The Abyss (1989)
James Cameron’s determination to film extensive sequences underwater resulted in an exhausting production inside a massive unfinished nuclear power plant containment structure converted into a tank. Cast members later described the physically and emotionally punishing shoot, although all that misery at least resulted in a movie that eventually developed a devoted following.
Roar (1981)
The premise involved actors interacting with dozens of largely untrained lions, tigers, and other big cats, and the predictable result was an astonishing number of injuries. Cast and crew members were bitten, scratched, and otherwise hurt during the years-long production, making the movie’s behind-the-scenes story far more famous than the film itself.
The Conqueror (1956)
John Wayne playing Genghis Khan was already a questionable creative decision, but the location eventually became the movie’s much darker legacy. Parts were filmed in Utah downwind from nuclear testing in Nevada, and the large number of cancer cases later recorded among cast and crew fueled lasting concern about their possible exposure, although a direct causal link has never been established.
Movie 43 (2013)
It took years to assemble the bizarre anthology’s enormous cast, which included Oscar winners and some of Hollywood’s biggest stars. After all that effort, Movie 43 was savaged by critics, leaving behind the considerably more interesting question of how so many famous people ended up participating in it.
Heaven’s Gate (1980)
Michael Cimino’s Western became synonymous with unchecked Hollywood excess as repeated takes, elaborate sets, delays, and obsessive attention to detail sent costs soaring. The movie’s disastrous initial release reportedly lost tens of millions of dollars and contributed to the collapse of United Artists as an independent studio, turning its troubled production into Hollywood legend.
