10 YEARS on Set: Movies That Took an ETERNITY to Make

Making a film is never a short process, but sometimes it turns into an agonizing journey. The reasons can range from financial difficulties or technological limitations to the director’s unique vision, where the extended production time is dictated by the demands of the story. Here are eight movies whose production took an exceptionally long time:
Boyhood (2014), dir. Richard Linklater – 12 years
In order to realistically portray the process of growing up on screen, Richard Linklater, director of the romantic trilogy with Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke, shot Boyhood over nearly twelve years, starting in 2002. The crew would gather on set once or twice a year for 3–4 days. Boyhood tells the story of a family, centered on Mason (Ellar Coltrane), whom we meet as a six-year-old and follow through his life until he turns eighteen. Linklater’s film is a story about everything and nothing, where significant and trivial moments are depicted with equal weight, blending them into a moving tale about the magic and ordinariness of life.
Eraserhead (1977), dir. David Lynch – 5 years
Henry Spencer (Jack Nance) learns that his estranged girlfriend has given birth to a deformed child. This experimental, feature-length debut by one of the greatest contemporary directors took five years to complete. Despite financial support from the American Film Institute, David Lynch faced significant challenges funding the production, which was ultimately completed thanks to the help of actress Sissy Spacek and her husband, Jack Fisk.
Avatar (2009), dir. James Cameron – 10 years
The idea for the story about the conflict between Earthlings and the Na’vi people inhabiting Pandora came to James Cameron after making Titanic. Realizing that late-1990s technology couldn’t achieve his vision, Cameron postponed production while refining the script and overseeing linguists’ work on the Na’vi language. The decade-long production paid off, earning numerous accolades, including nine Oscar nominations and three wins.
Roar (1981), dir. Noel Marshall – 11 years
This comedic adventure film featured director Noel Marshall, his then-wife Tippi Hedren, her daughter Melanie Griffith, and Marshall’s sons. Marshall played the lead role of a wildlife conservationist studying big cats. Tippi Hedren, an animal rights advocate, aimed to use the film to highlight the plight of endangered species in Africa. Despite good intentions, the production faced numerous setbacks, including financial shortages and disasters like a flood that destroyed the set, killed many lions, and ruined previously shot footage. The film took eleven years to complete, with Hedren and Marshall going into debt to finish it.
Shoah (1985), dir. Claude Lanzmann – 11 years
The Israeli government sought to create a Holocaust documentary from a Jewish perspective. Originally planned as a two-hour film to be completed in 18 months, this over nine-hour-long documentary took eleven years to produce. The first six years were spent conducting interviews with Holocaust survivors in fourteen countries, resulting in 350 hours of footage. The editing process alone took five years. Lanzmann included no archival footage, focusing solely on personal testimonies.
Sleeping Beauty (1959), dir. Clyde Geronimi – 8 years
This classic Disney animation, based on a European fairy tale, was promoted as “6 years in the making,” but in reality, its production spanned eight years. For comparison, Disney’s first full-length animated feature, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), took just three years to complete, despite being a pioneering effort. Sleeping Beauty employed complex, cutting-edge techniques that required more time. Initially enthusiastic about the project, Walt Disney eventually became less involved, as he was consumed by preparations for the opening of Disneyland.
Coffee and Cigarettes (2003), dir. Jim Jarmusch – 18 years
This anthology film consists of eleven short stories, and its production stretched over eighteen years. The first segment, Strange to Meet You, featuring Roberto Benigni and Steven Wright, was shot in 1986. The second, Twins (originally Coffee and Cigarettes II or Coffee and Cigarettes: Memphis Version), was filmed in 1989. In 1993, the short Coffee and Cigarettes: Somewhere in California won the Palme d’Or for Best Short Film at Cannes. The final six segments were completed in 2003 and combined with the earlier ones into a feature film.
The Thin Red Line (1998), dir. Terrence Malick – 10 years
Terrence Malick’s obsession with detail meant this war film took a decade to complete. The director frequently clashed with producers, extending production by researching nature books to capture intricate close-ups of blades of grass or insects. Despite the delays, the effort paid off—Malick’s film is a profound exploration of the futility of war. It won the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival and received seven Oscar nominations.