When The Bodyguard was originally penned in 1976, screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan had Dianna Ross and Steve McQueen in mind for the film's leads. The film was finally released in 1992, with actor Kevin Costner channeling Steve McQueen in his performance.
Throughout preproduction, Olivia Newton-John, Pat Benatar, Madonna, Cher, Joan Jett, Deborah Harry, Liza Minnelli, Janet Jackson, Donna Summer, Terri Nunn, Kim Carnes, Crystal Gayle, and Dolly Parton were all considered for the female lead.
James Cameron was on the top of the world in 1997 after the release of Titanic. He intended to film his next project, Avatar, shortly after.
However, he had to wait for film technology to catch up to his vision for Pandora. The screenplay also took years to write, so that the Na'vi language could be perfected.
In order to stay true to the spirit of adolescence, director Richard Linklater filmed the same actors each year for 12 years.
This way, he was able to chart to the physical and emotional growth of Mason (Ellar Coltrane) in a way that directly reflected reality. The result was unlike any other.
After the enormous success of the TV series, Fox optioned a film in 1997. However, it proved difficult to get the voice cast to all be available and agree to the project.
When the smoke finally cleared, the movie had seen nearly 160 versions of the script, with many of the discarded plot points going into the show. Finally, animation could begin.
This was at a time when Walt Disney still had the entire film acted out on a soundstage before any animation could be done. This way, the artists would have something to base their drawings on.
After that, they had to provide the pencil and ink for each individual cel. To top it all off, ol' Walt had to sign off on each day's work, which he wouldn't do unless everything was perfect.
Traditional animated movies typically take a ridiculously long time to make, and The Lego Movie was even more grueling. On top of multiple script rewrites, many of the sets were built by hand.
Even the sequences that were animated had to be drawn to include each individual brick.
The world's introduction into the twisted mind of director David Lynch began as a student film project. Known for his attention to detail, Lynch spent five years making sure that everything was exactly as he pictured it.
It's rumored that the shot of Jack Nance entering a room took an entire year to perfect. In order to finance the project, Lynch delivered newspapers and got loans from his Hollywood friends.
Guillermo del Toro was not always the household name he is today. After his perfectionist tendencies ran the shooting for Cronos past schedule, the budget was completely drained.
In order to finish the film, del Toro had to take out high-interest loans and reduce his salary for the project. Luckily, the film became a critical success and boosted del Toro's career.
Because of his lack of resources, writer/director/head animator Richard Williams could only work on The Thief and the Cobbler in short bursts.
Eventually, the film gained traction, but control was taken away from Williams when the production went over budget. The film saw a release in 1993 without Williams.
While two years might not seem as long as many of the other films on this list, Stanley Kubrick's view into the intimate underground holds the Guinness World Record for the longest continual film shoot.
Filmed over a year and a half, the production included an unbroken period of 46 weeks.
