intense, outrageous, and influential that they warrant their own narrative features.
Chinatown
This neo-noir 1974 detective classic is often cited as one of the greatest movies of all time. The film is a true-crime story of hardboiled masculinity, mixed characters, and deep secrets. Somehow, though, the story behind making Chinatown may be just as enticing as the famed film itself.
With the combination of writer Robert Towne, director Jack Nicholson, and producer Robert Evans, Chinatown came to be through the tumultuous relationship between four contrasting Hollywood types, each with different creatives visions and backgrounds. It was a rocky development and production, but the outcome was a staple of the 1970s Hollywood Renaissance.
Fitzcarraldo
Truth be told, any project that combined director Werner Herzog and actor Kalus Kinski deserves its own cinematic . The two German talents collaborated on several films throughout the 1970s and 80s, and while their creative relationship was fruitful, they held each other in deep personal contempt. This reached in boiling point in 1982's Fitzcarraldo, when Herzog (dedicated to practical effects) insisted on the actors and crew manually dragging a ship over a mountain in the Amazon.
Similar to the situation on 1972's Aguirre, The Wrath Of God, many of Herzog's actors and crew fell ill on location, and Kinski and Herzog reportedly plotted conspiracies to kill one another. In fact, there is a documentary feature about the relationship between the pair, called My Best Fiend, as well as one about the making of Fitzcarraldo, called Burden of Dreams. It was a production that certainly fell behind union standards and it would lend itself well to a dramatic retelling outside the documentary genre.
The Shining
Any actor who had the privilege of working with esteemed auteur Stanley Kubrick will say that he was a brilliant man, but an incredible challenge to work with. Never was this more evident than in 1980's The Shining, his terrifying adaptation of Stephen King's 1977 horror novel. As per usual with Kubrick, the film ran far over schedule and some scenes required a record number of takes to satisfy the director.
Kubrick was also emotionally abusive towards actress Shelley Duvall, wanting her to authentically feel like an entrapped and terrified wife while her husband (played by Jack Nicholson) descends into madness and goes on a murderous rampage. As a cherry on top to this intriguing production nightmare, The Shining is allegedly filled with mysterious hidden details and subliminal messages that film theorists are still dissecting to this day.
Eraserhead
Experimental filmmaker David Lynch's first project took over half a decade to complete. Eraserhead began as a student project, which Lynch worked on with scholarship money in an AFI basement. However, the director far exceeded the budget and deadlines to complete this oddball, surrealist ion project.
Over 40 years later, viewers still cannot decipher what Lynch wanted to communicate with the deeply symbolic Eraserhead, and the director himself has remained steadfastly secretive about the production. He will not tell people what the movie means, where he got the idea from, or what material some of the unmistakable (and disturbing) props were made of. It is certainly a topic of cinematic and dramatic intrigue.
Tiefland
This 1954 German movie was the last feature from infamous filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl, and it holds the record for the longest live-action filming period ever. Tiefland began production in the early 1930s, but Hitler recruited Riefenstahl to create propaganda films for the Nazi party shortly thereafter. The tyrant eventually allowed her to continue work on the movie in 1940, but by 1944, World War II had halted production.
Post-War, the French government confiscated the film from Riefenstahl, only to return it for a release in the early 50s. This long behind the scenes story is one of war, global strife, and ethically gray artistry. It certainly warrants its own dramatization on the screen.
The Birth Of A Nation
Like Tiefland, D.W. Griffith's 1915 silent epic, The Birth Of A Nation is historically complicated for reasons far beyond conventional filmmaking. On one hand, the movie revolutionized the film industry, made Hollywood the entertainment capital of the world, and upped the ante for motion pictures everywhere with elaborate sets, a compelling script, and an unprecedented three-hour-and-13-minute runtime.
At the same time, though, The Birth Of A Nation is a Civil War story that glorifies the Klu Klux Klan and inadvertently reinvigorated the organization after its release. The movie's production and reception story is a dark tale about Hollywood's raw origins.
Citizen Kane
Another early classic (this one a bit more uplifting and timeless than Nation), Orson Welles. It's behind the scenes story is one of entertainment, entrepreneurship, and early experimental artistry that would change the moviemaking process forever.
Of course, Citizen Kane is now ed as one of the most influential movies of all time. However, it was also an early peak for Welles, who would never again quite live up to that debut success in his long and thankless career.
Star Wars
Before George Lucas. In the late 70s, science fiction was a low-brow, low-budget genre for cinema, and Lucas' vision certainly fit that mold on paper. Miraculously, though, unprecedented effects, a brilliant cast of near-unknowns, and a conspicuously uplifting script launched Star Wars to unpredictable heights. The film brought happy endings and fun back to the movies, and it birthed the Blockbuster cycle that dominates the film industry to this day.
Forty-three years later, Star Wars has offered audiences a wide variety of incredible stories from a galaxy far, far away. Its most interesting tale, however, might have taken place right here on earth in 1977.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Another 1970s underdog, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre came out of a production with loose rules, low budgets, substandard equipment, and amateur talent. Director Tobe Hooper spent most of the 1960s as a college professor and cameraman. By the time the 70s rolled around, he had only directed one movie.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre was filmed on location in the scalding southern summer heat. Days were long and grueling, and the movie's content was far from uplifting. The production was a horror story in and of itself, but the outcome led to the transformation of a genre and the birth of the slasher film.
Apocalypse Now
Francis Ford Coppola's Vietnam War epic has such a notorious production history that a documentary has already been made about it. Expensive sets, hazardous conditions, and remote shoots in the Philippines marred Apocalypse Now for four years. Coppola fired the movie's original lead two weeks into shooting and replaced him with Martin Sheen, who suffered from alcoholism, depression, and a heart attack during production.
Meanwhile, ing actor Marlon Brando refused to prepare for his scenes, while other cast member, Dennis Hopper, spent most of his time on set high as a kite. The entire story is source material riddled with drama and a familiar, movie-caliber character cast.
