10 More Movies That Did Crazy Things When They Ran Out Of Money
These movies got seriously weird and creative when the cash ran out.
It's easy to take for granted just how difficult it is to budget a movie - to allocate resources and ensure everybody gets paid what they deserve while also giving the film a chance to turn a profit.
And studios generally tow a hard line where money is concerned, where if a filmmaker is running low on funds, they'll be encouraged to just... figure it out for themselves, rather than getting an added cash injection.
And so, following up our previous article on the subject, we come to 10 more films that resorted to desperate measures when the money dried up.
Nothing will force a filmmaker to get creative like a strapped wallet, and so for better or worse, these 10 movies all turned to left-field solutions to ensure that they could get the entire thing in the can.
From paying the crew in alcohol to making sneaky, hilarious changes to the script, and straight-up betting the producers' livelihoods on its success, these movies all found some creative and undeniably risky ways to give themselves a little extra financial breathing room when they needed it most...
10. George Miller Paid The Crew In Beer & Used His Own Car In A Stunt - Mad Max
The original Mad Max was made for just $400,000, which given the necessity for sequences involving risky vehicular stunts, was certainly quite the ask.
But filmmaker George Miller at least had a novel and very, very Australian way to keep the movie in the black, by deciding to pay his extras and some of the crew not with money, but beer.
It's certainly not a call that'd fly on any union set today, but on this seat-of-the-pants 1979 production shot in rural Melbourne? It was just par for the course, apparently.
And beyond keeping the cast and crew in suds, Miller further kept the balance sheet in check by using and crashing his own 1966 Mazda Bongo for one of the movie's vehicular stunts.
Thankfully Mad Max's phenomenal worldwide success ensured that Miller was blessed with a budget more than 10 times the size for the sequel, allowing everyone involved to actually get paid, you know, cash money.