The Unexpected Death of a Project
One of the movies I’ve been working on, I’ve been shooting / editing / writing for the past six months or so off and on, and conceiving of for much longer than that. I had one shoot left to go on it (three hours) plus a voiceover recording session (another three hours) and then it would have been ready for post-production: just me assembling and editing it and finishing it.
And now, the project is cancelled.
It is cancelled not because of me, but because of one of the two lead actors in the film suddenly and without warning dropping out of the project (with, like I said, mere hours left of work for them to do on the film) and requesting that I not use any footage of them in the film—footage which comprises half of every scene. It was a two-person film, and now one of those people is up and gone, leaving both me and the actor they were acting with bewildered, as all the work that we did, and everything we shot, is now unusable.
This is the worst thing that I have ever experienced as a filmmaker. Sure, we’ve all had the occasional actor who doesn’t show up, or who ghosts you a week before you’re all set to start shooting, or whatever—that sucks, but that’s nothing compared to this. This was a film that was almost entirely done, and now I’m back to square one on it—and I can’t even reshoot it anytime soon, because the other actor understandably can’t recommit to that much work to have to do all over again, and also the weather isn’t even right for the scenes anymore. The earliest I would be able to reshoot this thing is Spring 2025—and that’s if I even want to reshoot this and not just give up and scrap it entirely.
The film we were making was great—it would have been one my very best. So much gold was captured, and the story was something very unique and clever. I was fully happy with both of their performances, and there wasn’t a single disagreement or bad vibes whatsoever. To say that this came as a shock is an understatement.
The reason given by the actor is, and I quote, ‘due to creative differences I cannot move forward’. That is the extent of what I’ve been able to get out of them—any follow-up questions by me have been brushed off (and I’ve asked very nicely). I have no idea what creative differences they are referring to. So much of this film was malleable at each step of the way, as it largely involved improvisation and was being built as we went along. Nothing was sprung on anyone, and something else could have been done instead if an impasse was ever hit. I quite simply do not understand what the problem was, at all.
I was hesitant to even write a Substack about this, because anyone who reads my work who doesn’t like me, and who relishes anything bad happening to me, will assume that I did something to cause this. I don’t think that I did. I had no interaction with this person socially, only professionally. I don’t think I’ve ever even had a single conversation with them about anything not pertaining to the film or filmmaking.
The only clue I have as to what might have caused them to drop out of the project is the fact that they unfollowed me on Instagram after dropping out. I know that this person is a liberal, and I have been posting stuff about Trump after the election on there. Maybe they discovered I’m a Republican and had some sort of internal freakout because of that. But, this is just guesswork on my part—I’ve been given no indication as to what the issue is. I only know that the film, by its very nature, put so much ball in the court of the actors, and anything they wanted to do or not do was fine. Creative difference was a non-issue for a project like this. So, I don’t know.
I feel awful for the other actor. All that work that they put in, gone. I make movies all the time—I’ll be fine. But this would have been their first lead role. I’m sure I will work with them again at some point, but I totally understand why they might not want to get back on the train of this particular film. All that work that they did, gone. It’s horrible.
I wish no ill will towards the actor that dropped out, and I will not be ‘doxxing’ them or anything like that. I don’t think that they deserve any attacks, and I will not be naming their name, and there’s no sleuthing that you can do on your own to find out who they are. If you really wanna know who they are, here’s who they are: they are a person who made a mistake. Plain a simple. A wrong choice. They should have just finished the movie. They aren’t a monster for doing what they did, but it wasn’t the right thing to do. I hope that if they’re ever in a situation like this again, that they do the right thing this time, and I hope that if they’re ever in my position, that it doesn’t take someone doing it to them for them to realize just how wrong it is.
If you feel bad for me for having an entire movie of mine shattered moments before it could exist, consider contributing $1 per month to my truly independent film studio, Kill The Lion Films.