Review Films That You Think Were Ruined by Actors/Directors/Writers!

[The Seeker]

Some films could have been good (or better) without interference from directors, producers, or prima donna actors. Here's one example:

Paths of Glory - A great film, but Kirk Douglas had too much say in it. Stanley Kubrick would have done well to use a less known actor. Besides insisting on a shirtless scene (which I don't mind) but he insisted his character would be unambiguously noble when Kubrick wanted him to be more complex. He insisted on a happier ending. And for a French character, he sure did swagger around like an American!

Can anyone think of any others?

 

[The Seeker]

Ridley Scott's Robin Hood - According to Cracked, "Nottingham would've been the single most original Robin Hood movie in history. The original script (written by Ethan Reiff and Cyrus Voris) so excited studios when it turned up in 2007 that it became the subject of a fierce bidding war ... It was a totally different take on the story -- the Sheriff of Nottingham is the main character and protagonist. Shit gets real once the sheriff investigates a string of grisly murders in the area. The sheriff then pursues an assholish Robin Hood (Russell Crowe) for the crimes only to find out that Robin, while a dickhead, was actually being framed.

"The film was to climax with an epic siege of the city of Nottingham between Prince John and King Richard, all while the Sheriff tries to discover the identity of the real killer using 12th century detective techniques (Reiff is a history buff and researched how actual killings in that era were investigated).

"Then, director Ridley Scott came on board and said, 'What is this shit? We're making a Robin Hood movie! Get all that standard Robin Hood stuff back in there. That's what everybody wants to see.' The movie was renamed Robin Hood and lots more scenes with people shooting bows and arrows were added. A few rewrites later, very little of the original screenplay remained. Today, Nottingham is a cautionary tale for every young, aspiring screenwriter out there. It doesn't matter what you write: the director and the star will decide what makes it onto the screen."

 

[filmfan95]

The Hobbit trilogy. Ever since I was a kid, I was waiting for the movie. Did I get it? Nope.

 

[The Seeker]

Who mangled Tolkien? The script writer or the director?

 

[MovieKnut]

The Hobbit trilogy. Ever since I was a kid, I was waiting for the movie. Did I get it? Nope.

It was always going to be a stretch making a trilogy out of a 370 page book. Especially 3 movies at approx. 3 hours apiece. Loved Jackson's Lord of the Rings, haven't even made it through the first Hobbit movie so far.

 

[Nick91]

Paths of Glory - A great film, but Kirk Douglas had too much say in it. Stanley Kubrick would have done well to use a less known actor. Besides insisting on a shirtless scene (which I don't mind) but he insisted his character would be unambiguously noble when Kubrick wanted him to be more complex. He insisted on a happier ending. And for a French character, he sure did swagger around like an American!

It's been a long time since I watched Paths of Glory, but in my opinion,

Spoiler

Colonel Dax' was a realistic character in the sense that in-group loyalty is a very common trait in the military. Killing your enemies is one thing, but I can understand wanting to protect your own soldiers.

Not everyone will be bold enough to speak up, but if we consider that Dax probably advanced to his relatively high rank within the French Army because of courage and conviction, it does add up to me. Granted, I haven't read the novel, so it's possible that Kubrick's vision of the character was more in accordance with whatever the original story had.

As for the actor himself, Kirk Douglas belonged to a era in Hollywood in which the biggest stars (and their employers, naturally) wanted to convey a certain image and persona that transcended the parts they were playing. These personas were often larger-than-life and heroic. However, Douglas never shied away from taking on roles that were less flattering. In fact, he seemed to thrive on them, generally speaking.

Perhaps he felt that Dax needed to be a certain way in this particular movie to balance out the other three morally questionable characters? If Douglas insisted on a happier ending, then he thankfully failed with that, so it didn't really end up ruining the movie in that way. Attempted ruining, maybe. ;)

 

[The Seeker]

You may be right. That's a good point. I wonder how Kubrick wanted him portrayed. As for the ending,

Spoiler

Kubrick wanted to end on the execution, but since Douglas wanted a more hopeful ending, they ended on the song.

 

[ant-mac]

Paths of Glory - A great film, but Kirk Douglas had too much say in it. Stanley Kubrick would have done well to use a less known actor. Besides insisting on a shirtless scene (which I don't mind) but he insisted his character would be unambiguously noble when Kubrick wanted him to be more complex. He insisted on a happier ending. And for a French character, he sure did swagger around like an American!

I must admit that I enjoyed PATHS OF GLORY, because I am, for the most part, a fan of both Kirk Douglas and Stanley Kubrick. However, it does not surprise me to hear that Kirk Douglas insisted upon having input into his character.

He was originally cast in the role of Colonel Samuel Trautman in FIRST BLOOD (1982), opposite Sylvester Stallone. However, due to his unhappiness with the script, which included a change to the ending that saw John Rambo survive, he eventually left the production and Richard Crenna replaced him.

Ridley Scott's Robin Hood - According to Cracked, "Nottingham would've been the single most original Robin Hood movie in history. The original script (written by Ethan Reiff and Cyrus Voris) so excited studios when it turned up in 2007 that it became the subject of a fierce bidding war ... It was a totally different take on the story -- the Sheriff of Nottingham is the main character and protagonist. Shit gets real once the sheriff investigates a string of grisly murders in the area. The sheriff then pursues an assholish Robin Hood (Russell Crowe) for the crimes only to find out that Robin, while a dickhead, was actually being framed.

Again, I enjoyed this film, despite initial misgivings upon hearing that Russell Crowe was going to play the hero. After all, a bow and arrow is much harder to use as a weapon than a telephone. Although I must admit that I would still rather have seen the alternative film that you have described. It sounds quite interesting.

Can anyone think of any others?

THE TRUMAN SHOW (1998). I absolutely loved the concept behind this film and looked forward to a vaguely satirical and sinister film, full of black humour and with a dark and disturbing twist. And then I heard that Jim Carrey was going to be in it. I'm sure he must be a very fine stand-up comedian, but I can't say that I think much of his acting abilities. In fact, I could describe almost his entire film career with three letters...

OTT.

Having said that, I thought he did pretty well in KICK-ASS 2. Of course, he did play a straight role in that film.

 

[Nick91]

You may be right. That's a good point. I wonder how Kubrick wanted him portrayed. As for the ending,

Spoiler

Kubrick wanted to end on the execution, but since Douglas wanted a more hopeful ending, they ended on the song.

Oh, in that case, I misunderstood you about the 'happy ending' part. I actually forgot that the movie ended

Spoiler

with Kubrick's future wife singing to the soldiers. But it's only temporary bliss; the viewer knows that they will all have to go back to battle soon. What truly would have ruined the ending of the movie would have been if Dax somehow saves the three doomed soldiers' lives in an over-the-top rescue scene, lol.

 

[The Seeker]

THE TRUMAN SHOW (1998). I absolutely loved the concept behind this film and looked forward to a vaguely satirical and sinister film, full of black humour and with a dark and disturbing twist. And then I heard that Jim Carrey was going to be in it. I'm sure he must be a very fine stand-up comedian, but I can't say that I think much of his acting abilities. In fact, I could describe almost his entire film career with three letters...

OTT.

Yeah, a lot of rubber-faced mugging and shouting, but then again, that describes a lot of reality TV stars.

 

[mustang2006]

Not a good end to Two Lane Blacktop, but it was what the director wanted, I suppose.

 

[Janine The Barefoot]

Can anyone think of any others?

Pretty Woman. I'm not saying I'm a huge fan of the film itself but that the original ending was entirely different than the one that made it to the big screen.

As it turned out, the studio heads wanted public feedback on how the film concluded and brought in focus-group "test" audiences to get their reactions to what had been planned. Reactions that were so negative they scrapped and reshot the ending entirely.

As I don't know how to use the "spoiler" feature yet, I'll leave out the conclusion that we should have gotten and will admit that it would have made for a much more challenging and interesting film altogether. Also one that would have been much more true to life.

If anybody wants the "spoiler" I'd be happy to come back later and fill it in once I'm caught up on all of our new changes.

For now I'll just apologize for my lack of knowledge about all of the things that have been added to the site. Like anything else, I'll just try to keep learning as I go.

 

[Amyghost]

Yeah, a lot of rubber-faced mugging and shouting, but then again, that describes a lot of reality TV stars.

I thought Carrey had some promise back in the day, but anymore I'll actively avoid a film if he's in it. Somewhere along the line he started leaving me with the impression that he was trying, in some odd way, to be the successor to jack Nicholson but lacks Nicholson's baseline talent to pull this off.

 

[TheSowIsMine]

I saw the work print of Rob Zombies Halloween. It was pretty different than the one I saw(in the Netherlands the normal version is the directors cut in the US). There were no jump scares and Michael was shot by the cops, no returning, just the end. It was a nice brutal horror film.
I still enjoy the version that came out, but the work print is so much better. The worst one is the US theatrical release, that one was watered down so much.

 

[The Seeker]

As I don't know how to use the "spoiler" feature yet, I'll leave out the conclusion that we should have gotten and will admit that it would have made for a much more challenging and interesting film altogether. Also one that would have been much more true to life.

Oh go ahead and spoil it. We already know how the actual movie ended, and I'm intrigued by this alternate ending of which you speak. From what you've said, I can already tell it won't be (to borrow a quote from the movie ) Cinder-fuckin'-rella.

 

[Janine The Barefoot]

Cinder-fuckin'-rella

In fact, you genius you, that was what the audience objected to! They wanted Cinderella!!!

What it was supposed to be was, Richard Gere's character returning to LA to "sweep her off her feet" only to discover that she had been murdered by her roommate's pimp... an altogether "too dark" and "too depressing" ending for the test audience to be interested in. So instead he climbed up her staircase to "rescue" her from from the very real and all too true ending that most girls in that business actually end up with. The original ending, I think, would have made for a much more interesting film altogether.

Instead, JR got the "fairy-tale ending" and went on to become America's Sweetheart.

Blechhhhhhh.....

 

[TheSowIsMine]

In fact, you genius you, that was what the audience objected to! They wanted Cinderella!!!

What it was supposed to be was, Richard Gere's character returning to LA to "sweep her off her feet" only to discover that she had been murdered by her roommate's pimp... an altogether "too dark" and "too depressing" ending for the test audience to be interested in. So instead he climbed up her staircase to "rescue" her from from the very real and all too true ending that most girls in that business actually end up with. The original ending, I think, would have made for a much more interesting film altogether.

Instead, JR got the "fairy-tale ending" and went on to become America's Sweetheart.

Blechhhhhhh.....

I always read that the original ending was Roberts character and her friend going to Disneyland together by bus, just the girls. No real love story. Also, it was called 3000 and not Pretty Woman.
There is also the story that the original ending was Gere's character trowing Roberts character out of the car and trowing money at her head.
There is also the one where she dies of an overdose.
So in the end, we still don't know how it was supposed to end, they all have different stories.

 

[Janine The Barefoot]

So in the end, we still don't know how it was supposed to end, they all have different stories.

Killjoy! I loved my "urban legend", this is probably all BS anyway, kind of "Ooh I'm cool, look what I know?!" ... kind of "Valley Girl", pathetic, "good grief woman!" answer of my very own "make-believe"!..... you monster-killer!

But hey! Who am I to judge? Oh yeah!.... H-U-M-A-N! Cause isn't judging what we do best?!

 

[TheSowIsMine]

That's me, little miss killjoy
I think the Disneyland one is the original one, that story came from the original script writer.

 

[Janine The Barefoot]

That's me, little miss killjoy

Oh you great big sow!