7. The Crying Game (1992)

Budget: $1.5 million

And how would Sir like to pay?

Stephen Woolley and Nik Powell’s Palace Pictures produced some corking British movies (Mona Lisa, Scandal). However, due to some eccentric decisions (for example, making Absolute Beginners), the company often teetered on the brink of bankruptcy.

Such was the case during the making of Neil Jordan’s gender-bending IRA drama, The Crying Game. Indeed, things got so bad that Woolley began financing the film with his credit card.

And when his flexible friend maxed-out, he’d head to the Palace-owned Scala Cinema, take the money directly out of the tills and then rush back to set to pay the crew.

Money well spent?

Box office success and Jordan’s Best Original Screenplay Oscar were cold comfort to the people made redundant when The Crying Game overspends led to the collapse of Palace Pictures.

Next: Roger & Me