Rogue One. Suicide Squad. Mad Max: Fury Road. Everyone knows these recent hit movies underwent the much-maligned Hollywood ritual known as reshoots, and in fact word broke this week that Spider-Man: Homecoming reshoots (or pick-ups) are currently under way. And yet despite their bad rep, the finished product often isn't the nightmare many fans expect. In the case of the above mentioned films, maybe they didn't all end up becoming classics, but they did defy the conventional wisdom that says reshoots are the kiss of death.
Reshoots are often viewed as flailing, expensive attempts to patch up broken movies at the eleventh hour. They signal panic on the part of the studio and serve to deflate audience expectations. But in the long history of film, reshoots are actually a very common occurrence and one that, while not always, can be for the best. Looking back across the years, there are many examples of reshoots improving or even saving films. (Of course, there are also plenty of examples of reshoots that either couldn’t salvage a troubled project or actively damaged it.) So journey with us now as we look at a sampling of some of the most frequent types of movie reshoots...
This is probably the most common reshoot. By some estimates a majority of all modern studio films undergo some form of postproduction reworking, often to augment practical effects or action sequences. They can range anywhere from a few quick pick-ups to weeks of new filming on completely rebuilt sets.
The latter was the case for Waterworld, Kevin Costner’s notorious budget-busting box office bomb. After an initial screening was poorly received, reshoots were ordered to make the lead more heroic and improve visual effects, including a scene in which Costner’s character, “the Mariner,” harpoons a giant CG shark monster from the inside out. Originally the scene had been shot with real sharks, which looked tame and inert, possibly from being kept in pens too long.
In 2007 Ridley Scott reshot a violent chase scene for his Blade Runner: The Final Cut re-release some 25 years after the original movie’s premiere. Scott felt the scene, in which Joanna Cassidy’s snake-charming replicant unsuccessfully tries to flee Harrison Ford’s Deckard, looked shabby and fake. A stuntwoman’s face was too visible and there were numerous other problems ranging from the shoes she was wearing (flats instead of the character’s usual heels) to the visibility of squib wires. So Scott brought Cassidy back to re-film the entire sequence against a green-screen before digitally superimposing her image into the scene.
There’s at least one significant reshoot in Steven Spielberg’s popcorn masterpiece Jaws. After not getting enough of a reaction from test audiences at the sudden underwater appearance of poor Ben Gardner’s body, the director asked Universal to to allow him a do-over. The company refused so he dressed up a swimming pool to look like the ocean and paid $3,000 out of pocket to reshoot the startling moment for a bigger scare.
Originally, Captain Kirk was supposed to die after being shot in the back by the villainous Soran in Star Trek: Generations. Director David Carson reportedly hated the idea but filmed it anyway. He was proven right when test audiences shared his opinion, prompting the studio to fork over the cash for an action-heavy reshoot that let Kirk go down fighting.
Another common reshoot occurs when a key component of a film, generally the ending, has to be reworked after poor test screenings. Some fans may not know that Rocky originally ended somewhat differently than the perfect, tear-jerking scene that sees a battered Rocky, besieged by reporters, screaming for Adrian as she pushes her way toward him through the crowd. That scene had to be shot on a shoestring budget some four months after principal photography ended. The original version had Stallone’s underdog pugilist basically crowdsurfing his way to Adrian, which... yeah.
Preview screenings for an early cut of the Glenn Close/Michael Douglas thriller Fatal Attraction doomed the film’s original ending and required last-minute reshoots of the entire sequence. In the first draft, Close’s spurned psychopath Alex kills herself and frames Douglas’ character Dan for her murder, leading to his arrest. After three weeks of reshooting, that downer was replaced with a thrilling fight scene in which Alex desperately attempts to murder Dan only to be killed herself at the last second by Dan’s wife.
It was yet again those pesky test audiences who prompted a big change to Will Smith’s zombie(ish) actioner I am Legend. The original ending had the monsters displaying a much more human capacity for love than Smith’s character ever considered them capable of, recasting the hero as a cruel tormenter of intelligent creatures destined to inherit the planet. But when that bleak finale was met with disdain, the ending was reshot so Smith could simply detonate the bad guys in a blaze of senseless glory. (Of course, the original ending was more in keeping with the book on which the film was based, but the crowd wants what the crowd wants.)
Another variant on the reshot ending can be scene in the conclusion to Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Director Nicholas Meyer originally intended the film to end with Spock’s body being shot out of a torpedo tube but producers felt it would enrage diehard Trek fans. So a quick shot of Spock’s casket on the kudzu planet Genesis was tacked on at the end to ensure that no one who saw the film would actually believe the character was gone for good. (And Meyer refused to participate in that reshoot.)
Perhaps the most famous example of a movie being reshot due to a casting change is Back to the Future. Eric Stoltz was originally cast as Marty McFly but, after several weeks of filming, something just wasn’t right. The actor wasn’t getting along with fellow cast members and the crew, and he lacked the manic energy needed for the role. Michael J. Fox was brought in and three million dollars’ worth of reshoots ensued. While reportedly none of Stoltz’s scenes made the final cut, some believe at least one shot was never redone with Fox and thus, for a fleeting, blurry moment, Stoltz’s McFly possibly lives on.
Another, more tragic cast replacement occurred during the filming of Furious 7 when star Paul Walker died in a car accident in 2013. Instead of recasting the character -- an all but impossible task given the actor’s importance to the franchise and the amount of footage already captured -- the film’s producers turned to digital magic and the late star’s two brothers to finish his scenes. Similar techniques had been used to replace deceased actors in Gladiator and The Sopranos but never to this extent. The effort required major rewrites and incurred millions in added production costs but ultimately delivered the more than 350 shots left unfinished at the time of Walker's sudden passing, and provided for a touching swan song for the actor and his character Brian.
Sometimes a movie is so messed up it’s not enough to just change the ending or even replace an actor. That was the case in Anchorman, which reportedly had up to 40% of its plot replaced after a disastrous test screening. You can still find some of the cut scenes online featuring Amy Poehler and Maya Rudolph, the latter of which plays an extreme activist plotting to kidnap Christina Applegate’s character Veronica Corningstone. The same was true of World War Z, which barely survived to see the light of day. The production had massive problems all along and required a completely new third act. Depending on who you ask it took from four to seven weeks of reshoots to get the movie in release-worthy shape.
Another even more dramatic reshoot took place on the set of Superman II. As much as 75% of the film was completed simultaneously with the first Superman film by director Richard Donner. But as the dual productions dragged on, filming on the second half of the two-part epic was halted so Donner could focus on finishing the first film. When it was time to take up the second movie again, Donner’s clashes with producers led to his replacement by Richard Lester. While much of Donner’s scenes appear in the final film, Lester had to reshoot a great deal of existing material in order to secure a directing credit under DGA rules. The new scenes were shot about two years after filming initially began, resulting in noticeable differences in the appearances of stars Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder. (And of course, Donner's cut of Superman II did eventually find its way to DVD decades later.)
Paul Schrader knows something about directing changes, having been replaced after completely filming his version of Exorcist: The Beginning. After the director showed studio execs his first cut of the Exorcist prequel, they were reportedly so outraged by the lack of horror elements he was fired and replaced with Renny Harlin. Harlin ordered rewrites of the script and shot nearly the entire film over again using a completely different main cast with the exception of protagonist Stellan Skarsgard. Both versions would eventually be released with Schrader’s renamed Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist. Neither was particularly well received, though Schrader’s is generally considered superior.
So there you have it. In many cases, reshoots are just part of the cost of doing business in Hollywood. Often, they can save a troubled production or repair a damaged element, turning a potential disaster into a hit. Other times, the money spent on reshoots would have been better invested under a mattress.
Have any favorite movies that needed reshoots to survive? Let us know in the comments!
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