Random Movies That Were More Than Likely Ghost-Directed (12 items)

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  (#9) Waterworld

  • Kevin Costner, Jack Black, Dennis Hopper, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Michael Jeter, Tina Majorino, Kim Coates, Robert Joy, Sab Shimono, Jack Kehler, Robert LaSardo, Leonardo Cimino, Lee Arenberg, Sean Whalen, Rick Aviles, Zakes Mokae, Gerard Murphy, R. D. Call, Greg Goossen, Robert A. Silverman, Chris Douridas, Lanny Flaherty, John Toles-Bey, Neil Giuntoli, Doug Spinuzza, Zitto Kazann, John Fleck, William Preston, John Otrin, Chris Moore, Ari Barak, Hal Douglas, Alexa Jago, Anne Gaybis, Rita Zohar, Chaim Girafi, Michael Haddad, August Neves, Henry Kapono Kaaihue, Paul Bogh, Anthony DeMasters, Willy Petrovic, Luke Ka'ili Jr., Delisa Sexton, Tracy Anderson, Victor Sánchez, Jenny Tallent, David Finnegan

  Credited Director: Kevin Reynolds

  Rumored Director: Kevin Costner

  This is a switcheroo from Dances With Wolves, for which rumor has it Reynolds had a heavy hand in helping Costner direct. This time, Costner, who produced and starred in Waterworld, handed off helming duties to good friend Reynolds. Unfortunately, for all involved, the extremely ambitious idea of producing a major blockbuster on the water ran into a lot of production trouble, including a sinking set and going way over budget. At the time of production, in 1995, it was the most expensive film ever made.

  Towards the end of production, an altercation between Costner and Reynolds resulted in the latter leaving the project. It's unknown whether Reynolds was fired or he left of his own accord. Costner then took over directing, and had a major voice in how the film was edited.

  Many think Waterworld, because it was so expensive to make, was a box office disaster. Although it didn't perform well stateside, it brought in a large international audience. In the end, when factoring in rentals and sales, the film turned a decent profit. Despite the rocky relationship between Costner and Reynolds, the pair worked together again on the 2012 TV Mini-Series Hatfields &McCoys.
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  (#4) Rambo: First Blood Part II

  • Sylvester Stallone, Charles Napier, Richard Crenna, Steven Berkoff, Julia Nickson-Soul, Martin Kove, George Cheung, Dana Lee, Voyo Goric, Baoan Coleman, Don Collins, Christopher Grant

  Credited Director: George Cosmatos

  Rumored Director: Sylvester Stallone

  George Cosmatos may not have directed Rambo: First Blood Part II, as he's credited as having done. Though Stallone isn't listed as the film's director, there's evidence he ghost-directing the second installment in the Rambo franchise, in which he also starred. Stallone officially has nine directing credits on his resume, including four Rocky films, so it's not beyond belief he called all the shots on Rambo: First Blood Part II, as Kurt Russell claimed in an interview about Tombstone.
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  (#12) A Night at the Roxbury

  • Eva Mendes, Will Ferrell, Jennifer Coolidge, Loni Anderson, Michael Clarke Duncan, Molly Shannon, Chris Kattan, Colin Quinn, Chazz Palminteri, Richard Grieco, Mark McKinney, Dan Hedaya, Lochlyn Munro, Dwayne Hickman, Jim Wise, Meredith Scott Lynn, Gigi Rice, Elisa Donovan, Twink Caplan, Maree Cheatham, Louis E. Rosas, Kristen Dalton, Chad Bannon, Kip King, Deborah Kellner, Christian Mixon, Roy Jenkins, Mary Ann Schmidt, Viveca Paulin, Raquel Gardner, Paulette Braxton, Mary Ann Kellogg, Rachel Galvin, Gina Mari, Trish Ramish, Victor Kobayashi, Yoshio Be, Patrick Ferrell, Richard Francese, Valentin Siroon, Agata Gotova, Betty A. Bridges, Robin Krieger, Christina Eliason, Dorian Spencer, Andrew Marks, Tina Weisinger, Michael M. Horton

  Credited Director: John Fortenberry

  Rumored Director: Amy Heckerling

  On A Night at the Roxbury's IMDb page, Amy Heckerling is listed as an uncredited director. There are rumors the Clueless and Fast Times at Ridgemont High helmer directed a couple of scenes from the Saturday Night Live-sketch-to-film. Heckerling produced the picture, which was written by SNL alums Will Ferrell and Chris Kattan. How much Heckerling actually directed remain unclear - was she stepping in for one scene? Was she serving as a second unit director? 
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  (#7) Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi

  • Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, James Earl Jones, Alec Guinness, Billy Dee Williams, Frank Oz, Ian McDiarmid, Warwick Davis, Kenny Baker, Peter Mayhew, David Prowse, Anthony Daniels, Denis Lawson, Sebastian Shaw, Kenneth Colley, Jeremy Bulloch, Michael Pennington, Mike Quinn, Larry Ward

  Credited Director: Richard Marquand

  Rumored Director: George Lucas

  George Lucas directed the first installment of Star Wars in 1977, then turned to Irvin Kershner, his old USC professor, to direct Empire Strikes Back. The decision was largely based on Lucas's need to stay in California to save Lucasfilm from bankruptcy. Kershner decided not to take on the major commitment of the third installment, so Lucas handed the reins to another relatively unknown director, Richard Marquand. An interesting side note: David Lynch was offered the opportunity to direct Return of the Jedi but declined in order to direct Dune.

  The story goes: Lucas wasn't heavily involved in Empire, which. while it a huge success, went way over budget. Because of this,he decided to have a heavier hand with Return of the Jedi. He reportedly stood over Marquand’s shoulder every step of the way, forcing him to film a master shot of each scene - the entire scene filmed in one long take - to take away Marquand's control of the film's aesthetic. Because Kershner did not film master shots, whatever he shot had to be used; therefore, he exerted a lot of control over Empire.

  Lucas also had final edit once production was complete, so he could shape the movie exactly how he wanted. He used the master shots to work around footage Marquand shot that he didn't like. 
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  (#5) Super Mario Bros.

  • Dennis Hopper, Bob Hoskins, John Leguizamo, Lance Henriksen, Samantha Mathis, Fiona Shaw, Fisher Stevens, Mojo Nixon, Don Lake, Richard Edson, Gianni Russo, Desiree Marie Velez, Francesca P. Roberts, Robert D. Raiford, Dana Kaminski

  Credited Directors: Annabel Jankel, Rocky Morton

  Rumored Directors: Dean Semler, Roland Joffe

  Notorious box office and critical flop, and the first video-game-to-big-screen adaptation, Super Mario Bros. is credited to Max Headroom creators Annabel Jankel and Rocky Morton. However, there are rumors cinematographer Dean Semler and producer Roland Joffe took on a large chunk of these duties. Though it was a critical punching bag and financial disappointment, the film has become a cult hit, especially in the gaming community.

  According to Morton, there were several production issues, because the studio stepped in and rewrote most of the original script. In an interview with Nintendo Life, he recalled:

  "I remember when the new script came in, we had a phone call — [Jankel] was casting in LA, I was in NC building the sets, and we’d both just read the new script, we called each other up and said 'This is terrible, we've gotta get away from this movie, it’s not the movie we wanted to make'... We decided to soldier on and rectify the film as we carried on. But we were a bit naive in that what’s in the script is what’s on the screen — it’s very hard to remake a movie as you’re filming, and that’s what caused a lot of the problems too."

  When asked what his overall memory was from working on the movie, Morton answered with just a single word, "humiliation." Even still, he's never admitted to not directing the picture.
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  (#3) Tombstone

  • Val Kilmer, Kurt Russell, Charlton Heston, Billy Bob Thornton, Dana Delany, Bill Paxton, Sam Elliott, Billy Zane, Jason Priestley, Stephen Lang, Michael Biehn, Thomas Haden Church, John Corbett, Michael Rooker, Powers Boothe, Paula Malcomson, Jon Tenney, Dana Wheeler-Nicholson, Joanna Pacuła, Robert John Burke, Lisa Collins

  Credited Director: George P. Cosmatos

  Rumored Director: Kurt Russell

  Wyatt Earp-centered drama Tombstone (1993) ran into road bumps as soon as production began. The film's screenwriter, Kevin Jarre, was fired as director early in the production process and replaced by Rambo: First Blood Part II director George Cosmatos. Despite rumors, it took more than a decade for the real on-set boss to emerge.

  During a 2006 interview with True West Magazine, Kurt Russell revealed the story of how he directed the film and why it took so long for the truth to come out:

  "Tombstone is one that’s actually worth talking about—that was the one time I had gone out and got the money. I backed the director; the director got fired, so we brought in a guy to be a ghost director. They wanted me to take over the movie. I said, 'I’ll do it, but I don’t want to put my name on it. I don’t want to be the guy.'"

  Russell went so far as to give Cosmatos a shot list every night for the following day's work, and told him he didn't want any arguments about directorial decisions. According to Russell, this wasn't Cosmatos's first ghost directing job. "I got him from Sly Stallone - called up Sly, said 'I need a guy.' Sly did the same thing with Rambo 2 with George."

  Russell told Cosmatos that he would not reveal the film's secret while George was still alive. Cosmatos passed away in 2005.

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