Don Quixote and the top cursed film projects
Film history lists plenty of movie disasters and alleged masterworks by top directors that never or just barely made it to the screen. Never finished or never shown, here are 10 famous mad movie projects.
Completed after 17 years: 'The Man Who Killed Don Quixote'
Filming on Terry Gilliam's legendary Don Quixote project started in 2000, only to be postponed and interrupted several times for various reasons. The 2002 documentary "Lost in La Mancha" showed the nightmarish setbacks of the production. Over the years, the actors and even the story changed. It finally premiered at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival. But not all cursed projects were completed...
Never shot: Kubrick's 'Napoleon'
Stanley Kubrick's had extremely elaborate plans for his Napoleon Bonaparte epic, but the project failed, even though the screenplay and costumes were all ready. A dissuading factor for producers was the financial flop faced by Sergei Bondartschuk's mega production, Waterloo. Kubrick's preparations weren't entirely in vain: Some material was used in his 1975 work, "Barry Lyndon."
Out of luck: Eisenstein's Mexico films
In the early 1930s, famous director Sergei M. Eisenstein planned but failed to shoot a work titled "Que viva Mexico!" in Hollywood. A second venture, a film about Mexican history, failed as well. The material that was actually filmed has been used in various documentaries.
Incomplete projects galore: Orson Welles
Orson Welles is perhaps the master of incomplete films. His classic works are actually outnumbered by projects that were never finished, the most well-known being "The Other Side of the Wind." Welles started shooting it in the 1980s but died before filming ended. Netflix has meanwhile restored and completed the unfinished film, which premiered at the 2018 Venice Film Festival.
Neverending story: Marilyn Monroe's last movie
When filming started in 1962, no one knew this was going to be Marilyn Monroe's last movie. Director George Cukor's "Something's Got to Give" was star-crossed from the start because Monroe repeatedly dropped out. Lee Remick was to replace her, only to be vetoed by lead actor Dean Martin. A later documentary shows 37 minutes of the unfinished film.
Experiment with colors: 'Hell'
Iconic German actress Romy Schneider was cast to star in another famous unfinished film, Henri-Georges Clouzot's "L'Enfer" ("Hell," from 1964). The production turned into a nightmare, including because Clouzot had a heart attack. The director later used some sensational color shots of Romy Schneider in his last movie, and a documentary exploring why "Hell" was never completed came out in 2009.
Crying clowns: Jerry Lewis
Jerry Lewis' "The Day the Clown Cried" is one of the most mysterious film projects in film history, aiming to tell a story from Nazi Germany using humorous means. The American comedian directed and starred in the 1972 drama. It was completed, but never screened publicly due to legal problems and Lewis' displeasure with the outcome.
Megalomania: Francis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola also worked on various projects that never progressed. Among them, he turned to "Megalopolis" in 1984, but the 200-page script about an architect and a mayor quarreling about the future of New York City between was never turned into a movie.
A dream not come true: Leone's 'Leningrad'
In the 1980s, Italian director Sergio Leone, himself no stranger to epic movies (above, on set filming "Once upon a time in America"), wanted to make a film about the grueling German siege of Leningrad in World War II. The film was never realized, as the director died in 1989 at the age of 60.
More shattered dreams: Alfred Hitchcock
Even the "master of suspense" Alfred Hitchcock couldn't realize all of his projects and ideas. In the late 1950s, he planned to film "No Bail for the Judge," starring Audrey Hepburn, a film about a judge charged with murdering a prostitute. But there were problems, the lead actress withdrew — and Hitchcock moved on to other projects.