10 Times Hollywood Regretted Giving Directors All The Freedom

One of Francis Ford Coppola's most recent efforts was a bizarre, experimental horror film entitled Twixt. The idea was admittedly gangbusters and the kind of gonzo ambition one used to look to Coppola for: he would take the film to festivals and perform a "live-editing", mixing scenes like a DJ. This was entirely impractical, and the film turned out to be nothing but a home movie with Val Kilmer drunkenly doing celebrity impressions while Tom Waits narrated.

Yes, it's awesome. No, it's not a good film.

Coppola was always a problematic director, with an ambition that nearly led to the death of crew, cast and himself on the set of Apocalypse Now. But his early films were hits. They had the clout to be drugged-out experiments without safety goggles.

Not so much with One From the Heart, which Coppola was offered to direct by MGM. But what started as a semi-large romantic comedy with a $15 million budget stopped being that when Coppola became attached. He bought the rights to the script, then poured an additional $8 million through fundraising using his production company, Zoetrope.

With the company barely afloat, Coppola made deals everywhere, then added Tom Waits and Crystal Gayle to handle the film's music. A set built to recreate every detail of Las Vegas' McCarran Airport (with a plane) cost a fortune.

It's certainly better than its reputation, largely thanks to Waits' music, but the lack of conflict makes it a trifling work.