What We Talk about When We Talk About Reshoots
For a long time, the word “reshoot” has been a dirty one in Hollywood. For decades when a film had to have reshoots, it meant only one thing: disaster. Whether the screenplay was a mess of ink and taped-together pages, the director didn’t know what the hell he or she was doing, or the cast had to be replaced, nothing good could ever come out of the film after reshoots were ordered; the film was a bust. Well, I guess that’s not true. See, some of the biggest films of the 70’s and 80’s dealt with reshoots: Star Wars (1977), Jaws (1975), Back to the Future (1985) and E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982). Nowadays it seems that the term reshoot is more widely used, and in fact some studios now have production plans and make room in the budget for reshoots. In fact, almost every Marvel film since The Avengers (2012) have had reshoots, and you probably didn’t even know. Where were the “the sky is falling” headlines then?
Anyways, we have had several films in the last few months announce that reshoots are happening: Suicide Squad and Star Wars: Rogue One have caught the attention of mostly everyone who keeps an eye on entertainment news and it seems that almost every site runs the idea of reshoots as still the worst case scenario for a film. Sure, recent disappointments like Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) and Fantastic Four (2015) had reshoots and they didn’t seem to help much, and when another superhero film like Suicide Squad announces reshoots, it just adds fuel to the fire. So today when we hear the word reshoot, we have to be a little more optimistic than previously. For me there are two other signs that a film has to have if reshoots spell out doom and gloom. Let’s take a look at those.
-Cast and Director Issues
Whenever a project comes along that has a high profile director or star attached to it the interest in said project rises. Next thing we want to know is who else is involved in the film, when is it going to start filming, and when it is going to come out? Whether it’s a big summer release or an Oscar-hopeful, a solid director and a famous star can make a story nobody knows about the next blockbuster or another entry in the “Oscar-bait” category. However, we are very disappointed whenever a high profile director or a talented and respected star drops out of a project, especially if it’s “due to creative differences”. This statement usually makes me a little nervous about a film, regardless of whether or not it’s the next entry in a tried and true franchise or a singular story. Let’s draw back to Batman v Superman. For a long time both Bryan Cranston and Mark Strong were heavily rumored for the role of Lex Luthor. However in early 2014 Joaquin Phoenix was approached for the role. Several sites jumped the gun and confirmed his casting, and of course everybody got really excited about it. Unfortunately, it was not meant to be and Phoenix passed on the role, probably wisely. Now of course if Phoenix is a professional, he won’t say if it was because he thought the role stunk or he didn’t like somebody involved in the film. Many thought that he was afraid of being brought back in multiple films. After all, he was also approached to be Doctor Strange and passed on that as well. Perhaps it was the multiple film deals he feared, we may never know, but it could easily have been his feelings on the the script he got or the director and cast. Usually for me when someone of this level of talent and skill gets involved in a film only to back out a couple of weeks later, I start to think it could be apprehensions.
-Release Date Shifts
What could be the only other sign of disaster with Hollywood schedules with films is when the film comes out. Again we’ll take the example of Batman v Superman. The film was originally set for a July 2015 release, only to be pushed back to May of 2016. In fear of Captain America: Civil War, they moved up to March 2016 where it was released. Third time’s the charm? I’m afraid not. Sure, the film satisfied some diehards out there, but the general public wasn’t as fascinated with the result. Seriously, for those in denial, if Deadpool can beat the combined efforts of Batman and Superman and Wonder Woman at the domestic box office, your film must be lacking somewhere. Now sure, there are a lot of other non-superhero films that have date changes. Let’s take a look at last year’s Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation (2015). The film was originally set for Christmas, but was pushed up to July. Was it because they didn’t want to prolong the inevitable? No, a little film called Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) was on its way. Of course it turned out to be a wise decision, and both the quality of the film and the box office numbers were far from disappointing. Usually it’s when we have a film that is set for release then pushed back 9 months or so that it is almost guaranteed to be a stinker.
Now let’s take a look at both Suicide Squad and Star Wars: Rogue One. Does either film qualify for these two issues? For Squad, there were actors like Tom Hardy, Jake Gyllenhaal and Ryan Gosling in negotiations or cast at one point. Hardy had to drop out to reshoot The Revenant (2015), Gosling, like Phoenix, wasn’t ready to commit to extra films, and Gyllenhaal just plain wasn’t interested. Nothing too troubling there. The film has only had it’s upcoming August release date scheduled. For me one reason I’ve never worried about the reshoot reports with this film is the director/writer, David Ayer. His last effort, Fury (2014) was a really great film and I have a lot of confidence in his skill. Now moving on to Rogue One. Sure, other actors and actresses were considered for roles that have been cast, but none of those actors and actresses were officially cast, and only tested. Likewise, the film has only had it’s December 2016 release date. While I’m less confident in director Gareth Edwards, whose Godzilla (2014) was a bore, it’s the Disney brain-trust and the Star Wars name that I trust. I’d like to think that Kathleen Kennedy would put quality over quantity and if it was absolutely necessary, move back Rogue One if these reshoots were as extensive as we’ve been told (some sites reported that half of the film had to be reshot). She’d rather break her one Star Wars film a year rule than let a stinker into the theater, especially when it’s coming off of the most successful film in domestic box office history.
The reason I included the Joaquin Phoenix Batman v Superman example is to show that you never can tell why an actor like that backs out. Gosling backed out of Suicide Squad but nobody is going back to that well to complain that the film will suck. Don’t worry, I’m not hating on DC here. In fact, I’ve always been more excited for Suicide Squad than I have been for Batman v Superman, mainly again because of Ayer’s involvement. I’ve just never loved Zach Snyder as a director. Anyways, as I pointed out as well, even Oscar winning films like The Revenant have reshoots, and like the two upcoming films we’ve mentioned some people were worried director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu was having a bit of an ego trip. On the contrary, the film went on to win three Academy Awards and take home the top prizes at the Directors Guild, Golden Globes, and BAFTA’s. If I had control on this topic, I think I would save the word reshoot for the worst case scenarios. I think the proper term, especially in cases when the reshoots are planned, should be additional photography. As stated earlier, almost every Marvel film has reshoots pre-planned. So when Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Star Wars Episode VIII, and Spider-Man: Homecoming go in for reshoots, don’t believe the first reactions that the films are in trouble, look into it and see if they’re changing the release date or if the cast or director have had commitment issues in the past. If they don’t, I’d probably take the doom-sayers with a grain of salt.
