10 Directors Who Knew Their Movies Were Ridiculous

When Waterworld was being made in the early 1990s, it received a lot of attention due to the astronomical budget of $200 million ($340 million in 2020), which was the most expensive movie ever made up to that point. Because it received so much attention, when it bombed, it bombed hard.

Part of the problem with costs had to do with the need to build giant floating sets, but there were more issues that resulted in what critics called "Mad Max on the high seas." Kevin Costner and director Kevin Reynolds fought through the production, and ultimately, Reynolds walked when Costner took away his editing control.

When the movie finally hit theatres in 1995, viewers saw the "Costner Cut," which was very different from the "Reynolds Cut" that was shelved. That said, Reynolds' name is still on as director since he filmed more than 50% of what went into the can.

Over the years, Reynolds has spoken a bit about what went down on the Waterworld set, and when it came to defending his picture, he simply said, “It’s not any better or any worse than most of the films of that genre out there.”