15 Movie Sets You Didn't Know Were Hell To Work On

5. The Boondock Saints

Why It Was Hell: The 2003 documentary Overnight covers the hectic production of this film in hilarious, demented detail. Miramax paid writer Troy Duffy $300,000 for his script and allowed him to direct the film with a $15 million budget, while sweetening the deal by allowing his band to provide the movie's music and giving them a recording deal, and if that wasn't enough, buying the bar Duffy worked at and hiring him to run it. Before the cameras ever rolled, Duffy's own ego caused him huge problems, referring to Kenneth Branagh (a potential actor lined up for the film) as a "c***", and alienating almost the entire production team with his arrogance to the point that the film was put in turnaround by Harvey Weinstein. Duffy eventually secured funding again (albeit less than half of the planned $15 million), yet the new production company, Franchise Pictures, nearly fired Duffy for shooting too much of the film in slow motion. In addition, Duffy, as a first-time filmmaker, struggled to block scenes properly after spending huge amounts of money setting them up, and had to complete up to 35 camera set-ups per day in order to meet a tight schedule. Was It Worth It?: Despite its pathetically small original theatrical run netting it just $30,000, the $6 million crime film went on to become a cult classic (despite largely scathing reviews), reportedly grossing more than $50 million in home video sales, somewhat justifying Duffy's outrageous methods, even though nobody really wants to admit it. Its success eventually gave Duffy enough clout to make a belated 2009 sequel, All Saints Day, which despite another limited release (and, again, negative reviews), somehow grossed more than $10 million at the box office.