Of all the movies that were rushed through production and released very quickly, which ones amazed you most with the final product?

Submitted by t3_125s0zi in movies

Hi.

Hope you’re doing well.

Apparently this isn’t too much of an uncommon thing in Hollywood for films to shoot without a script or with a very quick deadline before it’s in theaters and it does sound like a bit of a recipe for disaster, right? I mean, a movie made with just an outline and actors not receiving anything more than basic guidance has the odds against it. You add in other issues some movies have faced and the obstacles keep increasing.

When you think about it, Iron Man (no script, gambling on an actor who has fought demons who is making a comeback, etc.) actually succeeded better than so many movies which have had a smooth production and plenty of time and patience with a fantastically prepared script, but I think many people regard it as one of the best superhero movies largely because of course it was a great movie, but also it succeeded against the odds largely because of dynamite performances from the likes of RDJ and Jeff Bridges and a good on-the-surface commentary on weapons manufacturing and profiteering that was actually more than I think a lot would expect from a typical superhero movie.

What are other movies that were rushed through production that you couldn’t believe how great they turned out?

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t1_je5k50n wrote

Touch of Evil is an all-time great movie, and it was made on a famously insane, impossible schedule. Orson Welles, who was cast as the villain, took over the role of director three weeks before filming was supposed to end, and it had not even started yet. He rewrote the script in a week and then filmed the whole thing, on location, in two weeks (while still starring in the movie).

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t1_je5kkvs wrote

Casablanca was shot in two months. It helped that it was shot in a studio, and not on location.

Memento, Christopher Nolan's first hit, was shot in 25 days. Guy Pearce only acted together with the movie’s other principals — Carrie-Ann Moss and Joe Pantoliano — on the first day of filming.

Halloween, John Carpenter's first hit, was shot in 20 days over four weeks on a shoestring budget of $300,000.

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t1_je5kslr wrote

I'm not really sure about "rushed" per se but Tombstone (1993) comes close to fitting the bill. Director quit/fired -- they bring in another guy in name only to direct while Kurt Russell freaking actually directs the film while starring. He was drawing up the blocking and shooting schedule every evening the night before. It's by all accounts a masterpiece and given all that transpired really shouldn't have been. The odds were against it.

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t1_je5mayv wrote

Replying to unitedfan6191 (#2,451,412)

By all accounts the cast and crew were very up to it (the cast had to lobby the studio to let him direct, because he was essentially blacklisted at the time from directing), but Welles was probably the most talented director in the world at that point yeah. The Citizen Kane of directors, some would say lol

His previous few movies were actually the opposite: because of extreme budget and production constraints, they were shot over a period of years in bits and pieces and had to be cobbled together later. Orson was already very used to making films with extreme limitations

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t1_je5u9rp wrote

Idk how Zero Dark Thirty got done so quickly but it’s like Bin Laden was killed and 18 months later we get a spectacular big budget movie about it

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t1_je650cq wrote

All the early Bond films from Dr No to Thunderball were released roughly one year apart from one another. And they only got more and more successful with each one. And even today they remain some of the best and most iconic installments in the entire franchise.

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t1_je659sg wrote

Frozen was very rushed and changed in extraordinary ways during production from "shooting script" to what's on the screen. One reason Jennifer Lee was put in charge of animation over there: she can rebuild the airplane from its exploded chunks as it falls out of the sky.

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t1_je65avl wrote

Salt comes to mind. Movie was completely planned for Tom Cruise but he bailed at the last second. Angelina Jolie just stepped in and they barely changed a thing, and it worked. It's a really solid action/spy drama.

Also knowing the mess that was going on, it's a miracle Justice League wasn't even worse.

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t1_je67ybn wrote

Toy Story 2 was originally direct to vhs and was basically entirely reworked a month before release. All signs pointed to terrible movie. However, we got an excellent one

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t1_je69f27 wrote

IIRC Spielberg has done this a few times, notably War Of The Worlds. According to wiki it began filming in November 2004, wrapped in March 2005, and was released in June that same year.

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t1_je6bn5s wrote

Jurassic park and Schindlers list came out in the same year ... not sure which one got rushed more but they are obviously both great.

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t1_je6dns3 wrote

Off the top of my head, Rogue One seemed like it had a troubled development, with a lot of changes being made the year it was set to release. But then the final product ended up being great. The only modern Star Wars movie (so far? 🤷‍♂️) that I consider worth watching and rewatching

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t1_je6mwkk wrote

PRIMER

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primer_(film)

Fantastic Influential Time Travel Movie That made Tenet possibly...

https://i.imgur.com/KJsFsmE.jpg

Made for 7,000 Dollars!?? Made many times its budget in US box office.

Shot on film by 5 people quickly. Post production hell! Won Sundance 2004.

https://gizmodo.com/the-making-of-primer-every-inch-of-film-we-shot-was-i-1765041544

Quote from above link...

>Every inch of film we shot was in that movie with the exception of maybe 30 feet. We used expired stock, we used short ends, we used any kind of stock that Kodak would donate to us. We were a crew of five guys who trusted each other

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t1_je6qakg wrote

Million Dollar Baby. 40 shooting days. Clint Eastwood performed, directed, and even played piano. Studio released it juuust in time for Oscar consideration.

If that movie were just released one month later, Annette Bening would've gotten a 2004 Best Actress Oscar for Being Julia and Crash wouldn't be named Best Picture for 2005.

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t1_je6wwsl wrote

Nightcrawler and Whiplash were shot very quickly in a few weeks and have some exception performances and pacing.

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t1_je74pc9 wrote

Replying to warby (#2,456,784)

Fun fact, the studio would only let Spielberg make Schindler’s List if he did Jurassic Park first. They were still in post production on JP when filming SL so during the day Spielberg would be crafting the somber images from a genocide and during the nights he would watch dailies of the dinosaur CGI. Unsurprisingly, he’s said it took a toll on him

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t1_je78ei9 wrote

Margin Call

Budget of 3.5mil, made in 17 days, and it feels like it from the extremely quick pace - J.C. Chandor’s first movie, came out spraying

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t1_je79b2v wrote

The initial cut of Event Horizon(1997) was shot in 4 weeks! I think re-shoots pushed production back to two or three months. But for such a hellish production, it's one of the best sci-fi horror movies out there!

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t1_je7c6tc wrote

Replying to MouthJob (#2,458,455)

This is a fair criticism. Tombstone has some great scenes, but it's uneven in spots.. the pace seems to be accelerating at points and then pivots to the romantic entanglements and then back to the core plot and then back again.. it's a bit jumpy in that way.

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t1_je7e4x4 wrote

Replying to booferino30 (#2,463,777)

The director told a story where Jeremy Lion's Iron's passport wasn't good and he couldn't get to the US to film. And it was like Memorial Day weekend so trying to fast track through the bureaucracy was even more impossible. Somehow they pulled it off at the last second and got him there.

I imagine something like that on your first movie would take years off your life. It's a super important character so you really need an actor of stature, not just throwing a suit on the 1st AD.

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t1_je7hxj0 wrote

I remember the Tom Cruise/Steven Spielberg "War of the Worlds" had an insane schedule. They started shooting in November of 2004, wrapped in March of 2005 and the film was released in June of 2005. So from start of production to release was 7 months. I can't believe they finished post production on that so fast.

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t1_je7jmrb wrote

Munich. Six months from the first day of shooting to the day you could walk into a theatre and watch it. It’s beautiful.

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t1_je7nqv0 wrote

I was quite impressed when All the Money in the World completely replaced Kevin Spacey footage with Christopher Plummer after filming was completed, and shot his scenes in 8 days around Thanksgiving, and still met a December release barely a month later. Plummer even got an Oscar nomination. You have to give director Ridley Scott and his cast and crew enormous credit for pulling it all off so cleanly.

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t1_je7o9f7 wrote

Scream (1996) came out on December 20, 1996. Scream 2 began filming in June 1997 and was released on December 12, 1997. Similarly, Scream (2022) came out on January 14, 2022. Scream 6 began filming in June 2022 and was released on March 10, 2023. Both really good movies.

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t1_je7sf5m wrote

Replying to aw-un (#2,465,526)

It's infamous in VFX circles as one of the shows that hugely inflated studios' expectations of how much work was achievable in a tiny timescale. Of course it was only possible because of some of the genius talent involved, many of whom had worked together for years, and Spielberg having a crystal clear vision for what he wanted, which all the subsequent rushed post schedules utterly failed to replicate!

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t1_je7smww wrote

Replying to vfx4life (#2,468,062)

That would definitely make sense.

If there’s one director I would say has a clear vision of what he wants and has extensive knowledge of working with VFX, it’s Spielberg

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t1_je8a2kd wrote

already mentioned the speedy turnaround time for Spielberg’s WAR OF THE WORLDS in 2005 but it should also be mentioned that his film MUNICH, also from 2005, began filming the day that WAR OF THE WORLDS came out (4th of July weekend), finished shooting by the end of August, was edited by October, and had score and sound effects finished by November. It came out Christmas that year, less than half a year from the first shot to the first showing, and it wasn’t even a scramble for The Beard.

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t1_je8qika wrote

Off the top of my head... Scream 6

It was green lit, writen, shot, and released within a year of thr previous movie. It's not a masterpiece but its still very entertaining and a solid slasher film. Friday the 13th and Saw use to release a new movie every year and they got bland fast. This one still felt like it was still trying to give audiences the same level of quality

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