9 Movies That Are Drastically Different from Their Original Scripts

1. 'Commando' (1985)

Commando’s entire treatment had to be revamped after Arnold Schwarzenegger was cast in the lead role.

Originally, the movie centered on an Israeli soldier who had resigned from violence, but clearly that’s not what the film turned out to be. The lead was also supposed to be a much older man, and Gene Simmons was the filmmakers' first choice, but Simmons turned it down. The movie was also offered to Nick Nolte before Schwarzenegger was finally locked as the lead.

The casting choice prompted the makers to hire Steven E. de Souza to rewrite it to complement Schwarzenegger's larger-than-life persona. The result is a brute-bodied Schwarzenegger, with his face painted black, taking an entire army down all by himself!

2. 'Live Free or Die Hard' (2007)

The original title of Live Free or Die Hard was WW3.com. The movie wasn’t another John McClane versus the bad guys adventure but a stand-alone cyber-thriller, inspired by a Wired article.

The 9/11 attacks pushed production indefinitely until one day the David Marconi script was reconsidered for production by 20th Century Fox, this time as a McClane adventure.

3. 'Pretty Woman' (1990)

This iconic romantic comedy was actually a darker story centered around a young L.A. sex worker and her doomed relationship with a wealthy New York businessman.

However, when Touchstone Pictures undertook the project, they hired writers to turn it into an epic love story, featuring a couple with sparkling chemistry. The major changes were made to tone down the film's grim themes while keeping important events as they are.

The ending was significantly changed to better align with the studio's vision.

4. 'Last Action Hero' (1993)

For Zak Penn and Adam Leff, watching Last Action Hero on the big screen was quite the surprise, and not in a good way. The Hollywood outsider duo wrote a parody of mainstream action movies.

The movie failed at the box office, even though Shane Black, a hotshot name in ‘80s and '90s action, was called in to do the necessary rewrites.

5. 'E.T' (1982)

Reportedly, Steven Spielberg had conceptualized E.T. as the story of a family being terrorized by aliens. But then Spielberg got a better idea. He moulded the story so that E.T. was no longer a threat to the family. Instead, his presence fills the void of companionship in Elliot’s life.

Once he had a basic structure in mind, he approached the screenwriter, Melissa Mathison, for help developing the script. Spielberg eventually pitched the second version of the draft to Columbia Pictures. While they refused at the time, Universal Pictures jumped right onto it.

The original idea for E.T., however, did not go to waste. It became the core idea for Poltergeist, the notable horror produced by Spielberg, that released soon after E.T.

Aliens were replaced with ghosts, and combined with Tom Hooper’s own ideas, Poltergeist was born.

6. 'Con Air' (1997)

When you watch Con Air, remember it began as a small-budget drama-thriller, more along the lines of Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead.

Written by Scott Rosenberg, the story was subsequently picked up by producer Jerry Bruckheimer, who had bigger plans for the premise. Con Air underwent multiple revisions to match Bruckheimer’s personal expectations of star-studded widescreen destruction, and with what we got thereafter, I’m not complaining!

7. 'When Harry Met Sally' (1989)

Let’s talk a little bit here about how mental state affects your filmmaking, because that was what decided Harry and Sally’s fate as a couple. Rob Reiner went into the production of When Harry Met Sally with a broken heart. He was going through a divorce, and so love was cruel and unpleasant in his view.

Reiner decided that Harry and Sally would not end up together; rather, they would stay friends. However, over the course of the project, Reiner fell in love and met his second wife. Finishing the project with a fuller heart, Reiner united the two best friends, only for them to become one of the greatest movie couples of all time.

8. 'Child’s Play' (1988)

Originally titled Blood Buddy, Don Mancini’s story was set against the same premise, but it was a whodunit. Mancini’s story was more about chasing the mystery behind the deaths, unlike the film Child’s Play, where the audience already knows the culprit and is waiting with bated breath for someone to stop him, if someone ever believed Andy.

Also, unlike in the original literature, Chucky is already possessed; in Mancini’s version, Andy inadvertently brings him to life when he mixes his real blood with the doll’s fake blood.

9. 'Back to the Future' (1985)

This Robert Zemeckis sci-fi classic also underwent multiple revisions before we saw what we now call a masterpiece. The time machine was supposed to be a refrigerator until it was switched for a flux capacitor-powered DeLorean.

The major changes were made to the look and feel of 1985, which was initially envisioned as more futuristic than what was ultimately decided for the movie.

The above movies show that every step in production is an opportunity to improve your script. While a bound script shows clarity, improvisations throughout production can do wonders, too.

What are your views on drastic revisions? Let us know your favorite movie in the comments.