Making a movie is a big big mess, you have to think of a lot of things, hire a lot of people, rent the right equipment, find actors who know their lines without throwing a tantrum and get all the right paperwork for the filming permits. Sometimes some productions neglect several of these points, especially the last one, and it can quickly cause a huge mess because filming without permits can cost a lot of money in lawsuits. So we’re going to talk about several scenes that were filmed more or less illegally or without the agreement of the studio that produced them and I can tell you that it’s not pretty.
Mad Max (1979)
A big part of the film Mad Max was shot in “guerrilla style”, a term that Americans use to say “on the fly”. Small budget, lack of authorizations, impossibility for the crew to talk to each other via walkie-talkies so as not to be caught by the police… A complex shoot of which you can see one scene in particular which sums up the big mess: the one where a character breaks a chain protecting an emergency telephone at the side of a road. Why does the actor seem in such a hurry? Not for the script, but because the crew was afraid of being caught by the cops who were roaming around in the area.
Alien 3 (1992)
If you know anything about the history of the filming of the third installment of the Alien saga, you probably know that to say that it went rather well is an understatement. Director David Fincher had several major clashes with the production to the point of completely disowning the film. For example, he wanted to shoot a scene where the xenormorph brought its face close to Ripley and opened its mouth full of drool, which the producers did not want to see on screen. So Fincher decided to take a very small crew, steal an alien costume and take Sigourney Weaver to another location to shoot the scene illegally and put it in the final cut of the film. The shot in question has become one of the most cult of the saga.
Leaving Las Vegas (1995)
In this film where Nicolas Cage finds himself in Vegas with the intention of committing suicide by drinking alcohol, we see him several times outdoors in the streets of the city with the actress Elisabeth Shue. Well, most of these scenes were shot without permission. Generally done in one take, the director tried to do it as quickly as possible so as not to attract the attention of the police, hence the use of a reduced crew during the outdoor scenes and a result almost close to a documentary in the image.
Justice League (2017)
Before leaving the set of Justice LeagueZack Snyder wanted to bring back the character of Green Lantern with actor Wayne T. Carr in the suit. But the studio was against the idea because there was a plan to make a series about the character with another actor. So Snyder brought Carr to his house, put a green screen in his driveway and shot the scenes without Warner’s permission while warning the actor that the studio might delete the scenes (which is what happened). Too bad. Did you see the hidden details in Justice League by the way?
Easy Rider (1969)
To say that the filming of Easy Rider broke several laws would be fair enough: aside from the actors’ authentic use of drugs on screen, it was the scene filmed in New Orleans during Mardi Gras that was done without any form of authorization. Footage that could be described as stolen since none of the thousands of people present had given their consent to appear in the film. But decades later it’s still a cult scene so it’s not a big deal.
Very Bad Trip 2 (2011)
This is a completely different permission that was ignored. When the party crowd wakes up after a wild night, Stuart’s character has a tattoo on his face similar to Mike Tyson’s. The problem is that the tattoo artist who created this drawing sued Warner for using the drawing without permission. The studio was forced to digitally change the tattoo on the VOD versions, but as for the posters, DVD versions and those shown in theaters, it was already too late.
Cruel Jaws (1995)
The case of Cruel Jaws is probably the most disrespectful of them all. It’s a movie where a huge shark threatens to kill a bunch of people. Yes, it sounds familiar and that’s normal. The movie capitalized on the success of Jaws by making people believe in several countries that it was the fifth installment of the saga by using a misleading title. In addition, it used several stolen images from previous films without agreement as well as the main theme of Star Wars without having the rights (why not after all). The bigger it is, the more it goes through.
Zombie Hell (1979)
Several scenes of this zombie movie were filmed in New York without permission and while it didn’t necessarily cause problems for the production, it does ruin the atmosphere of the thing a bit. Why? Because in the middle of a zombie apocalypse we see on screen people calmly crossing a New York bridge in their cars to go to work when the streets are supposed to be deserted. Yeah, it’s a failure.
Terminator (1984)
James Cameron shot most of the scenes in the film at night because filming permits were cheaper, but that didn’t stop several scenes from being shot illegally. The police therefore logically intervened during the filming of the last scene and the producer made them believe that it was a student film so that they would be allowed to film and the officers were more lax. Daring, but well played.
Escape from tomorow (2013)
We end with a nice case of total lack of authorizations since this film includes several scenes shot in a Disney theme park without any form of agreement from the park. The actors pretended to be simple tourists, the cameras were secretly embarked and the editing was done in South Korea. Disney got wind of the affair but rather than giving it more visibility by attacking it head on, the firm only forced the production to release the film on VOD platforms.