Here’s another in a network of American podcasts we’re finding very entertaining and therapeutic. The What Went Wrong Podcast is about stuff that went awry during the production of movies.
A simple premise (and a great one too!), with plenty of room to explore misadventures and mishaps of near endless movies this one has bags of curiosities and fun. The hosts are terrific and it’s all very enlightening—a must if you’re a film buff.
The Trials and Tribulations of Film Sets in What Went Wrong
These dudes are on YouTube, but the account hasn’t updated in over a year. We’ll flag up where you can listen to new episodes in a moment, but we wanted to get the above one in.
That’s because when completing our disaster movie review of Twister (1996) back in 2020, we were struck by the many difficulties during the shoot. Incidents included:
- Lead actors Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt being temporarily blinded by electronic lamps
- Lead actors Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt receiving hepatitis shots after a scene in a ditch
- Helen Hunt receiving two concussions
- Cinematographer Jack N. Green almost being crushed in a hydraulic house
Several members of crew were so concerned about director Jan de Bont they left the production.
Then you think of other directors, such as the notorious intensity of the legendary James Cameron, or Steven Spielberg’s disastrous 1974 shoot with Jaws, or the lunacy on any Werner Herzog/Klaus Kinski production, and you’ve got fantastic material for a podcast.
And thus, in the word’s of hosts Lizzie Bassett Boman and Christopher Winterbaur, we have:
“A bi-weekly podcast bringing you the behind the scenes insanity needed to make your favorite films a reality.”
The guys were recently on an episode of You Are Good (one of our total fave podcasts) and were great, meaning we followed What Went Wrong in return and have been enjoying episodes such as Ben Hur
You can find it on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Here. Take a look!
The hosts provide proper deep dive levels of research, with every nook and cranny of information explored. That’s why episodes can be up to two hours long, as this is no 20 minute overview like some YouTubers do (having scoured across the Wikipedia page for a bit of info).
Proper investigative journalism standards! And we like it a lot. Even if the crew of Ben Hur surely didn’t. What Went Wrong manages such berserk film productions with cool aplomb and humour.
The Madness of a Film Production
The first time we became aware of a difficult film set was with James Cameron’s Titanic (1997). His antics during that were mocked during a French & Saunders skit in 1998.
Cameron is singular with his creative vision, a professional mindset he developed after being treated poorly by the British crew for his 1986 masterpiece Aliens.
After that experience, he refused to be pushed around again.
So, yeah, us Brits are to blame for what followed. Including the often frightening production of 1989’s The Abyss, which was shot underwater in a giant unfinished nuclear reactor facility (Cherokee Nuclear Power Plant).
It’s not like he doesn’t know what he’s doing, though, as several of his films have made over $5 billion.
Anyway, we like seeing film reviews and on YouTube it’s common for channels to actively mock films that didn’t turn out very well. It’s easy to mock films that turn out poor quality, but these things are notoriously difficult to do. With any big project like this, the logistics and organisation required are astonishing.
Heck, the biggest thing we ever did was write a novel. 80,000+ words and that’s tough going to have it all stored in your head and figuring our, paragraph by paragraph, where everything is with the plot. George Orwell famously said it was an insane decision to undertake writing a book.
With a film, imagine that but whilst managing a 200+ strong crew, the pressure of studio execs on your case, and a $200 million budget riding on your shoulders. Pressure.
And with everything going on, it’s no surprise some productions devolve into total mayhem. One of which we’ve covered previously in a review of the documentary Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley’s Island of Dr. Moreau (2014).
Another is a personal favourite of ours in the dark horror comedy Ravenous (1999).
It’s astonishing the film was even made with the level of chaos, with the first director quitting only a few weeks into production. Lead actor Robert Carlyle was left to desperately suggest his friend Antonia Bird, who agreed and in one week had to complete pre-production work she’d normally have months to do.
The end result was incredible—a largely excellent film, minus a few dips here and there.
When we do our film reviews for Professional Moron, we always go out of out way to dig around for production notes to see what happened.
Cast and crew have to work together to create something, often in close quarters for months on end, so it’s no surprise there can be regular disagreements. That happens a lot, but our research generally found the other two big issues are:
- The weather intervening in the best laid plans
- Studio execs interfering
The studio execs don’t seem to be able to help themselves, they’re responsible for stifling and even flat out ruining many movies over the years. David Fincher’s disastrous ALIEN³ (1992) is an infamous example. He’s since had a very successful career, but has disowned the project and rarely agrees to discuss it.
Hell yeah! Well, it’s all part of film buff lore—when we watch a film, we go off, research, and discover what went on behind the scenes. Movie magic? Barely organised chaos and we bloody love it.
