# Studio executives requesting bizarre/random changes to movies/TV shows **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 9, 2012, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/studio-executives-requesting-bizarre-random-changes-to-movies-tv-shows/608974 "2012-01-09T21:57:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2012, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/studio-executives-requesting-bizarre-random-changes-to-movies-tv-shows/608974/1 "2012-01-09T21:57:56Z")
Someone posted here that when Roddenberry was pitching the first Star Trek movie to Paramount an exec requested they put some Mayans in the movie, I recall James Cameron saying an exec wanted a cyborg dog to accompany Reese in The Terminator(he fought this change and won). I’ve seen so, so many stories of this from film makers, often the requested thing is so random or bizarre it boggles your mind. I remember reading that for YEARS a particular exec was obsessed with seeing a giant robot spider on screen, he finally got it put into Wild Wild West after trying on many films. Whats the story with this stuff? Are execs really given so much free reign they start thinking they are creative geniuses whose mind’s every thought is gold? Do they just request random strange things to show they have power? ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2012, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/studio-executives-requesting-bizarre-random-changes-to-movies-tv-shows/608974/2 "2012-01-09T22:05:05Z")
The (great, and hilarious) _Twilight Zone_ episode, “Uncle Simon,” featured a woman who was driven crazy by her uncle’s boorish behavior - most chiefly, his habit of constant pipe smoking. There was also a _robot_ modeled after the uncle, that also smoked pipes, The show was sponsored by a tobacco company, and they didn’t like that at all. They wanted the uncle/robot’s annoying habit changed to something else (which wound up being hot chocolate.) > [@](#): > > ``` > Concerning the origin of Simon's obsession with hot cocoa: > > The most significant scene in Serling's teleplay was the first indication that the robot was Simon reincarnate. The introductory scenes in the script established Simon as an habitual pipesmoker, prompting the niece to complain about the smelly old pipes and tobacco ashes ruining the decor of the house. When the robot inherits Simon’s pipe-smoking prowess, it becomes obvious that the rest of Simon's “bad habits” will resurface. The only problem was that Twilight Zone’s sponsor at that time was the American Tobacco Company. > > Here, in part, is the letter sent to Twilight Zone producer Bert Granet by American Tobacco’s advertising agency: > > ...(T)he episode “Uncle Simon” has several references and scenes which make tobacco the pipe smoking appear most unsavory. Lines like “get rid of your ugly-smelling pipe ashes...” in scene 7; doing things like back-handing the pipes off the desk, stamping on them and breaking them into pieces and flinging the ashtray against the wall in scenes 28 and 29; the robot’s kicking used tobacco on the floor in scene 61...We hope that you will make every effort to alter those so that American Tobacco will have no objection. > > Perhaps open books, scientific papers, and manuscripts strewn around the room could be substituted. Or various bits of wire, tubes, and electronic gear. Even smelly, dirty, open, and spilled chemical bottles and jars. Or how about apple cores, banana peels, and grape stems? Even old clothing thrown around might help... > > Bert Granet’s reply to this letter was a masterpiece of tact: > > ...It seems to me that there is a misinterpretation of the meaning of the pipe and tobacco in this story...It is Barbara, [Simon’s] niece, a partial psychotic, who objects to his smoking, which is obviously a joy to him, since there are so many pipes present. Barbara, then, of course, is averse to a symbol that gives him constant pleasure. None of your suggestions to replace the pipe has its personal nature. It would be distasteful for me for someone to be munching and strewing fruit through a show. Nor would these fruit peels have a reason to be there when the robot supplants Uncle Simon, whereas the pipes serve as a positive reminder of what he loved and she hated. > > To sum up, I do not think this story says that pipe smoking is unsavory. What it does say is that a neurotic girl begrudged a pipe smoker his enjoyment. > > But American Tobacco won out. As filmed, “Uncle Simon” had us believe that the joyful habit which Simon passed on to the robot was not tobacco, but hot chocolate. Although the episode is acceptable as entertainment, it does seem rather ridiculous that a complicated piece of electronics like a robot would want to partake of a hot liquid which might well be dangerous to its circuitry, although Simon may have programmed and built it to withstand and drink hot liquids, as he programmed it with the craving. > > ``` ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2012, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/studio-executives-requesting-bizarre-random-changes-to-movies-tv-shows/608974/3 "2012-01-10T00:44:04Z")
According to a story I read on the Internet (which means it has to be true!), Kevin Smith turned in his script for a new Superman film and the head of Paramount at the time (I forget his name but I remember in the story Kevin Smith said he got his foot into the door at Paramount because he was the hair dresser of a former executive there) handed it back and insisted he add a Giant Spider to the script because he had just been at Class function at his kid’s school and sat in on a lesson on spiders and thought they were just awesome. Kevin said no and was kicked off the project but he is convinced the reason Wild Wild West, which was produced around the same time, ended with a mechanical giant spider is that that screen writer said yes. ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2012, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/studio-executives-requesting-bizarre-random-changes-to-movies-tv-shows/608974/4 "2012-01-10T00:47:40Z")
> [@grude](#): > > Someone posted here that when Roddenberry was pitching the first Star Trek movie to Paramount an exec requested they put some Mayans in the movie, I recall James Cameron saying an exec wanted a cyborg dog to accompany Reese in The Terminator(he fought this change and won). I’ve seen so, so many stories of this from film makers, often the requested thing is so random or bizarre it boggles your mind. I remember reading that for YEARS a particular exec was obsessed with seeing a giant robot spider on screen, he finally got it put into Wild Wild West after trying on many films. > > Whats the story with this stuff? Are execs really given so much free reign they start thinking they are creative geniuses whose mind’s every thought is gold? Do they just request random strange things to show they have power? …executives all think they are creative and want to prove it. They want to be able to say “Hey remember the \_\_\_\_\_ in that movie? My idea.” ---
**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:** [January 10, 2012, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/studio-executives-requesting-bizarre-random-changes-to-movies-tv-shows/608974/5 "2012-01-10T01:22:59Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > According to a story I read on the Internet (which means it has to be true!), Kevin Smith turned in his script for a new Superman film and the head of Paramount at the time (I forget his name but I remember in the story Kevin Smith said he got his foot into the door at Paramount because he was the hair dresser of a former executive there) Jon Peters. He was Barbra Streisand’s hairdresser (and boyfriend) before starting to produce her albums and films. Executives are the ones paying the bills. It’s their money, so if they like a particular concept, it gives them a lot of clout. There probably are only a small percentage of executives who do this – most are smart enough to let the creative types do their thing – but they do make good stories. ---
**Author:** ![sco3tt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@sco3tt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sco3tt)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2012, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/studio-executives-requesting-bizarre-random-changes-to-movies-tv-shows/608974/6 "2012-01-10T01:32:49Z")
> [@grude](#): > > I remember reading that for YEARS a particular exec was obsessed with seeing a giant robot spider on screen, he finally got it put into Wild Wild West after trying on many films. > [@Quimby](#): > > According to a story I read on the Internet (which means it has to be true!), Kevin Smith turned in his script for a new Superman film and the head of Paramount at the time (I forget his name but I remember in the story Kevin Smith said he got his foot into the door at Paramount because he was the hair dresser of a former executive there) handed it back and insisted he add a Giant Spider to the script because he had just been at Class function at his kid’s school and sat in on a lesson on spiders and thought they were just awesome. [Jon Peters](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Peters#Peters_and_Superman). The book [Hit and Run: How Jon Peters and Peter Guber Took Sony for a Ride in Hollywood](http://www.amazon.com/Hit-Run-Nancy-Griffin/dp/0684832666) is worth picking up if you’re interested in more stories of the same nature. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2012, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/studio-executives-requesting-bizarre-random-changes-to-movies-tv-shows/608974/7 "2012-01-10T01:53:23Z")
[Executive Meddling.](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ExecutiveMeddling) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2012, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/studio-executives-requesting-bizarre-random-changes-to-movies-tv-shows/608974/8 "2012-01-10T02:00:21Z")
[_The Big Sleep:_](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Film/TheBigSleep) > [@](#): > > Executive Meddling: Strangely, one of the few cases where it was for the better. A first version of the film adaptation was completed in 1945 but its release was postponed. Meanwhile, Lauren Bacall’s fame rose, and it was decided to make a revised version the following year, giving her character more prominence. This is the version that was released. > > ``` > ◦ The DVD release contradicts the above. It's stated in a featurette that Bacall's performance in her first film after her debut in *To Have and Have Not, Confidential Agent,* stunk up the room. Noting similar issues with her performance in several key scenes in The Big Sleep, Jack Warner authorized that several scenes be reshot and others added to try and recapture more of the *To Have and Have Not* chemistry. And it worked. > > ``` I.e., the Bogart/Bacall chemistry. The saving grace of a film with such a muddled, convoluted plot that even the actors were notoriously baffled as to what story they were supposed to be telling. (It doesn’t help that certain essential plot points from the book – the mysterious bookshop that is actually a porn-rental business, the bisexuality of Arthur Geiger – could only be hinted at in a film of the time.) ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2012, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/studio-executives-requesting-bizarre-random-changes-to-movies-tv-shows/608974/9 "2012-01-10T04:19:49Z")
[Here](http://www.mania.com/superman-lives-part-2-writer-kevin-smith_article_21118.html) is a run-down of Kevin Smith’s side of the story. This page is just one link to a larger series of articles about the debacle that was Hollywood’s attempt to restart the “Superman” franchise in the early 90s. How about a story about bizarre demands from a record executive? Another story I read about many years ago (and don’t have a ready cite, sorry) - It was the late 60s, and the band Jefferson Airplane were pretty well-known as hippie types who would make very blatant references to drugs, sex & psychedelia. While working on the '67 album “After Bathing at Baxter’s”, the band members decided to all doodle little cartoons and goofy messages that would be printed on the dust jacket sleeve. Paul Kantner, who happened to have a cupcake in hand, placed it on the paper and traced the outline of it, thinking nothing more about it. Anyway, time passes. The album is packaged and being checked out by the executives at RCA. One of them saw the outline of the cupcake on the dust jacket and went on a rampage, swearing that “that “hole” looks like a psychedelic c_nt" (!!!) Singer Grace Slick said something like "I’m not really sure what a psychedelic c_nt is, let alone what it’s supposed to look like.” The album was with-held for a few weeks as executives demanded that the “offensive doodle” was removed. Finally, Kantner wrote a little caption on the sleeve pointing out that “this is the shape of the cupcake that I ate”, and the western world survived for another day. What’s even more amazing about this story is that apparently the same record exec who was so worried about the dust jacket doodle never grasped the meaning of the lyrics to a particular song from the album “Watch Her Ride.” ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2012, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/studio-executives-requesting-bizarre-random-changes-to-movies-tv-shows/608974/10 "2012-01-10T04:34:37Z")
> [@Don\_Draper](#): > > [Here](http://www.mania.com/superman-lives-part-2-writer-kevin-smith_article_21118.html) is a run-down of Kevin Smith’s side of the story. This page is just one link to a larger series of articles about the debacle that was Hollywood’s attempt to restart the “Superman” franchise in the early 90s. Kevin Smith gives tells a hilarious version of the story it on the first “Evening With” DVD (and I’m sure someone has posted it on that newfangled YouTube thing, but of course I would never dream of posting a [link](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUwkqeI7XWk)…) ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2012, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/studio-executives-requesting-bizarre-random-changes-to-movies-tv-shows/608974/11 "2012-01-10T05:02:09Z")
Also that would have been Warner Bros. not Paramount for Superman. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2012, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/studio-executives-requesting-bizarre-random-changes-to-movies-tv-shows/608974/12 "2012-01-10T05:10:12Z")
> [@grude](#): > > Someone posted here that when Roddenberry was pitching the first Star Trek movie to Paramount an exec requested they put some Mayans in the movie… Dude, it was the 70s. As you spend more time here you hear that you will hear it as an explanation for a lot of things. And it’s generally true. ---
**Author:** ![constanze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@constanze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/constanze)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2012, 8:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/studio-executives-requesting-bizarre-random-changes-to-movies-tv-shows/608974/13 "2012-01-10T08:39:48Z")
Somewhere on the Annotated Pratchett file/ L-space, there’s a quote where Pratchett talks about his dealings with US movie producers who wanted to film Mort, but, just as the deal was about to be signed (that is, after weeks or months of deliberations) “You know, we like the story, but can we loose Death? The viewers find that too dark”, and the Brits were “Did you read the book?” “yeah, sure, great book, let’s just do it without death and move the story to America.” Pratchett declined at that point. ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2012, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/studio-executives-requesting-bizarre-random-changes-to-movies-tv-shows/608974/14 "2012-01-10T08:55:04Z")
There’s a guy on another forum I frequent who was trying to make a film adaptation of a comic called [_Bloodquest_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warhammer_40,000_comics#Bloodquest). Apparently one of the reasons the movie didn’t get made was because the studio executives wanted to add a love story. Did I mention that the comic is called _“Bloodquest”_? ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2012, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/studio-executives-requesting-bizarre-random-changes-to-movies-tv-shows/608974/16 "2012-01-10T11:46:32Z")
The archetypical rendition of this is Terry Gilliam’s brilliant satire _Brazil_, the story of which can be found in Jack Matthew’s _[The Battle of Brazil](http://www.amazon.com/Battle-Brazil-Universal-Pictures-Screenplay/dp/1557833478)_, which details the battle between Gilliam and a no-talent Universal Pictures exec named Sidney Sheinberg. Although Gilliam trimmed his original 142 minute cut to the contractually-required length, Sheinberg cut it further to 94 minutes and used cutting floor footage to turn the theme from a nightmarish dystopic satire to an action-romance film, complete with an inexplicably happy ending. This “Love Conquerors All” version was shown once on the ABC Network, while Gilliam’s cut version was filmed once for movie critics and USC students at the campus, and then distributed in Europe. Later Criterion editions on laserdisc and DVD have presented all versions, including the truly awful Sheinberg edit so that the viewer can compare. This also happened, in less dramatic form, to _Blade Runner_ (the American cinematic “Happy Ending” cut versus the European cinematic, “Director’s Cut”, and “Final Cut”), _The Wages of Fear_ (the American version cut out much of the dialogue concerning the greedy oil company), and nearly every decent film that Sam Peckinpah ever made, starting with _Ride the High Country_, _Major Dundee_, and _The Wild Bunch_. Studio interference is less prominant today because of the breakdown of the studio system (most non-blockbuster pictures are made by independent production companies with the studios only providing partial finance or bidding for the already-produced film) but obviously still occurs, particulary in response to pre-screenings, as with the craptastic tacked on happy ending to the otherwise much improved remake of _The Thomas Crown Affair_. On the other hand, we also get better and more honest films like the 2002 version of _The Quiet American_ versus the propaganda mid-'Fifites version. So you win some and you lose some. Stranger ---
**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:** [January 10, 2012, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/studio-executives-requesting-bizarre-random-changes-to-movies-tv-shows/608974/17 "2012-01-10T12:54:36Z")
There are lots of these stories. Heinlein, writing about filming _Destination Moon_, says that there was studio pressure to put in singing cowboys, hootenanies, and lounge scenes. Harlan Ellison – always good for a few rants about the stupidities of studio executives – once complained about one who wanted him to put Apes into a story, because Planet of the Apes was big. In the 1950s anything that went on television was subject to being nixed by advertisers – that Twilight Zone cocoa-for-cigarettes stories is only the tip of the iceberg. the truth is that studio executives aren’t interested in your entertainment, except as that translates into your spoending money to see their movies or watch their television shows (so they can collect ad revenue by proving high ratings). I don’t entirely blame them for this – it’s their business, after all, and it’s an incredibly expensive, volatile, and cutthroat one. It’s no wonder it shapes them that way. But it also means that they will absolutely insist on some stupid irrelevant gimmick that makes no sense in the context of the show, aif they think it wil bump up their ratings, or draw in a few more moviegoers, or avoid offending a dependable and frree-spending advertiser. That’s the reason we’re burdened with zillions of cut-rate low-quality ripoffs, obvious pandering like the movie _Mac and Me_ (or the T.G.I.Fridays scenes in _Zookeeper_), and the irrelevant propagation of ape movies and giant spider robots and people ripping off rubber masks to show that, howevere absurd, _they were someone else all along_. And it’s why you have to applaud the artisting integrity of some artist or show that suddenly shoves a pie in the face of this twaddle. ---
**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:** [January 10, 2012, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/studio-executives-requesting-bizarre-random-changes-to-movies-tv-shows/608974/18 "2012-01-10T13:51:39Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > [_The Big Sleep:_](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Film/TheBigSleep) > > I.e., the Bogart/Bacall chemistry. The saving grace of a film with such a muddled, convoluted plot that even the actors were notoriously baffled as to what story they were supposed to be telling. (It doesn’t help that certain essential plot points from the book – the mysterious bookshop that is actually a porn-rental business, the bisexuality of Arthur Geiger – could only be hinted at in a film of the time.) I’ve seen both versions of the film. The plot of the original was far less convoluted and explained many things that were not explained in the recut version. Bogart and Bacall were still great together, but the additional two or three scenes turned the film from a well-plotted mediocre film to a great film with a complicated plot (though not as convoluted as people say it is – there are loose ends, but overall it makes sense if you pay attention). ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2012, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/studio-executives-requesting-bizarre-random-changes-to-movies-tv-shows/608974/19 "2012-01-10T14:04:51Z")
I can’t remember who it was that put it in but on a commentary track for “Armageddon” they say the reason why the vehicle they use to travel on the meteorite had guns was because research shows toy vehicles with guns sell better. The original pilot for “lost in Space” didn’t have the evil Dr Smith and the programmed to destroy the Robinsons robot on it. Some CBS executive may have suggested it. In the end, once Allen and Jonathan Harris turned the two into a comedy putdown/repartee act, it became the only worthwhile thing about the series. On the Kate Mulgrew website there is an article from the late 1970s on one of her early roles: Lt Columbo’s wife. Essentially NBC honcho Fred Silverman (who made ABC number one with deep thought provoking classics like “Three’s Company” and “Charlie’s Angels”) was fed up with Peter Falk’s salary demands and the time he insisted on filming it. Deciding to do a series on his Columbo’s never-seen wife being a detective in her spare time (despite the good Lt telling people that she couldn’t solve mysteries on TV), he hires people who have veteran, possibly ethnic actresses like Maureen Stapleton or Zohra Lampert. Silverman sends the likes of large breasted young blondes like Carol Wayne to be interviewed. Mulgrew wasn’t that but she was clearly too young to make anyone think she was married to Columbo. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2012, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/studio-executives-requesting-bizarre-random-changes-to-movies-tv-shows/608974/20 "2012-01-10T14:15:48Z")
Tom Clancy had a lot of problems with the filming of “Patriot Games” The studio wanted things like a boat chase ending with one of the boats running into a coral reef. Clancy told them that everyone knows that liberals like you Hollywood guys are retarded but even you have to know there are no coral reefs in the Chesapeake Bay. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2012, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/studio-executives-requesting-bizarre-random-changes-to-movies-tv-shows/608974/21 "2012-01-10T14:20:14Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > The saving grace of a film with such a muddled, convoluted plot that even the actors were notoriously baffled as to what story they were supposed to be telling. Hell, _Raymond Chandler_ wasn’t sure who did what to whom. 🙂 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/studio-executives-requesting-bizarre-random-changes-to-movies-tv-shows/608974.md?page=2)