The story of ‘Movie 43’: one of Hollywood’s greatest disasters
It’s only natural that for every masterpiece movie Hollywood has coughed out of its glittering production room, there’s been an equally terrible work of cinema to come out the other end. Perhaps few were as disastrous, though, as the 2013 anthology comedy Movie 43, an admittedly daring project with an unbelievable array of talent attached.
It comprised fourteen different storylines, each handled by a different director, including Peter Farrelly, Elizabeth Banks, James Gunn and Bob Odenkirk and starring the likes of Halle Berry, Gerard Butler, Richard Gere, Hugh Jackman, Emma Stone, Uma Thurman and Kate Winslet, to name but a few, Movie 43 ought to have been a quality work of film, but the result was quite the opposite.
The film was conceived by producer Charles B. Wessler, who spent nearly a decade getting the project finally into actual production. It was shot over the next seven years following an equally difficult casting period. Several studios turned it down before it was acquired by Relativity Media, with Wessler noting in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, “They just looked at me and said, ‘Go for it.’ It takes a lot of balls to make something that is not conventional.”
Wessler had essentially wanted to replicate the comedy website Funny or Die in movie form whilst also admitting to having ambitions of creating “a Kentucky Fried Movie for the modern age”. What followed was an attempt at satire on contemporary life, with sketches ranging from Wessler pitching increasingly ludicrous movie ideas across Hollywood to bodily abnormalities, home-schooling, online dating, the modern obsession with beauty and health, and everything in between.
While the cast for Movie 43 was indeed impressive, many other stars turned the project down, with Wessler admitting that it likely wouldn’t have been made if it weren’t for his friends agreeing to feature. Hugh Jackman was the first actor to decide to take part, though he admitted it was a “ballsy” move. James Gunn, meanwhile, agreed to take part after being convinced by Elizabeth Banks, though he has never actually seen the final film.
Richard Gere did his utmost to get out of the project, but having already spent over a decade getting the film made, Wessler and Peter Farrelly were willing to wait as long as it took to make things work for the many actors. Colin Farrell thankfully backed out early on to leave Gerard Butler playing a Leprechaun. When George Clooney was asked if he wanted to play a version of himself that’s awful at talking to women, he replied, “No fucking way.”
Movie 43 might have just come out the other side of production as a decent offering of Hollywood talent. Instead, it arrived as something akin to a party that’s already begun to wind up, that no one really wants to be at any longer, despite the ongoing enthusiasm of its hosts. Still, the film was one hell of an ambitious project and serves as an incredible collection of the industry’s modern heroes.
Check out the trailer for Movie 43 below.
