PREGNANT PAUSE Movies That Went Way Past Their Due Date
INDIANA JONES THE THIN AND THE KINGDOM RED LINE OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL
(1999)
Gestation: Twenty years from initial inception to screen, with the screenplay alone taking a decade
(2008)
to complete.
Worth the Wait? Any Terrence Malick film is worth Gestation: Three different scripts were produced
waiting for, although some of the cast may feel
over a period of fifteen years, none of which lived
differently: Adrien Brody started out as the ‘star’, but
up to Steven Spielberg’s demand for ‘double-butter
by the time the edit was completed, he was merely
popcorn with extra frosting on top’.
a supporting player. Meanwhile Mickey Rourke was
Worth the wait? Nope – the weakest of the Indy
excised completely. Neither was amused.
series, with a ropey script, seen-it-before action sequences, and (worst of all) Shia LaBeouf.
THE LEGO MOVIE
(2014)
ERASERHEAD
(1977)
Gestation: Five years, mainly due to funding problems, and the fact that David Lynch had to keep
Gestation: It took four years, but then animating
going off to do his paper round. Really.
Lego bricks is more painful than treading on them.
Worth the Wait? Definitely, unless you’re having
Script rewrites were the other reason.
chicken for dinner . . .
Worth the wait? Absolutely. Everything is Awesome.
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SLEEPING BEAUTY
BOYHOOD
(1959)
(2014)
Gestation: A whopping twelve years! Now that’s what we call a pregnant pause.
Gestation: Eight years. An elaborate creative
Worth the wait? Yes, you’ll watch a boy become a
process that included five years of animation,
man (literally).
and hand-inking which meant a single frame might take a week to complete.
Worth the wait? Yes. A Disney classic.
A.I. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
(2001)
AVATAR
(2009)
Gestation: James Cameron wrote the original treatment in 1994, but had to wait until the technology he needed to film the script had been developed.
Worth the wait? Depends on whether you really want Gestation: Stanley Kubrick began developing a
to watch Smurfahontas in Space. Dr M really
film based on Brian Aldiss’s ‘Super-Toys Last All
enjoyed the 3D. Dr K, blinded by hatred and dark
Summer Long’ in the early seventies. By the time the
glasses, did not.
film opened in 2001, Kubrick was dead and Steven Spielberg had taken over as director.
Worth the wait? On first viewing, no. On second viewing, maybe. On third viewing – Blimey Charlie!
APOCALYPSE NOW (1979)
Gestation: Ten years. An epic in every sense, it would require a separate clinic to diagnose all the difficulties that beset this Coppola masterpiece.
Worth the wait? Absolutely, despite the fact that in all that time Marlon Brando never actually read either the source novella (Heart of Darkness) or (apparently) the script.
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