12 Supposedly Unfilmable Films That Actually Got Made

4. Gangs Of New York (2002)

Why It Was 'Unfilmable': Gangs of New York was a passion project for Martin Scorsese for years. In the late 1970s, following the success he'd had with Mean Streets and Taxi Driver, Scorsese bought the rights to Herbert Asbury's The Gangs of New York, with the intention of adapting it for film. But what Scorsese saw as a great American epic just wasn't feasible - Asbury's New York had changed, and reproducing the 19th century version in all its squalid detail was to be far too difficult. Scorsese moved on to other things. How It Got Made: Harvey Weinstein, then co-chairman of Miramax Films, could have probably gotten just about anything the green light in the late 90s. For Scorsese, Weinstein secured $97 million, and production on the long-delayed Gangs of New York finally went ahead after 20 years. A mile-long recreation of New York circa the 19th century was built at the Cinecitta Studio in Rome to accommodate the ever-changing cast (Robert De Niro and Willem Dafoe both had to leave the project due to conflicts with other films). After filming was completed, Scorsese reportedly clashed with Weinstein over the final cut - delays meant the film wouldn't see release until late 2002.