6 ms·

I've always wondered if actors know while they are filming it that the movie is going to be terrible or if they can't tell until it is finished.

newsbinator 5y ago
I assume that 1) they know and 2) they can never, ever admit during or after that they knew... possibly not even to most people in their personal life. There are a lot of things that a production can't recover from, no matter which other elements are excellent: * Bad director * Bad cast * Bad writing Get those 3 things right, and you can recover from bad special effects, bad costumes, bad make-up... even lousy cinematography or low budgets. Example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mOIxyRTY5I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mOIxyRTY5I
- rectang 5y ago
  A lot of the most compelling art happens when people fully commit. But if you fully commit to something which is a little off, a brilliant performance can become something that feels "bad" but you still can't look away. If an actor gives a committed performance while filming, they could have the sense that it is either amazingly good or amazingly bad. And either premonition could be right or could be wrong. (Not to get into what makes something "bad" anyway which is a whole 'nother subject...)
toomanyrichies 5y ago
I suspect the latter. Much of the storytelling aspect of filmmaking is done in the editing room, piecing together takes into a narrative and deciding what makes into the finished product. A terrible movie can be made into a decent one (or better) with a skillful re-cut.
- fumar 5y ago
  Do you have any examples?
  - scrooched_moose 5y ago
    Most of the time flops have had too much material cut out to hit runtime requirements ("nobody will watch a 3 hour movie!"). Kingdom of Heaven, Batman v Superman, Watchmen, Alien3 all get better with restored material. Blade Runner is interesting as there are 3 different versions, all about the same length but with some very different scenes. Theatrical also has a terrible voice over which was later removed. The Shining is one that gets better when shortened - most feel that the 119 minute European version is better than the 144 minute US cut. Apocalypse Now is interesting - Redux (193 minute) is a slog compared to theatrical (147); but Final (182) is probably the best version and a great example of the balance needed. There's also the video 'How Star Wars was saved in the edit' which has a lot of good information on what editing can do. The video has kindof been co-opted by the internet as definitive proof that George Lucas is a talentless hack, but it's really not that much different than what happens on every other film. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEHRNS-Scrs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEHRNS-Scrs
    - mattm 5y ago
      Almost Famous is another example. I love the movie. But then I watched the director's cut which added 40 minutes more and it was very meh. The jokes weren't as crisp and there were scenes that didn't really add anything and just slowed down the pace.
    - magicalhippo 5y ago
      > The Shining is one that gets better when shortened For me the opening scene added in the extended edition of Aliens completely ruins the first half of the film for me. Sometimes less is more...
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - cultofmetatron 5y ago
    star wars is the quintessential example here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFMyMxMYDNk&ab_channel=RocketJump https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFMyMxMYDNk&ab_channel=Rocke...

newsbinator 5y ago

I assume that 1) they know and 2) they can never, ever admit during or after that they knew... possibly not even to most people in their personal life. There are a lot of things that a production can't recover from, no matter which other elements are excellent: * Bad director * Bad cast * Bad writing Get those 3 things right, and you can recover from bad special effects, bad costumes, bad make-up... even lousy cinematography or low budgets. Example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mOIxyRTY5I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mOIxyRTY5I

rectang 5y ago
A lot of the most compelling art happens when people fully commit. But if you fully commit to something which is a little off, a brilliant performance can become something that feels "bad" but you still can't look away. If an actor gives a committed performance while filming, they could have the sense that it is either amazingly good or amazingly bad. And either premonition could be right or could be wrong. (Not to get into what makes something "bad" anyway which is a whole 'nother subject...)

toomanyrichies 5y ago

I suspect the latter. Much of the storytelling aspect of filmmaking is done in the editing room, piecing together takes into a narrative and deciding what makes into the finished product. A terrible movie can be made into a decent one (or better) with a skillful re-cut.

fumar 5y ago
Do you have any examples?
- scrooched_moose 5y ago
  Most of the time flops have had too much material cut out to hit runtime requirements ("nobody will watch a 3 hour movie!"). Kingdom of Heaven, Batman v Superman, Watchmen, Alien3 all get better with restored material. Blade Runner is interesting as there are 3 different versions, all about the same length but with some very different scenes. Theatrical also has a terrible voice over which was later removed. The Shining is one that gets better when shortened - most feel that the 119 minute European version is better than the 144 minute US cut. Apocalypse Now is interesting - Redux (193 minute) is a slog compared to theatrical (147); but Final (182) is probably the best version and a great example of the balance needed. There's also the video 'How Star Wars was saved in the edit' which has a lot of good information on what editing can do. The video has kindof been co-opted by the internet as definitive proof that George Lucas is a talentless hack, but it's really not that much different than what happens on every other film. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEHRNS-Scrs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEHRNS-Scrs
  - mattm 5y ago
    Almost Famous is another example. I love the movie. But then I watched the director's cut which added 40 minutes more and it was very meh. The jokes weren't as crisp and there were scenes that didn't really add anything and just slowed down the pace.
  - magicalhippo 5y ago
    > The Shining is one that gets better when shortened For me the opening scene added in the extended edition of Aliens completely ruins the first half of the film for me. Sometimes less is more...
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- cultofmetatron 5y ago
  star wars is the quintessential example here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFMyMxMYDNk&ab_channel=RocketJump https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFMyMxMYDNk&ab_channel=Rocke...