10 Famous (and Infamous) Film Projects
2024 saw the release of Megalopolis , a cinematic oddity Francis Ford Coppola had been working on since 1977 while he was in the middle of filming another passion project, the legendarily intense Apocalypse Now .
2025 may be the year that equally acclaimed director Park Chan-wook ( The Handmaiden , Deciding to Quit ) releases his adaptation of Donald Westlake’s Hatchet starring a fired middle manager who decides to take his career into his own hands (by killing competitors for the desired job). Originally announced in 2009, the project (titled No Other Choice ) was sidelined in favor of other projects, but not for lack of enthusiasm: Park says he hopes to “make this film my masterpiece” – which is quite a lot, considering the director’s impressive resume.
With a long-breeding cinematic passion bearing fruit as of late, for better or worse, let’s take a look at some of the longest-running and most struggling children of film love.
The Other Side of the Wind (2018)
One of the longest-running projects in Hollywood history and a film that outlived its director (and much of the cast) by decades, The Other Side of the Wind was conceived by Orson Welles in 1961, shortly after Ernest Hemingway’s death. writer who inspired the maverick director played in the film by John Huston. (Of course, the story of a director trying to return to Hollywood after years in Europe has shades of Welles.) The self-financed project began in 1970, with production only continuing until Welles was handed a large tax bill to pay . pay. In 1974, things picked up again until a major investor walked away with part of the film’s budget . Principal photography was completed by 1976, but budgetary and legal obstacles prevented Welles from finishing editing the picture. Welles’ friend, protégé and co-star Peter Bogdanovich made it his mission to see the film completed, which finally happened after years of contract battles. Since the film was released on Netflix, it’s hard to say exactly how well the film did with audiences, but reviews are almost universally rave, and it serves as a fitting end to Welles’ career. You can watch The Other Side of the Wind on Netflix .
Eraserhead (1977)
Recipient of a fellowship from the American Film Institute’s Center for Advanced Film Studies, David Lynch spent much of his time as a student working on his debut feature film. Lynch was fortunate to be able to assemble a cast from a variety of sources, including his own cast and crew – Jack Fisk played the role in the film, and the film was kept afloat thanks in part to Fisk and his wife Sissy Spacek; Likewise, star Jack Nance and his wife Catherine Coulson (Lynch’s future Log Lady) put everything they had into the film . This terrifying and highly experimental film took five years to make. It served as the launching pad for Lynch’s career and almost certainly remains the most successful student film ever made. You can stream Eraserhead on Max and The Criterion Channel or rent it from Prime Video .
The Man Who Killed Don Quixote (2018)
The making of Terry Gilliam’s version of Miguel de Cervantes’ novel is so notorious that in the years between its conception (1989) and release (2018) , an entire documentary was made about the film’s troubled development. Gilliam initially spent nearly a decade working on a film version, possibly starring Sean Connery, while struggling with studio demands and budgetary constraints. Following the success of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas , Gilliam announced a new version and began filming in late 2000, a two-month European shoot that turned out to be a disaster of epic proportions.
Schedules were staggered so that performers scheduled to appear in scenes together were never on set at the same time; fighter jets flew overhead, ruining all audio recordings; a flash flood on the second day destroyed equipment and supplies and altered the surrounding landscape; and finally, the lead actor suffered from prostate and back problems that left him virtually unable to ride a horse—no small matter in a story where Rocinante’s horse is almost as famous as his rider. Sporadic attempts over the next decade or so failed due to rights and budget issues until production began in earnest in 2016. A contract dispute with producer Paulo Branco almost derailed this version as well, but it was finally released in 2018. A charming, silly, controversial film that flopped at the box office, the finished product doesn’t quite justify the build-up but serves as a testament to Gilliam’s talent. perseverance. You can stream The Man Who Killed Don Quixote on Peacock and Pluto TV or rent it on Prime Video .
Apocalypse Now (1979)
The story of Apocalypse Now begins in 1967, when George Lucas and Steven Spielberg encouraged director John Milius to write a film about the Vietnam War. For several years, it looked like the film would be directed by pre- Star Wars Lucas—a fascinating “what if?” both in regards to this film and a potential alternative career path for Lucas. Francis Ford Coppola eventually decided he could handle it if no one else got around to it, beginning nearly a year of filming in Manila, where the typhoon struck; change in the main role (Harvey Keitel left, Martin Sheen appeared); this new hero suffered a near-fatal heart attack; and the director’s inability to decide on the ending. At least in this case, the film was a critical and box office triumph, even if it is almost as famous for its difficult production as for its own merits. You can stream Apocalypse Now on Plex or rent it from Prime Video .
Battlefield Earth (2000)
Not every passion project is a triumph, and some aren’t even particularly interesting. Battlefield Earth , a late-career science fiction novel by mid-tier writer L. Ron Hubbard, was what Hubbard and company had hoped to see made into a film (with John Travolta attached) upon its publication in 1982, but lasted until Travolta had influence over the making of the film in the late 1990s and was then ready to exploit the Hollywood capital he had built after Crime reading matter.” He said about this : “If we cannot do what we want now, what is the point of this power? Let’s test it and try to do what we believe in.” However, finding money for the project was not easy; however, the resourceful Travolta managed to cobble together a budget of ~$44 million – only to see it flop at the box office, with a legacy that has seen it appear on many “worst movies of all time” lists. That’s not to say it doesn’t have some solid camp appeal. You can stream Battlefield Earth on Prime Video .
Artificial Intelligence Artificial Intelligence (2001)
It’s not entirely clear that artificial intelligence , based on the Brian Aldis short story “SuperToys Last All Summer,” was a passion project for director Stanley Kubrick, who worked on the project off and on for nearly two decades , even pitching it to Steven Spielberg somewhere in the middle. It went nowhere until Kubrick’s unexpected death in 1999, shortly before the release of Eyes Wide Shut . From that point on, it became Spielberg’s passion and a means to pay tribute to his friend with the blessing and support of the late director’s wife and estate. Spielberg wrote the script based on the play by Ian Watson, commissioned by Kubrick. The result is a less-than-cohesive but still fascinating blend of the styles of two very different directors. You can stream AI on Paramount+ and Pluto TV, or rent it from Prime Video .
Spartacus (1960)
Sword and sandal movies were in their heyday when Kirk Douglas decided to adapt the novel of the same name by Howard Fast, who wrote the book while in prison for refusing to name names before the House Un-American Activities Committee. the story of an enslaved gladiator that serves as a metaphor for the entire Red Scare era. Douglas hired similarly blacklisted writer Dalton Trumbo to write the screenplay and eventually Stanley Kubrick to direct. Douglas and the director didn’t exactly get along, and Kubrick wasn’t thrilled about working on a project over which he didn’t have full creative control this time around. However, the film’s political subtext (it’s almost just text ) and the director’s signature style make it stand out in an era of interchangeable epics on ancient themes. You can rent “Spartak” from the Prime Video company .
Fitzcarraldo (1982)
Werner Herzog’s classic dramatizes the story of the real-life Carlos Fitzcarald, who led the transportation of a steamship through the Amazon mountains to reach rubber trees. It turns out that doing this in a film is just as difficult as doing it in real life, and Herzog’s commitment to verisimilitude made it no less of a challenge. Injuries (one crew member lost a leg) and even deaths plagued the crew , and the situation only got worse when star Jason Robards had to leave after a bout of dysentery. Herzog cast his frequent star—and nemesis—Klaus Kinski in the title role, and Kinski promptly alienated almost everyone, all at once. According to Herzog, a local leader offered to kill Kinski quietly, but Herzog politely refused. And yet the result is a triumph of stressful cinema. You can stream Fitzcarraldo on Prime Video , Peacock , Tubi or Freevee .
Malcolm X (1992)
Despite a string of critical successes, including 1989’s Do the Right Thing , it was far from clear that Spike Lee was the right man for the epic biopic – his films to that point were more intimate and (perhaps ironically, given the subject matter) ) he was black, and Hollywood authorities were not used to handing over large sums of money to filmmakers of color. The Malcolm X biography had been floating around for decades, and when Warner Bros. finally picked it up, they wanted director Norman Jewison ( In the Heat of the Night ) to star in the project, with Denzel Washington attached.
After protests (including from Spike Lee), Jewison gracefully backed down and Lee took control. Funding was scarce and the studio wanted something much shorter, but several black American luminaries (including Oprah Winfrey, Michael Jordan, Prince, Magic Johnson and Tracy Chapman) provided the necessary money. The result is one of the greatest screen biopics of all time, with Lee bringing an intensity and style to the film that many other biopics lack. You can stream Malcolm X on Paramount+ or rent it on Prime Video .
Citizen Kane (1941)
Orson Welles arrived in Hollywood in his 20s, a boy wonder who had achieved a string of impressive and highly inventive successes on radio and on the stage. Perhaps out of a sense of opportunism, RKO gave Welles a two-picture contract as well as an unprecedented level of creative control—especially for a man who had never directed a film before. His first idea was an adaptation of Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness (see: Apocalypse Now ), but instead he collaborated with writer Herman J. Mankiewicz on a film script that most definitely would not (for legal reasons) be the story of newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst and his companion Marion Davis.
The filming was grueling for both the fastidious, hard-working Welles and the cast and crew, but the real battles began afterwards: as soon as Hearst and company learned of the film’s focus, the Hollywood press went to war with Hearst’s defenders. and his media empire crushed the project before anyone had even seen a single scene. The publicity helped the film as much as it hurt it at the box office, but Citizen Kane’s legacy as one of Hollywood’s greatest films (and one of my favorites) speaks for itself. You can rent Citizen Kane from Prime Video .