Buzz
On a film set, the unimaginable can occur, sometimes through sheer accident, and other times, through deliberate action. It's not uncommon for directors to make bold demands, even requesting the impossible for the perfect shot. Yet, some have gone even further, turning the seemingly impossible into something even more extraordinary.
In pursuit of creativity, authenticity, and boldness, these filmmakers have defied expectations, innovated with groundbreaking technology, built unimaginable structures, tested the limits of their actors, and gone to extreme lengths to achieve the vision they desired.
10. Abel Gance Pioneered a Revolutionary Film Format (Napoléon, 1927)
Long before Ridley Scott ventured into the story of the famous French general, Abel Gance crafted the groundbreaking silent film Napoléon. This ambitious 330-minute epic chronicles the life of Napoleon Bonaparte, from his time at military school to his campaign in Italy. Revered as a cinematic masterpiece, it introduced a dynamic, sweeping camera technique that broke away from the predominantly static methods of the time.
While a range of inventive techniques were utilized in the creation of Napoléon, such as the surreal use of color, multiple exposure, and kaleidoscopic visuals, the most notable breakthrough was Gance’s development of an entirely new film format.
The director designed Polyvision, a custom format intended to capture his vision for the film's panoramic finale. This format was three times the width of the standard projection size at the time, and still remains considerably wider than any modern aspect ratio. Gance's Polyvision used three stacked cameras to film and three projectors side-by-side to project the images. While it didn't become widely adopted, the scope, ambition, and end result remain exceptionally impressive.
9. Terry Gilliam's Monumental Windmill (The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, 2018)
Absurdist filmmaker Terry Gilliam spent thirty years attempting to bring The Man Who Killed Don Quixote to life, battling studios, setbacks, and languishing in development hell. In 2018, he finally brought the film to audiences with the help of Adam Driver and Jonathan Pryce, delivering a bold, if imperfect, picture that brought closure to his long journey.
One of the many challenges Gilliam faced was building the iconic windmills, which Quixote believes are giants. Despite the film’s three-decade development, Gilliam had very limited prep time due to filming permits that restricted where and when he could shoot in various historic locations.
As a result, he built windmills in various villages and castles at an incredible pace, taking his creations on a tour across mainland Spain, the Canary Islands, and Portugal. However, one of the most challenging logistical tasks was constructing the structure over a 6th-century ancient village. To ensure the preservation of this invaluable space, an archaeologist was present to supervise the work—and, fortunately, no damage occurred.
8. Alfred Hitchcock Used Live Birds on His Star (The Birds, 1963)
Alfred Hitchcock, one of the most renowned filmmakers in history, had a famously difficult relationship with his female leads, and perhaps none more so than with Tippi Hedren, the star of the legendary thriller The Birds.
As the film's central character, Hedren appeared on screen more than any other actor, which meant she spent a considerable amount of time working closely with Hitchcock throughout the long production. The two had an immediate mutual dislike, and the tension reached its peak during the infamous scene where Hedren’s character is attacked by birds that have broken through the roof and entered the house.
Determined to make the scene as realistic as possible, Hitchcock insisted on using live birds. Although the scene only lasts a minute, Hedren endured being pelted by birds of various sizes for five days straight—something she believed stemmed from Hitchcock’s animosity toward her. The outcome was striking, but it is difficult to argue that the physical and emotional toll on Hedren was justified.
7. Terrence Malick’s Peanut Shell Locusts (Days of Heaven, 1978)
A far more gentle yet equally committed filmmaker than Hitchcock, Terrence Malick has always been ready to go above and beyond to craft his ideal film. In recent years, this has included abandoning traditional narrative structures in favor of more abstract, thematic compositions, a choice that has left both audiences and critics perplexed.
During the making of his second major feature, the romantic period drama Days of Heaven, Malick faced a challenge in how to create the effect of a swarm of locusts rising from his fields of wheat. Unlike Hitchcock, he rejected the idea of using live creatures. Fortunately, his director of photography, Néstor Almendros, had an innovative solution.
Almendros proposed a daring logistical solution that would simulate the effect while giving them full control over the scene, and Malick was on board. They hired helicopters to drop thousands of peanut shells while filming in reverse. When projected forward, the peanut shells appeared to rise from the ground, swirling around the actors. At the time, no one was convinced it would work, but Malick pushed through—and it turned out to be a brilliant success.
6. Howard Hughes’s Aerial Dogfight Stunts (Hell’s Angels, 1930)
Decades before the infamous outlaw motorcycle gang of the same name, Hell’s Angels made its debut on the silver screen. The film, featuring military planes and aerial dogfights, centers around two brothers whose involvement in the British Royal Flying Corps during World War I ultimately defines their lives.
Directed by the eccentric U.S. tycoon Howard Hughes, the film was produced at great expense and, despite performing well at the box office, failed to break even. Hughes, an aviation enthusiast and pilot himself, spared no expense in his passion project, even personally designing the thrilling aerial dogfight scenes, focusing on excitement and danger over practicality and safety.
Hughes’s dedication to achieving the perfect aerial footage was so intense and his ego so large that he decided to personally perform the most dangerous stunts when his stunt pilots refused. Flying a real World War I plane, Hughes crashed but managed to survive, emerging with a few memorable shots and his life intact.
5. Tom Hooper Had the Entire Cast Sing Live (Les Misérables, 2012)
Claude-Michel Schönberg, Alain Boublil, and Jean-Marc Natel’s 1980 adaptation of Victor Hugo’s 19th-century historical novel as a musical sparked a global phenomenon that continues to this day. Among the many adaptations over the years, none were as bold as Tom Hooper’s star-studded 2012 film version.
With a star-studded cast that included Hugh Jackman, Anne Hathaway, and Russell Crowe, there was much riding on Hooper’s adaptation of Les Misérables. Rather than take the traditional route, the director chose to have the actors sing live on set instead of pre-recording their vocals, which is usually done in musicals. Each performance saw the actor singing their entire song to cleverly hidden microphones while a pianist played the melody in their earpiece. This approach was groundbreaking, especially given the film’s large scale, budget, and cast that included actors with varying levels of vocal training, as opposed to professional singers relying on their natural singing abilities.
By allowing the actors to bring their own rhythm, intonation, and emphasis to the songs during their live performance, Hooper was able to create a fresh, nuanced interpretation of well-known material that still respected its theatrical origins.
4. James Cameron Patented New Underwater Filming Technology (Titanic, 1997)
James Cameron is known for blending cutting-edge technology with filmmaking, constantly pushing the boundaries of what is possible. One of the most remarkable examples of this came before his mega-hit Titanic, when he encountered a unique set of challenges during the production of his 1989 film The Abyss.
To overcome the difficulties of underwater filming, Cameron collaborated on the design of a groundbreaking apparatus that would allow greater maneuverability for camera operators and their equipment. This invention, which featured propellers attached to a dolly, enabled more precise movement during underwater shots—a feat no one had achieved before 1991.
The invention proved successful—allowing Cameron and his team to shoot more fluidly and seamlessly in underwater environments just a few years later. They captured actual footage of the real Titanic to include in the film, and the footage also helped inform the design of the sets used in the movie.
3. Klim Shipenko Went to Space (The Challenge, 2023)
The space race marked a pivotal moment in the Cold War, with the U.S. and Russia fiercely competing to be the first to land a man on the moon. Although the U.S. emerged victorious, the Russians continued to pursue space ambitions in the years that followed. Despite many failed, underfunded, or poorly planned missions, one Russian endeavor stood out.
In 2023, Russian filmmaker Klim Shipenko made history with his movie The Challenge, which revolves around a surgeon (Yulia Peresild) being sent to the International Space Station to rescue a cosmonaut too ill to return to Earth. Shipenko and Peresild traveled to space in 2021, embarking on a 12-day mission where they filmed scenes aboard the ISS.
Whether the film itself is any good or not, The Challenge is the first feature ever to be shot in space, surpassing a similar venture proposed by Tom Cruise and Elon Musk. This achievement catapulted Shipenko and his team into the annals of cinematic history.
2. Jacques Tati Built a Town (PlayTime, 1967)
Jacques Tati’s most audacious and inventive film, PlayTime, takes place in a futuristic Paris, drastically altered by the iron grip of consumer capitalism. The city’s iconic landmarks are notably absent, replaced by endless rows of dreary, identical, brutalist structures.
Paris had strict regulations on what could be constructed within the city, and Tati was unable to secure a plot of land large enough for his ambitious vision. Disinterested in using the proposed factory settings as stand-ins, he decided the only solution was to build an entire city from scratch.
However, rather than constructing a full city, Tati scaled down his vision, opting for a smaller, town-sized set known as “Tativille.” Built in just three months, the town was set on an open field east of Paris, leased to Tati by the city council. It included an airline terminal, shops, and office buildings. Sadly, after filming wrapped, French Minister of Culture André Malraux ordered the demolition of Tativille, much to Tati’s dismay.
1. Werner Herzog Pulled a Boat over a Hill (Fitzcarraldo, 1982)
Fitzcarraldo was an infamous production full of obstacles for the stoic German filmmaker Werner Herzog, compounded by the fraught relationship with his lead actor, Klaus Kinski. Despite the pervasive tension and frequent death threats, the film's most formidable hurdle was a logistical one.
The story follows the ambitious protagonist, Kinski's character, a would-be rubber magnate, determined to drag his steamship over a steep hill to reach a rubber-rich part of the Amazon. Staying true to his penchant for staged realism, which would evolve into the absurd in his later work (such as the interview sequences in 2005’s Grizzly Man), Herzog insisted on doing the impossible: actually hauling a boat up a hill.
Thus, Herzog and his crew embarked on the daunting task of hauling 320 tons of a real steamship up a treacherously muddy slope in the Amazon, with no use of special effects. The endeavor, which resulted in several injuries and the tragic deaths of a number of Indigenous workers, led Herzog to dub himself the 'Conquistador of the Useless.' He was certain no one else had attempted such a feat, and given the perilous conditions, it’s unlikely anyone ever will again.
