In the music world you had Chinese Democracy by Guns ‘N Roses- a passion project of W. Axl Rose who trough the numerous band turmoils and line-up changes worked diligently on the project for more than a decade. When against all the odds record finally came out in late 2008 the cost of recording was estimated at more than 13 000 000 dollars making it the single most expensive Rock album ever produced.
Similarly (but unfortunately also more tragically) in the world of film the eccentric Andrew Getty (an heir of the Getty oil fortune) worked on a single movie since his 30’s ’till his untimely death in 2015. The movie was based on his childhood nightmares and it meant so much to him that he would redo the scenes and over again until he got them just right. He even went so far as to recast most of the original actors, sometimes multiple times with exception of the boy and the actor playing the mirror demon, the under- appreciated but always brilliant Michael Berryman (Hills Have Eyes, The Guyver, Weird Scinence, The Barbarians) The lead was played by Fred Kohler who says that he has the stranger relationship with the film anyone can have.He famously started working on the movie straight out of college and is now 41 in time of the final release.
The production would start and stop for large chunks of time from 2002 to 2015 as Getty would work on new and different camera rigs, complicated animatronics and build extensive sets on his property. It is estimated that he spent 4 to 6 millions of his own money on the film which crippled him financially even though he came from such a historically rich family.
He was so obsessed we would stop eating proper meals for days opting to just eat cereals while editing. In a bizarre set of circumstances he died just as he was finally in the coloring stages of the film. He was found by his ex- girlfriend (who he filed restraining order just days before). The cause of death was proclaimed to from the ulcer- related bleeding. The movie’s producer Michael Luceri took it upon himself to finish the movie so Getty’s efforts don’t end up being in vain and it’s now after festival premiere in Fantasporto Film Festival in February finally coming out on VOD and DVD.
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