It takes a long time to make a movie, even if a production does completely stay on schedule,
so if a scene proves to be more complicated than others, things can get out of control
relatively quickly.
Every now and again, you'll hear of massive delays and setbacks that emerge mid-shoot.
Whether it's due to on-set injuries or a centerpiece action scene eating up huge amounts of extra
time, or perhaps a demanding director who just wants several dozen takes to have some
choices in the editing room, unforeseen circumstances surrounding a scene can make a movie's production
process go right off the rails.
Here are some movie scenes that ended up being unexpectedly massive undertakings for the
cast and crew.
Spidey Senses
Before there was the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Peter Parker swung onto screens in director
Sam Raimi's 2002 blockbuster Spider-Man.
The film helped usher in the new superhero movie renaissance, since Hollywood was still
trying to figure out what comic book movie audiences really wanted to see.
Similarly in flux was the state of special effects.
Though the "digital revolution" rolled out through the '90s, CGI was still undergoing
the occasional growing pains at the turn of the millennium.
Many of Spidey's stunts would be achieved digitally, but they don't exactly hold up
when compared to what the webhead gets up to in his newer adventures.
Raimi has often spun his fascination with sleight-of-hand magic into low-budget camera
tricks, but he was determined to achieve Peter Parker's "Spidey Sense" for real in the film.
For the scene in which his newly enhanced agility allows Peter to rescue Mary Jane from
a slip and catch her entire airborne lunch neatly on a tray, no computer assistance was
used.
Maguire managed the trick himself with some adhesive and props dropped strategically from
above.
Of course, that doesn't mean it wasn't difficult — the shot took 156 takes over a 16-hour
shooting day.
True abyss
The true story of the R.M.S.
Titanic is often seen as a warning about mankind's hubris.
The massive vessel was built to break records and demonstrate English superiority while
catering to the wealthiest people, and it was woefully unprepared for the disaster that
ensued when it struck an iceberg.
During production, James Cameron's 1997 film Titanic seemed destined to fall victim to
ambition as well.
Cameron intended to set an original love story against the backdrop of a painstaking recreation
of the original ship and its sinking.
Elaborate sets, difficult conditions, and Cameron's exacting perfectionism saddled the
project with a constantly bloating budget and a schedule that spiraled out of control,
as it became the most expensive movie ever made at the time.
Surprisingly, while the intricate ship sets and harrowing sinking scenes provided Titanic's
most dazzling moments, the most difficult scenes to shoot involved no effects or re-creations
at all.
In fact, it was Cameron himself who embarked on a dozen expeditions to the real shipwreck,
more than two miles below the ocean's surface, over the course of two years to research material
for the film.
"I was struck just by the surreal nature of the fact that I was sitting here on this deck."
On these lengthy and often dangerous dives, Cameron shot extensive footage of the Titanic's
present state for use in the movie's opening scenes.
The risks paid off, as the film became an unprecedented hit, hailed for its grandeur
and spectacle and earning more than its due at the box office.
But it's hard to imagine anyone else besides James Cameron who'd commit to such an arduous
undertaking just to get a few authentic shots.
Spielberg sinking
Not only did Steven Spielberg's Jaws define the modern summer blockbuster, it also demonstrated
how to create tension by withholding the reveal of what the audience is afraid of.
This wasn't entirely intentional, as the mechanical shark's frequent breakdowns forced Spielberg
to show the beast much less than he originally planned.
The young director was forced to develop clever ways to suggest the man-eater's presence without
the use of the troubled robot.
One of these quick fixes ironically led to the most disastrous day of an already beleaguered
production.
The heroic fishermen harpoon the shark with a series of floating barrels that signal its
presence beneath the surface.
For a scene in which the ominous floaters circle the boat known as the Orca, the film's
effects technicians affixed a pulley system that controlled their movement to the bottom
of the hull.
Unfortunately, the planks of the Orca weren't strong enough to support this rig, and a quick
yank on the barrel's ropes tore a hole in the boat's hull.
It began to sink rapidly, sending the crew scrambling to rescue the cast, equipment,
and an entire day's footage from the sea.
Although this and several other disasters pushed the shooting schedule from the planed
55 days to a whopping final tally of 159 days, the Orca was repaired, the footage was saved,
and Jaws went on to reshape movie history.
Disney's near-disaster
Fantasia, the third animated feature from Walt Disney Studios, is a marvel on every
level, particularly in the context of its 1940 production.
It may have been underappreciated at the time, but the achievement of Fantasia's marriage
of technical innovation with artistic ambition is hard to deny.
For the grand finale of their "concert feature," Disney and his artists envisioned a climactic
clash between the sacred and profane, pairing Modest Mussorgsky's "Night on Bald Mountain"
with Franz Schubert's "Ave Maria," and it was quite an undertaking.
The visuals for "Ave Maria" called for the longest single shot in the history of animation
at the time, as the camera followed a procession through a densely layered forest and into
a cathedral of trees.
This meant that a line-up of background paintings had to be set up end-to-end across the length
of a huge soundstage.
The scene was completed once, only to have the horrified crew realize they had put the
wrong lens on the camera.
A second attempt was foiled by an earthquake.
All the while, the scene was frequently halted so that the soundstage could be used for Walt's
weekly badminton game.
Needless to say, the final shot took way longer than anyone expected, and in fact, it was
only achieved in just enough time for the film reels to be flown to New York mere hours
before Fantasia's premiere.
Now, that's a close call.