Terrible twists of fate.
We look back through the ages to bring you 26 nightmarish film shoots…
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The script was finally completed in late 1938, and shooting commenced.
Directors were hired and then quickly relieved of duty.
The dog who played Dorothys loyal companion, Toto, misbehaved, resulting in ruined take after ruined take.
Even after the shoot was complete, the troubles continued.
Its stars were 60s icons, its sets were huge, its budget vast.
In fact, when its budget is adjusted for inflation, the film remains the most expensive ever made.
Director Joseph L Mankievitz was brought in to replace Rouben Mamoulian shortly after filming began.
The production was subjected to repeated delays, as various actors came and went and Taylor fell seriously ill.
Elaborate sets were built in London but went unused when the production relocated to Rome.
Even though the movie was a hit, it struggled to make back much more than its huge budget.
The result is one of the most wildly opulent, lumbering historical epics ever made.
One of our favourite anecdotes from Dr Dolittle?
How about the decision to build a huge artificial dam in the Wiltshire village of Castle Combe.
According to theGuardian, Fiennes was fined 500.
By the timeDr Dolittlehad finished filming, it had vastly overshot its original budget of $6m.
The final spend was a shade over $17m a hefty sum for the time.
Actor Paul Le Mat suffered an allergic reaction to a walnut and ended up in hospital.
Richard Dreyfuss head was cut open when Le Mat threw him into a swimming pool.
Harrison Ford was arrested during a barroom brawl.
Filming of a race sequence went wrong, with almost fatal consequences.
Someone set fire to George Lucas hotel room.
As well see from other entries in this list, shooting a film at sea is a potential nightmare.
In fact, any would-be filmmakers would be strongly advised to avoid seawater altogether.
What began as a 55 day shoot overran to a worrying 159 days.
In a panic, Spielberg yelled, Get the actors off the boat.
A sound engineer by the name of John Carter called back, Fuck the actors.
Save the sound department!
I thought my career as a filmmaker was over, Spielberg later said of those dark days.
This too ran dry before filming could commence.
According to star Roy Scheider,SorcerermadeJawslook like a picnic, which is really saying something.
Its the main theme no matter how difficult your struggle is, theres no guarantee of a successful outcome.
After the struggle ofSorcerersshoot, the film wasnt rewarded with a huge box-office success.
The film fell behind schedule almost right away as storms delayed location shoots in Tunisia.
Four miniature shots, which Lucas rejected, amounted to half of the films effects budget.
The films fortunes began to change in the editing room.
The rest, of course, is so much geek history.
Nevertheless, heres a brief taster ofApocalypse Nows hellish story.
A shoot initially expected to last for five months swelled to more than a year.
We were in the jungle.
We had too much money.
We had too much equipment.
Ciminos obsession with period detail and accuracy saw sets repeatedly constructed, torn down and then rebuilt.
When principal photography finally ended in March 1980,Heavens Gatewas already wildly over budget.
ThatRoarwas even made defies belief.
That no one was killed during its making is nothing short of a miracle.
He also cast his wife (Tippi Hedren) and her daughter (Melanie Griffith) as his co-stars.
To understand just how crazyRoarsproduction was, consider these numbers: it took 11 years to make.
The reported cost was $17m.
Hedren had her throat bitten by a lion.
Griffith received an injury to the face and required 50 stitches.
Cinematographer Jan de Bont nearly had his scalp torn off by a lion and required around 200 stitches.
Take a look at the clip above, put together for Drafthouse Films reissue ofRoarfrom April this year.
That look of terror in the performers faces?
Scott responded by turning up sometime later wearing a T-shirt of his own saying, Xenophobia sucks.
Met coolly by critics and audiences on its release in 1982,Blade Runnerhas grown in stature since.
He did, however, have to deal with the problems caused byGremlins dozens of creature effects shots.
The last three months of shooting was only Gremlins [effects shots].
It really did get maddening after a while.
And as I said, the studio wasnt especially supportive.
I knew about acting, but I knew nothing about film, director Elaine May onceadmitted.
I thought one of the big lights on the first day of shooting was the camera.
It was a really screwed-up production.
That screwed up production was ofIshtar, one of the most ignominious box-office failures of the 1980s.
Are these vultures going to know where the raw meat ends and I start?
May shot the scene 50 times.
Hoffman and Beatty reportedly feuded over who got the best close-ups.
Sensing a flop, critics rounded onIshtarwhen it finally screened in May 1987.
James CameronsThe Abysswas big, ambitious, and very, very expensive.
The Abysss shoot was, by all accounts, horrible.
Cast and crew spent six months filming, working 70 hours per week which soon took its toll.
Lead actors Ed Harris and Mary Elizabeth Mastrontonio teetered on mental collapse.
We just had to get our frustrations out.
James Camerons directing style didnt win him many friends (Mastrontonio reportedly shouted, We are not animals!
For most sci-fi fans, the story ofAlien 3s making will need little introduction.
From beginning to end, Fincher was frustrated by various objections from cast, crew and studio bosses.
In a2008 interview with our very own Simon Brew, Reynolds described the nightmarish process of the films shoot.
Often summed up asMad Maxat sea, Waterworlds aquatic locations proved an expensive headache for everyone concerned.
Logistically, its crazy, Reynolds said.
Young co-star Tina Majorino was stung three times by jellyfish, and two stuntmen were injured.
One of the sets sank.
Meanwhile, Joss Whedon was flown out to fix various issues on the script.
Three days later, Stanley was fired.
One of the major problems was Val Kilmer.
News circulated that the production had been marred by awful weather.
The first is that I will never climb Mt.
The second is that I will never work with Val Kilmer ever again.
Instead, Cameron charged headlong intoTitanic, a sumptuous retelling of the unsinkable ships fate in 1912.
The shoot didnt go well.
As actors were subjected to torturous conditions in cold water, Cameron said, Filmmaking is war.
A great battle between business and aesthetics.
Originally entitledKingdom Of The Sun,the film was originally intended to be scored by recording artist Sting.
Stings songs were ditched, much to his chagrin, and the original director walked away from the project.
We cant think why.
To date, theyve been as good as their word.
Darren Aronofskys sprawling and downright weirdThe Fountainoriginally began as a $70 million vehicle for Brad Pitt.
But then, in one of several unfortunate events, that funding was withdrawn.
Then Brad Pitt pulled out over script disagreements, just weeks before shooting was meant to commence.
Director Mark Romanek quit four weeks before shooting was due to start, and Joe Johnston hastily stepped in.
As the production was subjected to delays, rumours began to build thatThe Wolfmanwas in trouble.
The film was delayed again until February 2010, as visual effects makers struggled to complete the final scenes.
Some of the most striking images in Marc ForstersWorld War Zwere of its churning sea of raging zombies.
Hundreds of them, in fact.
Reports circulated that the guns hadnt been satisfactorily de-activated.
Heres a production that, from earliest conception to release, lasted something like 14 years.
Its budget was, by the standards of the series, a huge $150.
The next day, savage storms wrecked the once perfect landscape.
Then the multi-national crew began to experience communication problems.
This final setback proved to be the productions undoing, and it collapsed days afterwards.
In June,AV Clubreported that GilliamsDon Quixotemight finally happen thanks to a new deal hes struck with Amazon.
Don Quixote gives me something to look forward to, always, Gilliam said in 2010.
Maybe the most frightening thing is to actually make the film.