8 Famous Movies That Started Out In Completely Different Genres
7. Annie Hall Started Out As A Murder Mystery
After Woody Allen's success with his earlier comic ventures, he begin to redefine his style; what if he could keep his films funny but inject them with a bit of dramatic weight, too? The first film born of this approach was Annie Hall, arguably the greatest romantic comedy ever made - and a movie that went on to win Best Picture, inspire an entire generation, and spawn countless imitators. It's still yet to be beaten.
It's terrifying to learn that Allen nearly didn't make Annie Hall as a full-on romantic comedy, though; Annie Hall started out as a film called "Anhedonia" (a term for the ability to experience pleasure), which he originally penned as a murder mystery with a comic and romantic subplot.
As he begin to develop the project, however, Allen became more conventionally interested in the relationship between his two main characters, Alvy and Annie. Eventually the murder aspects of the plot were cut out and the romance was brought to the forefront. And a classic was born.
Allen would later use the abandoned murder mystery element for his 1993 flick Manhattan Murder Mystery, starring both him and Diane Keaton.