# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shot-a-long-time-before-they-were-released/650925/21 "2013-02-21T15:39:37Z")
Does _The Blair Witch Project_ count? How about _The Manchurian Candidate_? ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shot-a-long-time-before-they-were-released/650925/22 "2013-02-21T15:40:23Z")
**Performance** , with James Fox and Mick Jagger (his only good acting effort), was filmed in 1968 but not released until 1970, I think. Doesn’t seem like a long time these days, now that cultural change has slowed down to a crawl (in the “Western world,” that is), but in the late 60s, that was a long time. By the time the film came out, Mick looked different (shorter hair, no longer dyed black), James Fox was in some Christian cult, and I think one of the actresses (a very young French girl who was apparently treated shabbily by the filmmakers) was a drug addict or maybe even dead, I can’t recall which. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shot-a-long-time-before-they-were-released/650925/23 "2013-02-21T15:44:24Z")
_The Day The Clown Cried_-41 years and counting. ---
**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, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shot-a-long-time-before-they-were-released/650925/24 "2013-02-21T15:44:57Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > Doesn’t seem like a long time these days, now that cultural change has slowed down to a crawl (in the “Western world,” that is)… My goodness. What color \*is \*the sky on your planet? ---
**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, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shot-a-long-time-before-they-were-released/650925/25 "2013-02-21T15:48:01Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > _The Day The Clown Cried_-41 years and counting. Is it an absolute certainty that this film was ever truly completed? Is it an unfinished work or a cinema-ready cut that Lewis has locked away? Because if we’re going to count substantially shot but unfinished films, both Welles and Hitchcock would swell the list quite a bit. (As they would by their personal bulks alone…) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shot-a-long-time-before-they-were-released/650925/26 "2013-02-21T15:50:30Z")
> [@Peremensoe](#): > > 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. I was coming in to mention this one, but the real tragedy of the film is that the released version leaves out a lot of the original material, and adds badly animsated stuff, in addition to adding Jonathan Winters voice-overs. There a fan-compiled version that is the closest we’ll likely get to the original vision > [@](#): > > In 2006, a filmmaker, artist and fan of Richard Williams’ work named Garrett Gilchrist created a non-profit fan restoration of William’s workprint, named The Thief and the Cobbler: The Recobbled Cut. It was done in as high quality as possible by combining available sources, such as a heavily compressed Audio Video Interleave copy (taken from a high quality PAL VHS copy) of Williams’ workprint that was posted anonymously on eMule and better-quality footage from a Japanese widescreen DVD copy of Arabian Knight. This edit was much supported by numerous people who had worked on the film (with the exception of Richard Williams himself, who wishes not to have anything to do with the film any more), including Roy Naisbitt, Alex Williams, Andreas Wessel-Therhorn, Tony White, Holger Leihe, Steve Evangelatos, Greg Duffell, Jerry Verschoor and Beth Hannan, many of whom lent rare material for the project. Some minor changes were made to “make it feel more like a finished film”, like adding more music and replacing storyboards with some of Fred Calvert’s animation.[27] This edit gained positive reviews on the Internet. Twitch Film called it “the best and most important ‘fan edit’ ever made”.[40] > **[The Thief and the Cobbler](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Theif_&_the_Cobble)** > > The Thief and the Cobbler is a 1993 animated fantasy film co-written and directed by Richard Williams, who intended it to be his magnum opus and a milestone in the animated medium. Originally devised in the 1960s, the film was in and out of production for nearly three decades due to independent funding and ambitiously complex animation. It was finally placed into full production in 1989 when Warner Bros. agreed to finance and distribute the film after his successful animation direction for Who... Incidentally, that Wikipedia page lists two other ultra-long cartoon production histories ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shot-a-long-time-before-they-were-released/650925/27 "2013-02-21T15:51:54Z")
> [@NitroPress](#): > > Is it an absolute certainty that this film was ever truly completed? Is it an unfinished work or a cinema-ready cut that Lewis has locked away? > > Because if we’re going to count substantially shot but unfinished films, both Welles and Hitchcock would swell the list quite a bit. (As they would by their personal bulks alone…) It was rough cut in 1979, but Lewis claims it is ready for release. ---
**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, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shot-a-long-time-before-they-were-released/650925/28 "2013-02-21T15:58:32Z")
> [@lieu](#): > > 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**. They did the same thing with Bette Davis in **Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?** (1962), with footage of \*\*Parachute Jumper \*\*from 1933. And **Sunset Boulevard** (1950) used footage of Gloria Swanson from **Queen Kelly** (1929) **Mad Wednesday** (1947) starts out with footage of Harold Lloyd from **The Freshman** (1925). There are probably many other examples of this happening, but I don’t think they count, since the reused footage was released. ---
**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, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shot-a-long-time-before-they-were-released/650925/29 "2013-02-21T16:16:34Z")
> [@NitroPress](#): > > 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. Because he kept running out of money, if I’m not mistaken. Not purposely, the way **Everyday** and the **Up** series were actually planned to be made. ---
**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, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shot-a-long-time-before-they-were-released/650925/30 "2013-02-21T16:24:23Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Does _The Blair Witch Project_ count? > > How about _The Manchurian Candidate_? No and no. **Blair Witch** was shot in 1998 and released in 1999. The fake documentary within the film takes place in 1994 - perhaps that’s what you’re referring to. **Manchurian Candidate** was shot and released in 1962, I’m pretty sure. ---
**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, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shot-a-long-time-before-they-were-released/650925/31 "2013-02-21T16:29:32Z")
> [@Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](#): > > **Manchurian Candidate** was shot and released in 1962, I’m pretty sure. Yes. It was withdrawn after the JFK assassination. Probably because it showed the Grassy Knoll shooter or something. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shot-a-long-time-before-they-were-released/650925/32 "2013-02-21T16:39:45Z")
Not sure if this counts, but… in 1964, Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters traveled cross-country in their bus, and filmed the experience. The footage was never compiled into an actual film until a few years ago, resulting in the documentary _[Magic Trip](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Trip)_, released in 2011. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shot-a-long-time-before-they-were-released/650925/33 "2013-02-21T16:42:30Z")
> [@Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](#): > > Because he kept running out of money, if I’m not mistaken. Not purposely, the way **Everyday** and the **Up** series were actually planned to be made. Something similar happened with Frank Henenlotter and his first big film, **Basket Case** , which purportedly took a long time to film because they were chronically short on cash. I can’t find anything on how long it took on the internet right now, but I think it was at least five years. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shot-a-long-time-before-they-were-released/650925/34 "2013-02-21T16:43:29Z")
> [@NitroPress](#): > > My goodness. What color \*is \*the sky on your planet? I won’t hijack this thread. Instead, I’ll direct you to [two](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=616374&highlight=rock) [threads](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=561850&highlight=rock) where the relatively fast pace of much of Western cultural change c. 1964-1973 is discussed. It’s true that this applies more to some cultural things (music, especially) than others, and even within music it is most applicable to rock music and less so to some other genres where change and development occurred during other periods. This thread is about films, where the most obvious change was probably the switch to color films during that same period…but films capture so much else within them (slang, fashion styles, car designs, and of course music as well), that they inevitably reflect the overall pace of change. You can tell immediately if a film was made in 1965 vs. 1970, but can you tell if a film was made in 2005 vs. 2010? I doubt it. The big changes these days tend to be in countries which are “catching up” to the West (Malaysia, e.g.), or else have to do with technologies (smartphones, GoogleMaps…) which occasionally appear in films but don’t tend to dominate their look and sound. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shot-a-long-time-before-they-were-released/650925/35 "2013-02-21T17:14:09Z")
> [@Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](#): > > 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? “Clifford” completed in 1990, but not released until 1994 (some would say it escaped) ---
**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, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shot-a-long-time-before-they-were-released/650925/36 "2013-02-21T17:22:01Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > I won’t hijack this thread. Instead, I’ll direct you to [two](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=616374&highlight=rock) [threads](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=561850&highlight=rock) where the relatively fast pace of much of Western cultural change c. 1964-1973 is discussed. I think you’re being enormously selective about what constitutes cultural change. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shot-a-long-time-before-they-were-released/650925/37 "2013-02-21T17:26:50Z")
Principal photography for Joss Whedon’s [Cabin in the Woods](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cabin_in_the_Woods) ended in May, 2009. Release was scheduled for February 2010, then delayed for 3D conversion. Next, MGM went bankrupt. Lionsgate eventually took over & the film premiered in March 2012. ---
**Author:** ![tomcar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tomcar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomcar)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shot-a-long-time-before-they-were-released/650925/38 "2013-02-21T17:45:20Z")
Ciao! Manhattan (1972) the psychedelic, semi-sorta- autobiographical film about Edie Sedwick was another long in the making, released after being changed and fiddled with over a long time film. ---
**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, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shot-a-long-time-before-they-were-released/650925/39 "2013-02-21T17:47:53Z")
> [@tomcar](#): > > Ciao! Manhattan (1972) the psychedelic, semi-sorta- autobiographical film about Edie Sedwick was another long in the making, released after being changed and fiddled with over a long time film. That’s right. The black-and-white scenes were filmed in 1967, the color scenes in 1970. ---
**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, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shot-a-long-time-before-they-were-released/650925/40 "2013-02-21T17:57:50Z")
Orson Welles’s version of **Othello** began shooting in 1949, but took three years to complete because Welles kept running out of money. It was premiered in Cannes in 1952, but Welles continued to work on it for the US market. The American version came out in 1955. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shot-a-long-time-before-they-were-released/650925.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shot-a-long-time-before-they-were-released/650925.md?page=3)