Directors Who Disagreed With Producers Over Major Decision-Making

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matt72582's Avatar
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11-28-23
Maybe 5 months into a movie the producer has had a few clunkers at the box office and tells his current director "Gotta need a happy ending" or any story of examples of producers and/or studio heads insisting on changing a story regardless of what a director says.

Many times, a director has an actor in mind, while the movie studio have their preferences. That happens all the time; but some directors are receptive and I'm curious of the directors who were strongly against a decision, but who's names are still attached movie (and not fired/quit). I'm talking about directors who did NOT get their way and who were vocal about it.


Orson Welles said RKO changed the ending while he was in Brazil of "The Magnificent Ambersons", a movie I didn't care for, but I wonder (since it was just on TCM) "Would his ending change the story?"



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11-28-23
The interference with The Magnificent Ambersons was so disrespectful it's insane. It's a quality movie as it is, but there's something even better hidden in there if only Orson was allowed to keep the scenes which flesh out important plot developments and would've made the characters feel more developed as a whole. I did notice at times watching it that huge chunks of the plot seemed cut out since a few story beats happened a bit too quickly. The fact that the full version still seems to be lost is a crying shame.
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Corax's Avatar
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11-28-23
Blade Runner is well-documented on this score. I suspect that examples will cause our cup to spill over.



matt72582's Avatar
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11-28-23
Originally Posted by mattiasflgrtll6
The interference with The Magnificent Ambersons was so disrespectful it's insane. It's a quality movie as it is, but there's something even better hidden in there if only Orson was allowed to keep the scenes which flesh out important plot developments and would've made the characters feel more developed as a whole. I did notice at times watching it that huge chunks of the plot seemed cut out since a few story beats happened a bit too quickly. The fact that the full version still seems to be lost is a crying shame.

I only saw it once, but it didn't leave much of an impression at all.. I remember the transitioning from buggy to car, rich, Tim Colt's mother being with Joe Cotten, but that's about it.. I don't even remember the ending. I couldn't find an interview with Orson (I know it's out there) on YouTube specifically about the ending, but got this in the search results




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11-28-23
It would almost be easier to mention directors/producers who DIDN'T disagree on major points...

One example that always sticks in my mind is the big disagreements between Hitchcock and David O. Selznik. In Rebecca, for example, Selznik was aiming for a more traditional tale whereas Hitch wanted it darker, more noirish. Selznik actually wanted a scene in which the smoke coming from the burning Manderley mansion spelled out a big "R"! Good lord.

Due to their disagreements in that picture Hitchcock used then --and from then on-- a method of only shooting the exact scenes that he wanted, with no extras, thereby preventing a domineering producer from making major scene or editing changes.



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11-29-23
Major disagreements between Francis Ford Coppola & the producers in The Godfather. They badly wanted to get rid of Al Pacino until they finally realized how good he was in his part. Phew!
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11-29-23
I remember the Kevin Smith Superman saga. Producer Jon Peters had IDIOTIC ideas for the movie - Superman can't fly, he has to fight a giant spider, etc.



The spider idea ended up being used for another movie Peters produced, The Wild Wild West.
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11-29-23
Originally Posted by Death Proof
I remember the Kevin Smith Superman saga. Producer Jon Peters had IDIOTIC ideas for the movie - Superman can't fly, he has to fight a giant spider, etc.



The spider idea ended up being used for another movie Peters produced, The Wild Wild West.
Kevin's stories are better than his films.



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11-30-23
Terry Gilliam disagreed with his producers on Brazil. The European release was successful, but Universal had the rights to the US version and were not happy with the dark ending. Universal had just had a major turnover in their personnel, who thought that Brazil was to dark and convoluted to be a success. Universal created their own version of the film which Terry Gilliam refers to as the, "Love Conquers All" version. Gilliam held private screenings in some of the local film schools and even screened the original movie in his home for some invited guest. His film, although unreleased, won the LA film festival of that year. After it won that award Universal felt compelled to release it in a slightly shorter version.