# Movies shot a long time before they were released **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 21, 2013, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shot-a-long-time-before-they-were-released/650925 "2013-02-21T00:22:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellis_Aponte_Jr)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shot-a-long-time-before-they-were-released/650925/1 "2013-02-21T00:22:24Z")
I’m looking for cases where the whole movie or some substantial part of it was shot **two years or more** before the movie premiered. Examples: **Apocalypse Now** , many scenes filmed 1976; released 1979 **Downtown 81** , filmed 1980-81; premiered 2000 **Eraserhead** , some parts filmed 1972; released 1977 **Faces** (John Cassavetes), largely filmed 1965; released 1968 **Salesman** (Maysles Brothers), filmed 1966; released 1969 **The King of Comedy** almost qualifies, having been filmed in 1981 and released in 1983, but not quite two full years later. Others? ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shot-a-long-time-before-they-were-released/650925/2 "2013-02-21T01:22:39Z")
Jane Russell’s cleavage in **The Outlaw** delayed release for five years! More recemtly, **Cabin in the Woods** sat on the shelf for three years before it was finally released last year. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shot-a-long-time-before-they-were-released/650925/3 "2013-02-21T01:24:46Z")
Richard Rush’s \*\* The Stunt Man\*\* was shot a few years before its release. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shot-a-long-time-before-they-were-released/650925/4 "2013-02-21T01:28:49Z")
[Take Me Home Tonight](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Take_Me_Home_Tonight_(film)), starring Topher Grace and Anna Farris (Farris met her now-husband Chris Pratt during the shoot) filmed in 2007 but wasn’t released until 2011. The Anna Paquin film, [Margaret](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_(2011_film)), was filmed in 2006 or 2007 and was released in 2011, held up due to lawsuits. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shot-a-long-time-before-they-were-released/650925/5 "2013-02-21T02:31:58Z")
[Town and Country](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0141907/) was shot in 1998, but not released until 2001. Elaine May’s [Mikey and Nicky](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074901/) was started in 1973 and not released until 1976. [Hotel Imperial](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074901/) began filming in 1936 with Marlene Dietrich and Charles Boyer in the leads. By the time it was finished in 1939, Isa Miranda and Ray Milland had replaced them, and all of the major actors from the first version were gone. Margaret Sullivan had replaced Dietrich when the latter quit the production, but broke her arm and was gone by the final version. (The time lapse is especially notable, since movies in the 30s were usually shot and released in a few months.) ---
**Author:** ![Toucanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3bc359/32.png) [@Toucanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toucanna)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shot-a-long-time-before-they-were-released/650925/6 "2013-02-21T02:51:15Z")
_Brenda Starr_, starring Brooke Shields, was filmed in 1986, but not released until 1989 (in France). The USA release was delayed until 1992. Source: [Brenda Starr (disambiguation) - Wikipedia](http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brenda_Starr_(film)) ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shot-a-long-time-before-they-were-released/650925/7 "2013-02-21T02:58:42Z")
It’s an animated film, so the stages of production are different, but [_The Thief and the Cobbler_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thief_and_the_Cobbler#Prolonged_production_.281972.E2.80.931986.29) was certainly under way in the early '70s (preliminary work having begun a few years earlier). After going through several partial fundings and a couple generations of animators, it finally saw a theatrical release in 1993–but editing continued. > [@](#): > > With _The Thief and the Cobbler_ being in production from 1964 until 1995, a total of 31 years, it surpasses the 20-year Guinness record by _Tiefland_ (1954), eventually having the longest production time for a motion picture of all time. ---
**Author:** ![Rollo\_Tomasi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/58956e/32.png) [@Rollo\_Tomasi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rollo_Tomasi)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shot-a-long-time-before-they-were-released/650925/8 "2013-02-21T03:02:56Z")
Do you count movies that purposely took a long time to make? If so, Michael Winterbottom’s [Everyday](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1037223/) was shot over the course of five years and received its initial theatrical release earlier this year. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shot-a-long-time-before-they-were-released/650925/9 "2013-02-21T03:15:30Z")
> [@Rollo\_Tomasi](#): > > Do you count movies that purposely took a long time to make? In that vein–the archival sequences in each edition of [the _Up_ series](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Up_Series) go back to the project’s origination in 1964; the most recent film premiered last year. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shot-a-long-time-before-they-were-released/650925/10 "2013-02-21T03:19:55Z")
This one: > **[Jet Pilot (film)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jet_Pilot_(film))** > > Jet Pilot is a 1957 American Cold War romance film directed by Josef von Sternberg and starring John Wayne and Janet Leigh. It was written and produced by Jules Furthman, and presented by Howard Hughes. Filming lasted more than eighteen months, beginning in 1949. The last day of shooting was in May 1953, but the Technicolor film was kept out of release by Hughes due to his tinkering until October 1957, by which time Hughes had sold RKO. Universal-International ended up distributing Jet Pilot.\[ Th... ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shot-a-long-time-before-they-were-released/650925/11 "2013-02-21T03:27:58Z")
Bad movie favorite [The Creeping Terror (1964)](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057970) was shot in 1963 or 1964, but there’s no indication that it ever played anywhere until it started airing on televion in the 1970s. [The Curse of Bigfoot (1976)](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074365/) was a re-working of a horror film that was filmed in the early 1960s, but was never released. The footage had just sat in a closet, until the Bigfoot craze of the late 1960s/early 1970s. The two brothers who had produced it found one of the actors from the earlier shoot, and shot an intro to the movie to try to tie it in with Bigfoot. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shot-a-long-time-before-they-were-released/650925/12 "2013-02-21T04:23:21Z")
What do you mean by “shot”. Principal photography? Some background second unit shots? Stock footage?Some specific shots? Because it can vary and movie can have shots made in several different years.IIRC each of the Star Wars prequels began shooting 2 years before release. However they each had very extensive reshoots over the year following principal photography. The very last scene (or at least several frames of it) were shot 5 years before it was releases in Revenge of the Sith. The Lord of the Rings trilogy had by the time of the the _Return of the King_ several shots shot 3 years before release. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shot-a-long-time-before-they-were-released/650925/13 "2013-02-21T05:00:32Z")
River Phoenix was filming the movie \*Dark Blood \*when he died of a drug overdose in 1993. The film remained unfinished for 19 years. [Now, according to Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Blood): > [@](#): > > It premiered to a private guest audience on September 27, 2012, at the Netherlands Film Festival in Utrecht, Netherlands. The film was shown twice more, publicly, on October 2, 2012 at the festival. It is scheduled to be shown at the Berlin International Film Festival in February 2013 and at the Miami International Film Festival in March 2013. ---
**Author:** ![Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellis_Aponte_Jr)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shot-a-long-time-before-they-were-released/650925/14 "2013-02-21T05:25:24Z")
These are all great answers, thanks. _The Outlaw_ and _Jet Pilot_ are really good ones - what was it with Howard Hughes? The films _purposely_ shot over a long period films are interesting - I didn’t think of that angle. And **AK84** , the Star Wars ones are worthy of consideration… I wasn’t aware of how extensive their production schedules turned out to be. I would say, for the purposes of the question, if there’s more than a few shots in the film - like an entire scene - filmed outside of two years prior, that’s fair game. Now, here are a couple more I have - one I need help with: 1. **Rebel Rousers** , starring Jack Nicholson. A biker movie filmed in 1967, but not released until 1970, after _Easy Rider_ was a hit. 2. I caught some of this on TV not long ago, but I need help in identifying it. It was a movie about a sort of scrawny young guy who decides to become a professional wrestler. Fairly low-budget, and had the look of being shot in about 1974 though I think it was officially released around '78…? Anyone? ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shot-a-long-time-before-they-were-released/650925/15 "2013-02-21T08:04:14Z")
[When We Were Kings](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118147/?ref_=sr_1) was shot in 1974 and released in 1997. It’s a documentary about the Ali - Foreman “Rumble in the Jungle” in what was then Zaire (now Democratic Republic of the Congo). ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shot-a-long-time-before-they-were-released/650925/16 "2013-02-21T10:32:40Z")
To get an idea of how long the Star Wars production schedule was, Ewen McGregor did principal photography for _Attack of the Clones_ went and wrapped shooting on **Blackhawk Down**. The later was released in September 2001 and Ewen went back and continued to do shoots for Clones until early 2002. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shot-a-long-time-before-they-were-released/650925/17 "2013-02-21T14:09:13Z")
[Muhammad and Larry (1980)](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0177933/combined) documenting the upcoming fight between Ali and Holmes was shot but never really aired. It finally aired in 2009 as one of the ESPN “30 for 30” episodes, with newly added interview footage interspersed. Also, if you go back to television pilots, the uncut version of “Star Trek’s” “The Cage” with Jeffrey Hunter didn’t become available until the mid 1980s. Also, the pilot for “Gilligan’s Island” didn’t air until maybe the mid 1990s. Orson Welles’ [The Other Side of the Wind (1972)](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069049/combined), if it is ever edited, and released will be another long time. It was shot in the early 70s, so it’s 40 years and still going. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shot-a-long-time-before-they-were-released/650925/18 "2013-02-21T14:40:49Z")
Fatty Arbuckle’s film **Leap Year** was completed in 1921, but never shown in the US until a special screening in 1981 (it was shown in Finland in 1924). It’s since been shown a few more times. The Virginia Rappe scandal caused the studio to shelve the completed film. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shot-a-long-time-before-they-were-released/650925/19 "2013-02-21T15:28:35Z")
I’m not sure if this is exactly what you’re describing as these were shot for another movie but in 1999’s **The Limey** there are a number of scenes of Terrence Stamp as a much younger man playing the guitar, hanging with wife and friends, etc that are incorporated into the movie as flashbacks. These scenes originated in 1967’s **Poor Cow**. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shot-a-long-time-before-they-were-released/650925/20 "2013-02-21T15:31:19Z")
> [@Rollo\_Tomasi](#): > > Do you count movies that purposely took a long time to make? If so, Michael Winterbottom’s [Everyday](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1037223/) was shot over the course of five years and received its initial theatrical release earlier this year. I’d say this was the case for _Eraserhead_, which the OP listed. IIRC, Lynch spent almost five years shooting it in dribs and drabs. I think _The Adventures of Pluto Nash_ was edited at least twice and took some number of years to actually reach the screen. (I may be in a small minority, but I thought it had its redeeming qualities.) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shot-a-long-time-before-they-were-released/650925.md?page=2)