The creation of a film is a long and difficult process, but often all the challenges are rewarded, and the director, along with their work, receives praise and a well-deserved place on the lists of the best of the best. However, even the most famous filmmakers have projects that turned out to be far from what their creators had hoped for — in this selection, we will talk about some of these films.
David Fincher — Alien 3 (1992)
The third installment of the science fiction franchise started by Ridley Scott became David Fincher's directorial debut, but his memories of it are far from pleasant. According to Fincher himself, he was given only 5 weeks to work on the film, and the process was poorly organized, the script was unfinished, and he was still unknown at the time, risking to be forgotten in his directing career if the film failed. As Fincher admitted a few years ago, Alien 3 became a true nightmare for him — the director worked on the film for 2 years, was fired three times, but ultimately returned and fought for every detail in the plot. Even decades later, the threequel remains a project that Fincher hated more than anyone else.
David Lynch — Dune (1984)
Back in the distant 80s, David Lynch was considered one of the most successful directors of his time, and therefore he could confidently take on any project that interested him — paradoxically, this included the adaptation of Frank Herbert's novel 'Dune', which Lynch himself had never read. As a result, the director spent a considerable amount of time on the script, which he rewrote a total of 5 times, but he remained dissatisfied with the final result. As Lynch himself recounted, he now realizes that perhaps he shouldn't have taken on the adaptation of 'Dune', but he saw immense potential in it for bringing to the screen something that was close to him. Almost 40 years later, in 2021, 'Dune' received a more successful adaptation directed by Denis Villeneuve.
Josh Trank — Fantastic Four (2015)
The film was indeed a promising project — at least until they started shooting it. The leading roles were played by top actors of the time — Miles Teller, Michael B. Jordan, Kate Mara, and Jamie Bell — and Josh Trank was riding a wave of popularity after the release of another superhero film, Chronicle. Problems with Fantastic Four began in post-production — Fox studio demanded that Trank reshoot certain scenes, which ultimately no longer fit into the overall vision of the director. As Trank later admitted, his original idea for the film was simply amazing, but audiences are unlikely to ever see the director's cut. As a result, Fantastic Four flopped at the box office, grossing about 168 million with a budget being over 200 million.
Steven Soderbergh — The Underneath (1995)
According to the director, viewers will realize that something is clearly wrong with the film within the first 15 seconds — all because the opening credits are overly stretched. Soderbergh described the beginning of his film as "sleep-inducing" and added that he would recommend audiences to view The Underneath only in the context of the director's career or one of the actors. Soderbergh's dissatisfaction with his work in this case is quite justified — audiences also did not particularly enjoy the film, considering that it only grossed 536 thousand dollars with a budget of 6 million.
