10 Chaotic Productions That Somehow Resulted In Great Films

4) The Thin Red Line

The Production:

For his return to filmmaking after two decades, Terrence Malick pulled out all the stops for The Thin Red Line. Together with a cast of dozens, but minus the producers (who he barred from the shoot), Malick headed to Australia and the Solomon Islands to deviate from the script and spend a lot of time filming nature (action wasn’t Malick’s beat – at one point he seriously considered hiring Renny Harlin to cover the action scenes). Then, when he finally got to the edit, Malick significantly reshaped his movie, cutting out major stars (Mickey Rourke, Billy Bob Thornton) and diminishing the roles of others (Adrien Brody, George Clooney) considerably.

The Film:

Brody and Rourke weren’t happy one bit, but almost everybody else was very taken with Malick’s third feature film; it was even nominated for seven Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director. So astoundingly shot and edited it comes across more like poetry than a war movie, The Thin Red Line may still very well stand as Malick’s crowning achievement.