10 Genius Times Studios Beat The Film Director

4. Refusing Woody Allen's Request To Shelve It - Manhattan

American History X Edward Norton
United Artists

In the late 1970s, Woody Allen could seemingly do no wrong - hot off the Oscar-winning success of Annie Hall and his Ocsar-nominated follow-up Interiors, expectations were high for his next movie, Manhattan.

Yet the director himself wasn't at all happy with the film, and even went as far as to ask distributor United Artists to not release the $9 million romantic dramedy, on the condition that he'd shoot his next film for them for free. Allen said of the movie:

"I just thought to myself, 'At this point in my life, if this is the best I can do, they shouldn't give me money to make movies.'"

Nevertheless, United Artists evidently knew better and refused Allen's request, releasing the film to considerable commercial success - grossing over $40 million worldwide - as well as scoring rave reviews and netting two Oscar nominations.

More to the point, had the studio taken Allen up on his offer they would've been massively short-changed, given that his next film for them - Stardust Memories - was a huge box office flop.

This way, Manhattan's enormous success more than covered that movie's losses, no matter Allen's opinion on it.

Contributor
Contributor

Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.