There are tons of obstacles the can derail a movie, and it can happen at any time.
Saying the wrong thing to the wrong person can sometimes be all it takes to get shut
down.
Other productions are difficult from the get-go, with cast and crew battling the elements,
and each other over the course of a shoot.
And even if everything goes smoothly during production, some last minute players call
“foul” and interrupt the whole game.
These are Screen Rant’s 10 Most Controversial Movies You Almost Didn’t Get To See.
The Wolf Of Wall Street When Scorsese sets out to do a movie about
excess, he thinks big.
The Wolf Of Wall Street is a twisted ode to extravagance, and crowded with morally reprehensible
conduct.
And while lots of people were blown away by the spectacle, some audience members resented
it.
The filmmaker argues that the movie is supposed to be upsetting.
Not sure what to be upset about?
Take your pick: sex, drugs, religion, politics, there’s something for everyone.
The movie underwent massive cuts in order to be deemed appropriate for showing in some
countries, while others like Malaysia, Kenya, and Nepal have banned it outright.
Despite the controversy, the movie did well at the box office and was nominated for a
slew of trophies come award season.
The DaVinci Code It seems like there are some stories filmmakers
are just fundamentally not allowed to mess with.
Ideas so sacred, they’ve been passed on from generation to generation and form the
basis of many religions.
Dan Brown’s novel The Da Vinci Code shakes up the story of Jesus.
And when it turned into a full-blown phenomenon after Ron Howard brought it to the big screen,
some audiences were pissed.
They argued that the film was an attack, and that- because of it’s popularity- it was
spreading misinformation on a massive scale.
Some countries required a disclaimer reminding everyone that the story was a work of fiction.
While others like Egypt, Pakistan, and The Philippines had it flat out banned on the
charge of blasphemy.
Jaws Put simply, Jaws is a movie that came dangerously
close to not getting made.
And while the final result makes for a terrifying movie, the real-life implications of the story
they sought to tell was the REAL nightmare.
Shot during the age of practical effects, the entire production revolved around three
robotic sharks named Bruce that were high maintenance to say the least.
Their internal mechanisms had to be replaced often, thanks to the saltwater.
The Bruces also had to be repainted every single day, and sank more often than they
worked.
The shoot was behind schedule, over-budget, and director Steven Spielberg worried that
if he ever left the set, he might be too traumatized to ever return.
Shooting in Martha’s Vineyard proved to be a challenge in itself, as the community
has incredibly high aesthetic standards.
Which often left crew members scrambling to set up and tear down all the sets fresh every
single day.
Apocalypse Now The filming of Apocalypse Now was so out of
control that the documentary about how the movie was made (Hearts of Darkness) is almost
more interesting than the film itself.
Francis Ford Coppola and co.
fought an uphill battle from beginning to end.
A typhoon destroyed parts of the set, forcing delays in the production.
When the shoot resumed after the typhoon, Marlon Brando looked completely different
than when he left.
He didn't know any of his lines, and the movie was stalled again while he learned them.
The original lead, Harvey Keitel, was fired early on and replaced with Martin Sheen- who
would later suffer a heart attack while working on the film.
Cast and crew were constantly getting sick.
And the production even got robbed.
Everyone involved suffered somehow, but the end result is one of the greatest movies of
all time.
Marlon Brando remains less-than-impressed.
The Exorcist Considered by many to be among the greatest
films of all time, The Exorcist has an effect on everyone who discovers it.
For the cast and crew, that meant enduring more than a few extreme circumstances.
The production was notoriously troubled.
At one point or another, the director had pissed off every single actor, on top of freezing
them half to death with a sub-zero set.
Studio bigwigs were convinced the movie would fail and were constantly threatening to pull
the plug, but somehow it survived.
When it was released in 1973, audiences had never experienced anything like it before.
People were vomiting, fainting, and in hysterics because of what they were seeing on screen.
Some groups felt the film was spreading pro-Satan sentiments, and Linda Blair received more
than one death threat because of it.
Borat You’ be hard-pressed to find a section of
society that hasn’t been offended by Sacha Baron Cohen at one time or another.
It’s his schtick.
The performer is famous for putting his subjects on the spot, which almost always leads to
an uncomfortable situation.
The police were called almost a hundred times during the filming of Borat.
And after its release, the actor’s real life got even more tense than his fake one.
The majority of the people who appeared in the movie took legal action against him.
Some of the film’s least-liked characters were also its most vocal opponents, and tried
to have the DVD release cancelled.
The Anti-Defamation league even got involved, characterizing the movie as being anti-semitic.
And the higher-ups in the Kazakh government were furious.
At one point the film was banned in multiple countries, but it’s restriction has since
loosened everywhere except Russia.
Aladdin Disney has been a constant in discussions
about casual racism in children's movies, and there is a seemingly endless amount of
conspiracy theories related to every move they make.
The studio has released some of the most successful films of all time, and have an intensely loyal
fanbase.
That kind of following, coupled with their wholesome kid-friendly branding, comes with
a lot of responsibility.
And according to the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, Aladdin vilified elements of their
culture.
They pointed to stereotypical lyrics and the white-washing of Aladdin and Jasmine as evidence.
Whereas, they argued, all other citizens looked “greedy” and “villainous”.
For the video release, Disney changed the offensive lyrics, but the first round of soundtracks
still have them.
The Interview Sometimes a movie makes it all the way through
production and gets shut down just before crossing the finish line.
Directors Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg experienced this exact thing with their 2014 offering,
The Interview.
The story follows a T.V.
host (James Franco) and his producer (Seth Rogen) as they travel to North Korea.
After the C.I.A.
find out the two are going to meet Kim Jong-Un, they task the two men with murdering the dictator.
As you can probably imagine, when the real Kim Jong-Un caught wind of the storyline,
he was pretty ticked-off.
And threatened retaliation if the movie were to be released- arguing that its publicity
would be an act of terrorism.
Sony databases were hacked shortly after the incident, and hundreds of internal documents
were released to the public.
Shortly after, the F.B.I.
named North Korea as the country responsible for the leak.
The Passion of the Christ Sometimes, no matter how the story is told,
someone is going to be mad.
Mel Gibson’s take on the last 12 hours of Jesus’ life is no exception.
The Passion Of The Christ sparked all sorts of controversy, despite his assertion that
he was remaining true to the gospels.
Accused of being violent to excess, critics also claimed the depiction was anti-Semitic
and again the Anti-Defamation league got involved.
Religious leaders argue that filmmakers have an obligation to treat the subject matter
with care given the potential influence of their work.
In fact, there are entire rulebooks that govern how religious likenesses should be tailored
for the big screen.
Gibson has stated that his intention in making the film was to inspire people, but a lot
of them were insulted instead.
Deadpool If you’re looking or an alternative to the
squeaky-clean super-folk that have come to dominate the industry over the past few years,
Deadpool is the character for you.
He’s got a quick-wit and a filthy mouth, and we can think of no one better to play
him than Ryan Reynolds.
There’s a good mix of sex, violence, and curse words- and the movie crosses the line
in all categories.
While many western audiences ate it up, the censors in China were not as impressed.
It seems the film pushed the envelope a little too far, and was banned.
It seems he’s not alone though.
The list of movies banned in China is a pretty long one, and Deadpool isn’t the only costumed
crusader on the list.
He joins The Dark Knight and V for Vendetta in the doghouse.
What do you think of our list?
Did we miss any other controversial movies that almost didn’t make it to the masses?
Tell us about them in the comments below, and be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel
for more videos like this one.