KingsOfKings
𝕄𝕒𝕕𝕝𝕚𝕓 𝕚𝕤 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝔾𝕠𝕒𝕥
13. DON’S PLUM
Before Leonardo DiCaprio was an environmentalist champion or winning Oscars for being really cold, he was part of a group of Hollywood bros dubbed “the pus*y Posse” by an infamous New York Magazine piece. The group, which included other young male stars like Tobey Maguire and Kevin Connelly, had developed a reputation of womanizing, picking fights and generally just being privileged, obnoxious brats.
While these antics are largely forgotten, a black and white independent film called Don’s Plum has documented some of the unsavory characteristics of its young, ensemble cast. The film itself is a mostly improvisational affair, one that paints Leo and company in very negative light.
DiCaprio and Maguire, fearing that the film exposed “personal experiences or tendencies,” rallied powerful lawyers and prevented the film’s release in the United States and Canada. One of the producers of the film has started a campaign to get the film released in these regions, but after almost twenty years, Don’s Plum seems destined to remain buried.
12. THE DAY THE CLOWN CRIED
Something of an urban legend in the film industry, The Day the Clown Cried is a 1972 film starring Jerry Lewis as a clown at a Nazi internment camp. Jerry Lewis, who was known for comedy, was reluctant to take on the role of the clown, but agreed to star and direct the film. He felt that he would be doing something worthwhile by exposing the horrors of the Holocaust.
The film had financing problems from the start, with Lewis financing much of the film out of his own pocket. The problems that would eventually prevent the film from ever being released arose when the film’s writer, Joan O’Brien, disagreed with changes that Lewis had made to the script. The rights of the film were entangled by claims of numerous parties, however Lewis himself managed to secure the rough cut of the film.
In the years since its completion, Lewis has gone on record numerous times stating that he is embarrassed by the poor quality of the film, and that he is happy that he was able to suppress its release.
Before his death in 2010, Dennis Hopper played an aging Hollywood producer named Nick Twain who is in desperate need of a hit. The Last Film Festival follows Twain as he tries to market his latest flop of a film to the thousands of film festivals around the world, only to find that they all turn him down, except for one in a small backwater town of O’Hi.
This comedy film, which lampoons the film festival world and the film industry as a whole, had completed filming when Dennis Hopper succumbed to cancer, however additional funding was needed to complete post-production. Director Linda Yellen turned to Kickstarter to secure the money needed to finish the film, and it looks like this unseen film may finally see a release sometime in the near future.
10. BLACK WATER TRANSIT
Tony Kaye, the director pushed out of American History X, directed Black Water Transit, an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Carsten Stroud. In it, a shipping executive played by Laurence Fishbourne gets caught up in a federal investigation centering on an illegal firearms dealer played by Karl Urban in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Described as a Die Hard-esque thriller, Black Water Transit was reported to have screened at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival. Unfortunately, a seemingly never-ending stream of litigation have kept this one at bay. With lawsuits being thrown left and right, the most recent being in May of 2016, it is unlikely that audiences will see a cut of this film any time soon.
9. HIPPIE HIPPIE SHAKE
Based on the memoir of Australian publisher Richard Neville, Hippie Hippie Shake is a period drama focusing on 1960s counter-culture. Cillian Murphy stars as Neville, and Sienna Miller portrays his girlfriend Louise Ferrier, who are put on trial for publishing an “obscene” issue of their magazine, Oz.
While test screenings have garnered positive reviews, the film remains unreleased after almost a decade. The exact reason as to why the film was shelved is up for debate. Some concerns were voiced by real life people being portrayed in the film.
8. DARK BLOOD
From George Sluizer, the celebrated director of The Vanishing (the ’88 film, not the Americanized ’93 remake starring Keifer Sutherland and Sandra Bullock), Dark Blood is the story of a young man known only as The Boy, who believes that the end of the world is nigh. The Boy lives in self imposed exile in the desert after his wife dies of radiation poisoning due to nearby nuclear weapons testing, spending his time carving Kachina dolls to appease the Gods. Meanwhile, a man and his wife break down as they are travelling through the desert. Seeking help, the couple meet The Boy, but soon realize that he is not the salvation they hoped for.
River Phoenix, who portrays The Boy, died suddenly during filming, leaving the fate of the film up in the air. Sluizer estimated that roughly 80% of the film had been completed before his death, and approached River’s younger brother Joaquin to fill in, a request that the Phoenix family rejected.
Undeterred, Sluizer assembled a somewhat “complete” cut of the film, simply providing narration over the missing scenes. This version of Dark Blood was screened a handful of times at International film festivals in 2012, nearly twenty years after it was originally filmed.
7. EMPIRES OF THE DEEP
Following the massive success of James Cameron’s live action FernGully remake, China attempted to cash in on the attractive humanoids fighting each other craze, and Empires of the Deep was born. It’s a fantasy epic that, judging by it’s trailer, revolves around mermaids battling giant crocodiles and possibly engaging in interspecies romance with Spartan (?) warriors.
Starring former Bond girl Olga Kurylenko and originally slated to be directed by Catwoman auteur “Pitof,” Empires of the Deep had a budget of $130 million USD and went through approximately 40 drafts over the period of five years from eight different screenwriters.
The budget was the largest in Chinese film history, but the production was troubled from the start. Different directors seemed to start work on the film only to be replaced a short time afterward, the cast was made up of largely unknown actors and the special effects heavy feature was beset with rendering delays.
Finally, a trailer was unveiled to industry critics, and was met with universal ridicule. The film, which had been touted as a rival to tent-pole Hollywood releases, looked more like a mockbuster from The Asylum than a $130 million epic. Will we ever see this hilarious mis-step? No one seems to know.
6. THE BRAVE
The Brave featured one of the final performances of screen legend Marlon Brando. The film was an adaptation of a novel of the same name by Gregory MacDonald, who also wrote the novels that Chevy Chase’s Fletch is based on. The Brave revolves around a Native American man named Raphael, who is desolate at his inability to provide for his family. Depressed and seeing no other options, he agrees to star in a snuff film in exchange for a large sum of money. The bleak film explores Raphael’s relationships over the final week of his life, and coming to terms with his fate.
Despite receiving decent reviews at the ’97 Cannes Film Festival, American reviewers were particularly critical of the film. Disgusted by the hostility of the American press, Depp forbade its release in the U.S. Although the film has received an under-the-radar release in other countries, The Brave is virtually unknown, despite its world famous star. Thankfully, Depp resurrected the bandana for Captain Jack Sparrow.
5. MY BEST FRIEND’S BIRTHDAY
Before Leonardo DiCaprio was an environmentalist champion or winning Oscars for being really cold, he was part of a group of Hollywood bros dubbed “the pus*y Posse” by an infamous New York Magazine piece. The group, which included other young male stars like Tobey Maguire and Kevin Connelly, had developed a reputation of womanizing, picking fights and generally just being privileged, obnoxious brats.
While these antics are largely forgotten, a black and white independent film called Don’s Plum has documented some of the unsavory characteristics of its young, ensemble cast. The film itself is a mostly improvisational affair, one that paints Leo and company in very negative light.
DiCaprio and Maguire, fearing that the film exposed “personal experiences or tendencies,” rallied powerful lawyers and prevented the film’s release in the United States and Canada. One of the producers of the film has started a campaign to get the film released in these regions, but after almost twenty years, Don’s Plum seems destined to remain buried.
12. THE DAY THE CLOWN CRIED
Something of an urban legend in the film industry, The Day the Clown Cried is a 1972 film starring Jerry Lewis as a clown at a Nazi internment camp. Jerry Lewis, who was known for comedy, was reluctant to take on the role of the clown, but agreed to star and direct the film. He felt that he would be doing something worthwhile by exposing the horrors of the Holocaust.
The film had financing problems from the start, with Lewis financing much of the film out of his own pocket. The problems that would eventually prevent the film from ever being released arose when the film’s writer, Joan O’Brien, disagreed with changes that Lewis had made to the script. The rights of the film were entangled by claims of numerous parties, however Lewis himself managed to secure the rough cut of the film.
In the years since its completion, Lewis has gone on record numerous times stating that he is embarrassed by the poor quality of the film, and that he is happy that he was able to suppress its release.
Before his death in 2010, Dennis Hopper played an aging Hollywood producer named Nick Twain who is in desperate need of a hit. The Last Film Festival follows Twain as he tries to market his latest flop of a film to the thousands of film festivals around the world, only to find that they all turn him down, except for one in a small backwater town of O’Hi.
This comedy film, which lampoons the film festival world and the film industry as a whole, had completed filming when Dennis Hopper succumbed to cancer, however additional funding was needed to complete post-production. Director Linda Yellen turned to Kickstarter to secure the money needed to finish the film, and it looks like this unseen film may finally see a release sometime in the near future.
10. BLACK WATER TRANSIT
Tony Kaye, the director pushed out of American History X, directed Black Water Transit, an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Carsten Stroud. In it, a shipping executive played by Laurence Fishbourne gets caught up in a federal investigation centering on an illegal firearms dealer played by Karl Urban in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Described as a Die Hard-esque thriller, Black Water Transit was reported to have screened at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival. Unfortunately, a seemingly never-ending stream of litigation have kept this one at bay. With lawsuits being thrown left and right, the most recent being in May of 2016, it is unlikely that audiences will see a cut of this film any time soon.
9. HIPPIE HIPPIE SHAKE
Based on the memoir of Australian publisher Richard Neville, Hippie Hippie Shake is a period drama focusing on 1960s counter-culture. Cillian Murphy stars as Neville, and Sienna Miller portrays his girlfriend Louise Ferrier, who are put on trial for publishing an “obscene” issue of their magazine, Oz.
While test screenings have garnered positive reviews, the film remains unreleased after almost a decade. The exact reason as to why the film was shelved is up for debate. Some concerns were voiced by real life people being portrayed in the film.
8. DARK BLOOD
From George Sluizer, the celebrated director of The Vanishing (the ’88 film, not the Americanized ’93 remake starring Keifer Sutherland and Sandra Bullock), Dark Blood is the story of a young man known only as The Boy, who believes that the end of the world is nigh. The Boy lives in self imposed exile in the desert after his wife dies of radiation poisoning due to nearby nuclear weapons testing, spending his time carving Kachina dolls to appease the Gods. Meanwhile, a man and his wife break down as they are travelling through the desert. Seeking help, the couple meet The Boy, but soon realize that he is not the salvation they hoped for.
River Phoenix, who portrays The Boy, died suddenly during filming, leaving the fate of the film up in the air. Sluizer estimated that roughly 80% of the film had been completed before his death, and approached River’s younger brother Joaquin to fill in, a request that the Phoenix family rejected.
Undeterred, Sluizer assembled a somewhat “complete” cut of the film, simply providing narration over the missing scenes. This version of Dark Blood was screened a handful of times at International film festivals in 2012, nearly twenty years after it was originally filmed.
7. EMPIRES OF THE DEEP
Following the massive success of James Cameron’s live action FernGully remake, China attempted to cash in on the attractive humanoids fighting each other craze, and Empires of the Deep was born. It’s a fantasy epic that, judging by it’s trailer, revolves around mermaids battling giant crocodiles and possibly engaging in interspecies romance with Spartan (?) warriors.
Starring former Bond girl Olga Kurylenko and originally slated to be directed by Catwoman auteur “Pitof,” Empires of the Deep had a budget of $130 million USD and went through approximately 40 drafts over the period of five years from eight different screenwriters.
The budget was the largest in Chinese film history, but the production was troubled from the start. Different directors seemed to start work on the film only to be replaced a short time afterward, the cast was made up of largely unknown actors and the special effects heavy feature was beset with rendering delays.
Finally, a trailer was unveiled to industry critics, and was met with universal ridicule. The film, which had been touted as a rival to tent-pole Hollywood releases, looked more like a mockbuster from The Asylum than a $130 million epic. Will we ever see this hilarious mis-step? No one seems to know.
6. THE BRAVE
The Brave featured one of the final performances of screen legend Marlon Brando. The film was an adaptation of a novel of the same name by Gregory MacDonald, who also wrote the novels that Chevy Chase’s Fletch is based on. The Brave revolves around a Native American man named Raphael, who is desolate at his inability to provide for his family. Depressed and seeing no other options, he agrees to star in a snuff film in exchange for a large sum of money. The bleak film explores Raphael’s relationships over the final week of his life, and coming to terms with his fate.
Despite receiving decent reviews at the ’97 Cannes Film Festival, American reviewers were particularly critical of the film. Disgusted by the hostility of the American press, Depp forbade its release in the U.S. Although the film has received an under-the-radar release in other countries, The Brave is virtually unknown, despite its world famous star. Thankfully, Depp resurrected the bandana for Captain Jack Sparrow.
5. MY BEST FRIEND’S BIRTHDAY
