12 Supposedly Unfilmable Films That Actually Got Made

The word 'unfilmable' has been used throughout cinema history to describe hundreds of projects that, for whatever reason, seemed to be forever doomed to development hell. Whether it was due to budgetary concerns, problems with production, the difficulty of interpreting the material for cinema or just sheer bad luck, many projects have failed to make it into film form over the years. 'Unfilmable', however, has also been used to describe films that - through trouble, strife and sometimes a shed load of money - actually went on to get the big screen treatment regardless. For some directors, it seems taking on something branded 'unfilmable' is a test of skill. For others, it's their passion for the project that sees them trying to get the damn thing made no matter what. Filmmaking is not just a job to the movie directors in this list, but an all out obsession. With 'unfilmable' movies, then, the desire to create something out of nothing can be stronger than usual. Here, in no particular order, are 12 supposedly 'unfilmable' films that actually went on to get made...

12. Gravity (2013)

Why It Was 'Unfilmable': Alfonso Cuaron first proposed a disaster movie set above the Earth several years ago, with Angelina Jolie and Robert Downey Jr. attached to star. But the idea of a realistic movie set almost entirely in space seemed like an impossible challenge for a 'small-scale' sci-fi movie, even in the age of pioneering digital effects. Universal put the project in turnaround, Jolie exited the project, and Downey Jr. was never locked. Budgetary concerns aside, it didn't seem likely that the technology was even available to create the Gravity of Cuaron's imagination, plain and simple. How It Got Made: The short answer to how Gravity got made is this: effort, on an almost unprecedented scale. The making of Gravity was possible, but extremely arduous, with development stretching to four-and-a-half years and a two-year post-production period once filming was completed. Old techniques were stretched, Gravity featuring 80% CG (compared to Avatar's 60%) and only around 156 shots throughout the entire 91-minute run-time. Spacewalk scenes used only the actors' faces (lit by an LED 'light box' that represented the real light of the space environment) with the rest filled in digitally. Cuaron made painstaking preparations to make the effects work gel with what was to be shot on set, effectively taking the film into post-production before filming even started.