10 Recent Movies That Were Absolute HELL To Make
1. Society of the Snow
J. A. Bayona's Oscar-nominated survival drama Society of the Snow did a fantastic job of authentically and respectfully chronicling the aftermath of a plane crash which left a Uruguayan rugby team fighting for their lives in 1972.
But the film's achievements didn't come easy. For starters, Bayona struggled to receive funding due to his insistence to shoot it in Spanish with a sizable budget reflecting its scope.
Before shooting started, Bayona did extensive research, recording more than 100 hours of interviews with the accident's remaining survivors, and spent two months rehearsing with the large ensemble cast to help foster a bond between them.
The shoot itself lasted 138 days, much of which was filmed on location in Grenada's Sierra Nevada mountains, as well as the actual crash site in the Andes, where the cast and crew battled harsh weather conditions.
And to further complicate matters, the cast also had to progressively lose weight throughout the shoot to reflect their characters' malnutrition, as was supervised by doctors and nutritionists.
The result, however, is one of last year's best films, and a rousing, distinctly non-Hollywood tribute to everyone impacted by the events of the crash.