1. Exorcist: The Beginning Scrapped An Entire Movie And Started Again
In the normal course of events a film changes direction either before or during the shoot. In the rare case of Exorcist: The Beginning, it changed direction AFTER an entire movie had been shot. It got off to a bad start when original director John Frankenheimer died before production, and star Liam Neeson dropped out. New helmer Paul Schrader then shot and edited a complete version, setting out to make a gore free psychological thriller. But when he showed it to investors, they were furious. It was too slow and talky in their eyes and was bound to fail. Instead of simply reshooting and adding in some gore and jump scares they decided to start fresh. Renny Harlin (Die Hard 2) was hired to shoot a brand new version, with Stellan Skarsgard remaining as the lead actor. This didnt help, as Harlins version bombed and was criticised for the amount of excessive gore and terrible CGI effects. In an ironic twist the studio ended up releasing Schraders version on DVD in an attempt to recoup some money. It didnt get great reviews either though. Can you think of any other movies that radically changed direction during production? Share your choices in the comments tread below.