13 most unlucky film projects in history

Encountering many problems during preparation and filming, films like "Mad Max" or "The Abyss" were listed by Telegraph as the most unlucky films ever.

1. The Wizard Of Oz (1939)

On the 75th anniversary of the film, the Sunday People revealed behind-the-scenes secrets of the making of the film. The original actor who played the Tin Man Buddy Edsen was poisoned after ten days of shooting by inhaling aluminum powder used for his make-up, while the actress who played the “Wicked Witch of the West” - Margaret Hamilton - suffered burns after filming an explosion scene. In addition, the lead actress Judy Garland was forced to take stimulants to keep up with the film's grueling shooting schedule. The drug overdose later led to Garland's death at the age of 47.

2. American Graffiti (1973)

The city of San Rafael (USA) revoked the crew's permit after just one night of filming because it was too noisy. During filming, Harrison Ford (who later played Han Solo in the Star Wars series) was arrested for participating in a bar fight and another crew member was jailed for growing marijuana. Director George Lucas's room was burned down, and lead actor Richard Dreyfuss suffered a long cut on his forehead right before a crucial close-up scene when a co-star threw him into a swimming pool. Two cameramen nearly died while filming a street racing scene.

3. The Shining (1980)

Despite having the original author, Stephen King, write a draft of the screenplay for him, director Stanley Kubrick still worked with Diane Johnson because he liked her books. As a result, lead actor Jack Nicholson became so frustrated with the director's daily revisions during filming that he gave up learning his lines, knowing they would inevitably be changed at the last minute. Author Stephen King also said that he did not like the film because "there are a few minutes of horror in the film, but the rest is just the same".

4. The Twilight Zone Movie (1983)

The final scene on the Twilight Zone set used a helicopter. Although it was completed the day before, director John Landis thought it wasn't big enough and reshot it the next day. This resulted in disaster when the helicopter used in the scene crashed, hitting veteran actor Vic Morrow and two extras, Renee Chen and Myca Dinh Le, both under the age of ten.Ironically, in the film there is a line that Morrow says to the two child actors: “I will protect you two, I promise. Nothing can hurt you, I swear to God.”

Landis continued to make other films, but was never able to escape the trauma of the tragedy. In a 1991 interview, he said: “I live with the movie (Twilight Zone) every day of my life.”

5. The Abyss (1989)

James Cameron's sci-fi film follows a group of divers as they search for a missing submarine. The production - from pre-production to release - was a disaster.

The crew often had to work 30 feet below the surface. An underwater oxygen station was built specifically for Cameron and the actors, allowing them to work for about five hours at a time. Initially, when the pH level in the diving suits was not accurate, crew members suffered hair loss or discoloration and skin burns from too much chlorine. Even when not working, the crew was stressed by the shaking and unstable station. Many also suffered sinus and ear problems. Director James Cameron nearly died during filming due to overwork.

With the filming process being grueling 15 to 18 hours a day, some people erased the words “The Abyss” from the station’s blackboard and rewrote it as “The Abuse.” When it was released, the film was a disappointment, grossing only $90 million and costing $70 million to produce.

6. The Marrying Man (1991)

The romantic comedy was a box office flop, grossing just $11 million and being pulled from theaters after a month of release, before virtually disappearing from the film world. Walt Disney Studios blamed the film's failure on a lack of humor and on-set friction between its two leads, actor Alec Baldwin and actress Kim Basinger. The friction led to Basinger arguing with screenwriter Neil Simon over lines and frequently showing up late, while Baldwin threw chairs, punched walls, and smashed the executive producer's phone. The film's budget ballooned to $26 million due to the constant delays. The film also marked the beginning of Alec Baldwin's decline in Hollywood.

7. Alien 3 (1992)

In 1987, science fiction writer William Gibson was hired to write the third Alien. He placed the Xenomorphs, the monsters from the first two films, in the middle of a conflict between the “space communists” and “intergalactic capitalists”—a popular Hollywood motif at the time. This led to numerous rewrites. After script problems, director Renny Harlin dropped out of the contract, even though he had signed on beforehand. Actress Sigourney Weaver demanded $5 million and a share of the box office—a huge sum at the time—for the role of Riley. By the time director David Fincher joined the project, $7 million had been spent on creating a futuristic, gothic setting, even though the final script had not yet been written. Fincher later denied any involvement with the film, saying: “No one hated that movie more than I did.”

8. Blade: Trinity (2004)

The first two Blade films were very successful. By the third film, the horror element seemed to have been taken out of the film. The conflict between actor Weasley Snipes and director David Goyer was also one of the things that led to the failure of the film. Snipes accused Goyer of racism because he thought that “there was a whole movie with a black guy and you (referring to Goyer) made him (referring to Snipes) wear a shirt that said Garbage.” Gradually, the two only communicated through notes.

In an interview with AV Club, actor Patton Oswalt said of Snipes: “He's crazy in a funny way. He does nothing but smoke pot all day. Some of the lines Ryan Reynolds had to say were because Snipes wasn't there.”

9. World War Z (2013)

In 2013, Brad Pitt starred in and produced two films. One of them, 12 Years Of Slave, won him an Oscar. But the other film, World War Z, in which he played the main role, was a disaster for the crew before it was released. The script was called a mess, full of explanatory text and had an ending that was deliberately confusing to viewers. Director Marc Forster was chosen by Pitt as someone who had no experience with blockbusters that required a lot of special effects. The main setting was changed from Philadelphia to Glasgow, despite the obvious differences between the two cities.

“They just couldn’t get it right,” a crew member later told the Hollywood Reporter. “Even though they talked a lot, they didn’t have a plan.”

10. 47 Ronin (2013)

When Universal Pictures began work on the $175 million film, they were frustrated by the lack of professionalism in the editing. Instead of putting star Keanu Reeves at the center of the melee, director Carl Rinsch let the chaos play out, spreading the protagonist’s actions across widely separated scenes.

Sensing the problem, the studio immediately reshot many scenes with the aim of enhancing the role of the main character played by Keanu. But all the changes later could not save the film from becoming a bomb in 2013 with a revenue of just over 150 million dollars.

11. The Canyons (2013)

The film was doomed from the start, with the casting of adult film actor James Deen as the male lead and “trouble queen” Lindsay Lohan as the female lead. The press at the time said that the two actors’ poor performances were no surprise. “Lohan’s reputation is still there,” said screenwriter Bret Easton Ellis. “The moment we gave her the role, the film was a different thing. She wouldn’t even read the script.”

12. The Fantastic Four (2015)

The Fantastic Four director Josh Trank had a successful debut with Chronicle, which grossed over $64 million on a $12 million budget. Instead of another hit, he made a Razzie-winning film. A crew member said, “He refused to accept help from others, lived in a tent, and avoided people. He was very negative and unsociable.” 20th Century Fox was also criticized for the film’s failure due to lack of vision and poor visual effects.

13. Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

Mad Max: Fury Road first began filming in 2003 in Namibia, but was pushed back to 2009 due to the Iraq War and the unstable security situation in Namibia. Weather factors caused the filming schedule to be pushed back several times, and reshoots also delayed the release date. There were also rumors that the two main actors - Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron - did not communicate on set, and Warner Bros. had to send a manager to manage director George Miller due to concerns about the film's $150 million budget.

However, Mad Max: Fury Road has become a testament to the fact that not every film that has problems during production and filming is a failure. Upon its release, it was highly appreciated by both critics and the public and became one of the biggest box office blockbusters of 2015.

According to VNE