10 cases when movie creators spent a lot of money on ridiculous special effects (12 photos)

Let's remember what kind of CGI waste with a lot of zeros on the set of famous films can be called either crazy, or, to put it mildly, just very, very strange.





Unnecessary spending is common to all people, even representatives of large film studios, where responsible and reasonable people seem to work. Filming one film consists of a huge number of expense items that must be taken into account and at the same time fit within a predetermined budget.

However, it can be carelessly wasted on many small trifles or invested in something as ridiculous as possible. For example, on expensive special effects, which could definitely be done without.

Justice League (2017) - removal of Henry Cavill's mustache







The actor was already filming Mission: Impossible: Fallout (2018) when it became clear that Justice League required some additional filming. But Cavill's character in The Mission sported a rather thick mustache, which was a bad idea to destroy in order to play the always clean-shaven Superman.

According to director Christopher McQuarrie, close-up fake mustaches shot with a 75mm lens will never look like anything other than a fake mustache. And waiting for the actor to grow a new mustache was very expensive due to the idleness of the film crew. It could cost $3 million!

In the end, it was decided that Cavill's mustache would be easier to cover up with CGI, but it was an absolute disaster. The entire Internet laughed at the film and the actor’s mustache and still laughs a little.

"Zodiac" (2007) - fake hair on Jake Gyllenhaal's arms



The film's director, David Fincher, decided to add hair to the actor's arms in close-ups during post-production. According to Fincher, Gyllenhaal's hands seemed "too hairless and beautiful" to him. Obviously, such a graphic procedure in 2007 could not be particularly cheap.

"A Knight's Tale" (2001) - adding a modern Ferris wheel to the general plan of medieval London



The film was deliberately filled to capacity with anachronisms - rock music plays in the background, the heroes perform modern dances, and the armor of the knights belongs to modern sports brands. In the same style, the general plan of supposedly medieval London was recreated, where among the ancient buildings you can see the London Eye Ferris wheel, which in reality opened in 1999.

So, the filmmakers spent half a million dollars on this small detail, which can be seen in the frame above in the upper right corner! This amount is for an Easter egg added for fun. Yes, special effects at the beginning of the 21st century were a very expensive pleasure.

"Twilight. Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1 (2011) - artificial child



Instead of finding a real child, which they do here and there for filming movies, this seems to be no problem, the creators of Twilight decided to draw the child on the computer. Not only was a lot of money wasted on this, but the child itself turned out to be downright creepy.

"Room" (2003) - views of San Francisco added to the background using chromakey



In the "cult-bad" film by actor, director, screenwriter and producer Tommy Wiseau, several scenes were allegedly filmed on the roof of a house, although in fact in a studio. The city in the background was added using a green screen, against which the scene was filmed.

The strange thing is that Wiseau had access to a rooftop with a similar view, where all these scenes could be filmed, but for some reason the choice was made in favor of the studio and unnecessary expenses. The reason was never stated.

"Blade 3: Trinity" (2004) - Wesley Snipes open eyes



A case from the “Henry Cavill mustache” series. The leading actor of the film, Wesley Snipes, tormented the film's director David Goyer as best he could, not agreeing to follow his instructions, which reached the point of complete absurdity.

In one of the scenes, Blade was lying dead, but suddenly (attention, spoilers) he came to life and started another fight. During the close-up, the actor lying on the table had to suddenly open his eyes, demonstrating that he was alive. But Snipes refused to do this. And the director never got through to the actor, and then he gave up and the filming ended anyway.

David Goyer decided to "reveal" Blade's eyes in the editing room by simply drawing them. You can see how unnaturally it turned out even in the freeze frame. But the eyes also moved. Well, the cost of such an overlay in 2004 was very impressive.

"Halloween: 20 Years Later" (1998) - painted mask



Due to the fact that during the filming of the film the design of Michael Myers' mask was changed, some scenes that had already been filmed were artificially remade. For example, at the moment when one of the characters comes face to face with a maniac, the design of the mask is especially striking.

Apparently, reshooting the scenes with the new mask was impossible, so the creators had to resort to the services of special effects specialists. They were probably very surprised.

“The Social Network” (2010) - steam from the characters’ mouths



During the scene where Mark Zuckerberg and Eduardo Saverin are talking on the street in the middle of a party, it is very clear that their cold breath was digitally superimposed. Moreover, the temperature in this scene does not affect the plot or characters in any way, it’s just director David Fincher’s attention to detail - this man can instruct not only draw hair on his arms!

By the way, in the same film there was a really cool use of technology: actor Army

"Green Lantern" (2011) - mask of the main character



It would seem that such a mask on the actor’s face is the simplest prop that does not need to be drawn on top on the computer. And there was no dilemma with already filmed scenes like in Halloween. After all, the mask could be depicted using makeup, which is much cheaper!

But the creators decided to add even more graphics to the film, for which they paid the price - Green Lantern was destroyed and is considered one of the examples of how not to use CGI in cinema. In addition, the film with a 200 million budget also failed in terms of box office receipts.

John Wick (2014) - drawn dog poop



Here it is - the highest level of ridiculous waste of money during filming! Moreover, its essence is as ironic as possible. In this frame from the film you can see traces of the life of the main character's dog. So they were drawn on the computer! And it cost $5,000.

Why not use fake feces or wait until the puppy from the movie dealt with everything on his own? As they joked on the Internet, the cost of the poop was probably paid for by Keanu Reeves, because he is such a good guy!