9. Studio Heads Wanted To Cut American Graffiti
1973's American Graffiti is the film that shot director George Lucas to fame ahead of his Star Wars franchise, and was no doubt a valuable crash course for the filmmaker in how everything that can possibly go wrong often will. The nightmare began with Harrison Ford being arrested after a bar fight, the cast and crew were frequently drunk on set, and two camera operators almost died while filming the climactic car chase. Above all this, though, is the cold, hard fact that Universal simply didn't like the film very much. They planned to cut it to pieces, and only decided against a complete overhaul when producer Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather won the Best Picture Oscar. Instead, the studio decided to cut "only" three scenes, but also position it for a TV release rather than theatrical. It was only when various studio heads saw the film and couldn't stop talking about it that, again, Universal gave in and ran the film for a limited engagement in major cities.