Now I know why people don't make three movies at once

I finally finished out the last disc of special features on The Return of the King Extended Edition DVDs. There are six discs of special features between the three exteneded editions and they're all so good it's not really worth trying to rank them. This last disc was a little different though. It's focus wasn't the effects, or the artisans, or the sets, or all those other remarkable things people did to make these movies. This one focused on the ridiculous effort it took to get this film out the door and all the craziness that ensued through the opening and the Oscars and everyone saying goodbye and being done with this epic project.

My biggest take away from watching is that I thought I knew what crunch mode looked like. I worked in Windows when Microsoft shipped Windows XP, I worked in Office when we shipped Office 2003, I've had friends that have worked on Visual Studio, MSN, Smartphones, and games as they've tried to ship them. I've seen some pretty crazy people trying to get more work done then can possibly get done before a deadline. But I've never seen anything as bad as they went through to get Return of the King out the door on time. It was total insanity and I watched with my jaw hung open - half in wonderment and half trying to figure out how it actually went out the door in time (it clearly did, I saw it on openning day...)

If you've ever wondered why so many movies seem to suck it helps to get some insight into the amount of effort, talent and dedication it takes to make a truly great one (or a trilogy in this case.) I strongly recommend watching the special features on the extended edition DVD's for all three movies. Not only is it fascinating, it gave me a whole new perspective on what it takes to make great movies.

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