Ballerina and the best and worst reshoots of films

As news resurfaces that John Wick spin-off Ballerina has been heavily retooled, we look at whether reshoots always spell a film’s downfall…

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In February, veteran actor Ian McShane suggested with surprising candor on live television that the upcoming action spin-off Ballerina would be getting “not reshoots, but reshoots.”

Lionsgate’s publicists probably spat out a mouthful of tea when McShane, a regular in the John Wick series, mentioned it ballerina is one part said that all-new sequences were shot for the film and that director Chad Stahelski came in to oversee them. Months later, however, McShane’s outburst was backed up by a new report suggesting that Stahelski – who was hired to replace original director Len Wiseman – essentially reshot most of the film.

If true, it would certainly explain why ballerina – starring Ana de Armas and set between action films John Wick 3 And 4 – has been pushed back a full year, from its original June 2024 release date to June 2025. It could also spell even more trouble for Lionsgate, a studio that has had box office trouble with a number of its films in recent months, including border areas And The crow. As McShane said in February, “You have to protect the franchise,” and the last thing Lionsgate needs is a release that overshadows John Wick – one of the biggest properties the company currently owns.

Assuming the reshoots are as extensive as reported, it will inevitably spell doom ballerina? Of course not – although history teaches us that the fate of reworked films can be somewhat mixed. On the positive side of the equation is The Wizard of Oz had all sorts of problems during its production in the late 1930s; The script was rewritten several times by a number of wordsmiths, while original director Mervyn LeRoy was replaced by George Cukor, who was then replaced by Victor Fleming. Meanwhile, previously filmed footage was destroyed, and actor Buddy Ebsen, the original Tin Man, became so ill with his metallic makeup – which contained aluminum powder – that he had to be replaced by Jack Haley.

In a similar way, Back to the future Famously recasting Eric Stoltz with Michael J Fox early in filming – which meant several sequences had to be re-shot – and the film did quite well. Both by Ridley Scott Foreigner and James Cameron’s Aliens required two last-minute casting changes that would alter the film’s history; John Hurt stepped in to play the ill-fated Kane Foreigner when actor Jon Finch was too ill to continue. Michael Biehn came along late Aliensand was drafted in when original Hicks actor James Remar was arrested for drug possession at a British airport. (Remar’s back can still be seen in one or two shots.) These days it’s hard to imagine anyone but Hurt and Biehn in their respective roles.

However, there are some reshoots and recasts that make us wonder what could have been. In February 2017, comedy specialists Phil Lord and Chris Miller began work Solo: A Star Wars Story – which would probably have been intended as a lighter, fluffier spin-off to the main series. Four months later, Lord and Miller left and veteran director Ron Howard was called in; Lucasfilm producers were reportedly unhappy with the way the directors handled (or deviated from) screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan’s script. It is believed that little of Lord and Miller’s footage remains in the finished film Solo.

Even more disappointing was the production chaos that led to it Solo has also lost its original villain. The late, great Michael K. Williams was originally cast in the role of antagonist Dryden Vos, and reference footage was filmed of him in the role. When Williams was prevented from appearing in Howard’s reshoots due to scheduling conflicts, not only was the role recast – Paul Bettany stepped in – but the entire character was changed from a strange-sounding lion creature to a normal humanoid (presumably because it was the latter). ). to shoot faster). We’ve never seen Williams in the role of an evil lion crime boss, and the world is certainly a poorer place for it.

On the other hand, the chaos seems to shadow LucasFilm like a ghost It follows. The months that build up “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”The series’ 2016 release was marred by reports of extensive reshoots, with it being said that screenwriter Tony Gilroy essentially stepped in and shot up to 40 percent of what appears in the final cut, including its ending. Original director Gareth Edwards remained elegantly silent about the whole situation, although it’s telling that it took him seven years to direct again with 2023 The Creator.

Given the rising cost of producing films and the fact that intellectual property is increasingly more valuable to studios than to directors or stars, it’s perhaps not surprising that major reshoots are so common. What’s a little more difficult to understand is why so many producers, who presumably chose a filmmaker for a film based on their particular style or concept, are then disappointed or even horrified by the results. Lucasfilm hired Lord and Miller, known for their improvisational comedy, and were surprised when they began filming Solo as an improvisational comedy.

Read more: 11 Impacts of Solo: A Star Wars Story’s Box Office Success

We may never know the truth about what exactly happened during the 2015 production Fantastic Four, But one thing became clear from the resulting film: director Josh Trank was building on the success of 2012 chronicle – wanted to do a darker, body horror-infused version of the Marvel comics. Now you can argue all day about whether this concept is right for the living spirit of Fantastic four as Stan Lee and Jack Kirby had imagined, but Trank suggested it, Fox agreed and the film went into production with that in mind. Then Fox executives got cold feet and ordered extensive reshoots that completely changed the tone of the film, or at least parts of it.

The result is a disjointed mess – so much so that one can easily distinguish the re-shot footage from the original simply by looking at whether or not Kate Mara – as Sue Storm – is wearing an ill-fitting wig. Again, we may never know whether the film would have worked as Trank originally conceived. But by retooling so late and so extensively, Fox may have turned what was once at least “sour” (to quote an anonymous Fox executive) but tonally coherent film into a shockingly incoherent film.

Part of the problem seems to come from studio executives hiring a young director and then assuming he’ll be so excited about the opportunity that he’ll do what he’s told. A clear example was David Fincher, who was a successful commercial director in the early 1990s who was keen to make the leap into the feature film industry. Unfortunately for Fincher, this was his debut film alien 3, whose production essentially began without a finished script and from then on descended into a whirlwind of creative disputes and expensive reshoots. Considering how poorly filming went, it’s a testament to David Fincher’s eyes as a filmmaker that the resulting film is just as fascinating (if flawed) as it is.

Even if a big film has an experienced director, that doesn’t mean he’s immune to trouble. Zack Snyder’s Justice League was marked by personal tragedy, but also by a studio that suddenly decided to turn away from the director’s dark tastes. And with Snyder out of the picture, Warner Bros. hired Joss Whedon to direct many comedic (whether intentional or not) new sequences. Hence Henry Cavill’s strange, oft-mocked CGI mouth.

Not that major reshoots are exclusive to the biggest Hollywood franchises. In 2005, production company Morgan Creek gave Paul Schrader $30 million to produce one Exorcist They didn’t like what they saw, so they shelved it and gave Renny Harlin $50 million to make another one Exorcist prequel, Exorcist: The Beginning. (Schrader’s film was ultimately created as Dominion: Prequel to The Exorcist.

The budget should be between 50 and 80 million US dollars. ballerina is itself a medium-priced film, at least compared to other heavily remade films like Star Wars: The Force Awakens ($447 million) or The Rise of Skywalker ($416 million). Only time will tell if Ballerina’Whether the film’s reshoots are as extensive as claimed, or whether the audience can see the seam between the old and new sequences. Certainly new recordings aren’t necessarily a bad thing – World War ZBy most accounts, for example, the film’s ending was improved by the reshoot, even though millions were spent on an entire wintry battle sequence that never saw a theatrical release.

Whatever happens ballerinaLionsgate will no doubt be hoping for a film whose financial and creative fortunes are more in line with it “Back to the Future”s than the ill-fitting wigs of Fantastic four.

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