Making movies is hard work. Though the best films tend to make the process look easy, while lesser ones look like no effort was put in at all, the truth is usually not quite so clear cut. The folks behind an awful movie might have started with a strong idea and good intentions but somehow lost sight of what worked and what didn’t. Those who bring us awesome movies, on the other hand, might have begun with a stinker and then polished it until it shined.
It’s a common process, then, for movies to transform a lot over the development process – but some change more than others. Certain films over the years have been altered in such massive ways throughout production that they were unrecognizable by the end of it. Sometimes for the best, sometimes for the worst.
Here, then, are 10 classic movies that had mind-blowingly different first drafts, having been changed so much during development that they ended up nothing like they were when the idea was first sprung.