# Most Ambitious Film Project?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ambitious-film-project/643223
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [December 6, 2012, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ambitious-film-project/643223 "2012-12-06T20:03:42Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@well\_he\_s\_back](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/well_he_s_back)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2012, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ambitious-film-project/643223/1 "2012-12-06T20:03:42Z")
If you were to name to the most ambitious film project ever undertaken, what would you pick?
I’d choose Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings movies. My opinions about them notwithstanding, it’s amazing that such critically acclaimed, financially successful movies were made at all considering – making 3 movies at once; filming an ‘unfilmable’ book which had both rabid fans & rabid haters; no huge name stars; special effects that were still being created while the movies were being made; Director who was mainly known for low-budget horror movies; pressure from studio to condense story to one or two movies, Etc.
However, others of you might think James Cameron took on bigger movie challenges with either Titanic or Avatar. Or a documentarian had the hardest job (the “Up” films come to mind). Perhaps an early Hollywood project that DeMille created is seen as most ambitious, or the early hand drawn (!) Disney animations.
Any thoughts?
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### Author:  [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2012, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ambitious-film-project/643223/2 "2012-12-06T20:13:10Z")
Harry Potter films. 8 films based on a series of children’s book shot over a decade with the same cast.
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### Author:  [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2012, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ambitious-film-project/643223/3 "2012-12-06T21:18:30Z")
No doubt someone will suggest this one: **[Russian Ark](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Ark)**. A grand movie covering 300 years of history, using 2,000 actors and three orchestras…all filmed in one, 96-minute-long steadicam shot.
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### Author:  [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2012, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ambitious-film-project/643223/4 "2012-12-06T21:34:11Z")
_Apocalypse Now_ – using whole armies and air forces, drugged out actors, the star having a heart attack mid shoot, though to be fair, the drugs and heart attack weren’t among the “ambitions” of Francis Coppola, just remarkable stuff he had to deal with.
Along those same lines, I think older films that couldn’t rely heavily on CGI, fit the bill better. _Spartacus_ and _Ben Hur_ come to mind. Armies of extras, huge scenes with live action, etc.
And I’ve read tons of stories about the difficulties encountered filming _Jaws_.
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### Author:  [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2012, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ambitious-film-project/643223/5 "2012-12-06T21:57:11Z")
The 1927 production of **Napoleon**
> [@](#):
>
> Napoléon is a 1927 epic silent French film directed by Abel Gance that tells the story of Napoleon’s early years. On screen, the title is Napoléon vu par Abel Gance, meaning “Napoleon as seen by Abel Gance”. The film is recognised as a masterwork of fluid camera motion, produced in a time when most camera shots were static. Many innovative techniques were used to make the film, including fast cutting, extensive close-ups, a wide variety of hand-held camera shots, location shooting, point of view shots, multiple-camera setups, multiple exposure, superimposition, underwater camera, kaleidoscopic images, film tinting, split screen and mosaic shots, multi-screen projection, and other visual effects.
It was 5 1/2 hours long, it used three projectors, and it had a live 48 piece orchestra accompany it when it was shown. That was one heck of an ambitious film project.
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### Author:  [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2012, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ambitious-film-project/643223/6 "2012-12-06T22:00:40Z")
Does the OP mean ambitious artistically or financially?
> [@msmith537](#):
>
> Harry Potter films. 8 films based on a series of children’s book shot over a decade with the same cast.
Sorry, but I think that’s the very definition of unambitious. It was somewhat brave to give the first film a budget of $125 million. However, the first three Harry Potter books had been on the bestseller lists for about a year and a half prior to the beginning of filming. Philosopher’s Stone took almost $1 billion at the box-office, so commissioning the next 7 films was a no-brainer.
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### Author:  [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2012, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ambitious-film-project/643223/7 "2012-12-06T22:38:05Z")
I might also suggest **The Longest Day**. Eighty-six “name” featured players. Thousands of extras. Shot at the locations of the the actual battles. Shot in three different languages.
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### Author:  [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2012, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ambitious-film-project/643223/8 "2012-12-06T22:47:21Z")
Do ambitious projects that failed count? Or only ambitious projects that succeeded?
Can any Doper refresh my half-memory of an Arabian Nights themed animated film that was in production for about 30 years before the filmmaker was finally fired and replaced, to have the final stages of production rushed and shoddily slapped together, ultimately to be unfairly charged as a rip-off of _Aladdin_ since it finally ended up being released after _Aladdin_ despite having been in production 30 years prior?
I never actually saw it, but read about it somewhere.
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### Author:  [@mcgato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mcgato)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2012, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ambitious-film-project/643223/9 "2012-12-06T22:50:21Z")
Werner Herzog’s [Fitzcarraldo](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083946/) should get a mention. Herzog tried to make a realistic film about pulling a steam ship over a mountain in South America. He did it by trying to pull a steam ship over a mountain in South America.
Ambitious perhaps, or maybe just crazy. Herzog kind of blurs the line between ambitious and crazy.
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### Author:  [@Sam\_Lowry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Lowry)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2012, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ambitious-film-project/643223/10 "2012-12-06T23:00:34Z")
It’s not yet finished, but I would have to vote for [Dau](http://www.gq.com/entertainment/movies-and-tv/201111/movie-set-that-ate-itself-dau-ilya-khrzhanovsky). I remember reading the GQ article about it last year and finding it hard to believe. It’s like collective madness.
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### Author:  [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2012, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ambitious-film-project/643223/11 "2012-12-06T23:35:59Z")
> [@TV\_time](#):
>
> The 1927 production of **Napoleon**
>
> It was 5 1/2 hours long, it used three projectors, and it had a live 48 piece orchestra accompany it when it was shown. That was one heck of an ambitious film project.
I’d forgotten all about that one. I can certainly testify that just playing it in a theater was really ambitious. I worked as a projectionist and AV tech at the National Gallery of Art when they played a reconstructed version of the film. We had to rent or buy all kinds of special gear, including an extra projector (we only had two in the booth, and yes, we did the three projector version), special lenses for all three projectors, and IIRC some special gearing for the projectors to run them at the right speed. Oh, and then there was the orchestra, I can’t even remember where they came from, and of course a sound system to record the orchestra, etc.
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### Author:  [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2012, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ambitious-film-project/643223/12 "2012-12-06T23:45:05Z")
> [@bienville](#):
>
> Can any Doper refresh my half-memory of an Arabian Nights themed animated film…
[The Thief and the Cobbler.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thief_and_the_Cobbler)
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### Author:  [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2012, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ambitious-film-project/643223/13 "2012-12-07T00:19:04Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#):
>
> [The Thief and the Cobbler.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thief_and_the_Cobbler)
Thank you!
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### Author:  [@Monkey\_Chews](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monkey_Chews)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2012, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ambitious-film-project/643223/14 "2012-12-07T00:32:25Z")
> [@well\_he\_s\_back](#):
>
> …pressure from studio to condense story to one or two movies…
I thought Peter Jackson pitched two movies and that it was New Line Cinema that suggested three? If my hazy memories of watching 56,000 hours of DVD special features are in any way correct…
But even so, I totally agree. Also agree with **Max Torque** ’s suggestion of _Russian Ark_ and **mcgato** ’s suggestion of _Fitzcarraldo_, which is what I came in to suggest.
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### Author:  [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2012, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ambitious-film-project/643223/15 "2012-12-07T01:40:21Z")
In 1964, a group of British 7-year olds were extensively interviewed about their views on life for the film SEVEN UP.
Since then, every 7 years without fail, Michael Apted has gone back to re-interview the same group of children and release another film about that next stage of their lives.
This year, 56 UP came out. That’s over a half-century-long commitment to a single film project (and because they’re documentaries, the budgets are usually next to nothing)
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### Author:  [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2012, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ambitious-film-project/643223/16 "2012-12-07T02:01:52Z")
> [@mcgato](#):
>
> Werner Herzog’s [Fitzcarraldo](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083946/) should get a mention. Herzog tried to make a realistic film about pulling a steam ship over a mountain in South America. He did it by trying to pull a steam ship over a mountain in South America.
>
> Ambitious perhaps, or maybe just crazy. Herzog kind of blurs the line between ambitious and crazy.
Except the actual ship that the movie was based on was smaller, moved a shorter distance, and in pieces, whereas Herzog moved a much larger vessel further without dismantling it…and almost killed a significant portion of his crew in the process.
He’s not the biggest, flashiest, or most complex, but in terms of sheer unmitigated lunacy, he puts De Mille, Howard Hughes, Orson Welles, James Cameron, and Stanley Kubrick in their places. The only director that comes close in obsessiveness and complete disregard for the personal safety of his cast and crew was Akira Kurosawa, who had archers firing actual arrows at his cast in numerous movies and had actors burning in the wooden keep in _Ran_ as the structure was literally burning to the ground.
Stranger
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### Author:  [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2012, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ambitious-film-project/643223/17 "2012-12-07T04:06:51Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#):
>
> _Apocalypse Now_ – using whole armies and air forces, drugged out actors, the star having a heart attack mid shoot, though to be fair, the drugs and heart attack weren’t among the “ambitions” of Francis Coppola, just remarkable stuff he had to deal with.
>
> Along those same lines, I think older films that couldn’t rely heavily on CGI, fit the bill better. _Spartacus_ and _Ben Hur_ come to mind. Armies of extras, huge scenes with live action, etc.
>
> And I’ve read tons of stories about the difficulties encountered filming _Jaws_.
Anybody who thinks the Charlton Heston **Ben-Hur** is ambitious hasn’t seen the silent version.
I’d have to agree with the Up Documentaries for a certain value of “ambitious”.
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2012, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ambitious-film-project/643223/18 "2012-12-07T04:21:37Z")
D.W. Griffith’s **Intolerance**
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### Author:  [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2012, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ambitious-film-project/643223/19 "2012-12-07T16:38:19Z")
How about the 1967 Soviet version of _War and Peace_?
> **[War and Peace (1965) - Trivia - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063794/trivia/)**
>
> War and Peace (1965) - Trivia on IMDb: Cameos, Mistakes, Spoilers and more...
imdb claims that it took 7 years to film, had 300 speaking roles, 120,000 extras, and 1500 horses.
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### Author:  [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2012, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ambitious-film-project/643223/20 "2012-12-07T17:04:09Z")
> [@Alka\_Seltzer](#):
>
> Does the OP mean ambitious artistically or financially?
>
> Sorry, but I think that’s the very definition of unambitious. It was somewhat brave to give the first film a budget of $125 million. However, the first three Harry Potter books had been on the bestseller lists for about a year and a half prior to the beginning of filming. Philosopher’s Stone took almost $1 billion at the box-office, so commissioning the next 7 films was a no-brainer.
Fair enough.
I guess I also have the questions whether we are talking “ambitous” artistically, financially, logistically or some other criteria.
I keep hearing Cloud Atlas referred to as an “ambitious” film. I haven’t seen it, but I presume it’s “ambituous” because of the sheer scope of what I’ve heard is a fairly convoluted story.
How about TV series like Game of Thrones? Basically taking 7(?) pretty thick books that most people have never heard of, where there are no definable “heroes” or “villains”, any character can die at any time, of which the final books haven’t been finished and turning it into mutiple ten episode seasons of television with feature film production values?
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