Trivia / Babylon A.D.

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• Creator Backlash: The film was hit with this before it even came out. The director, Mathieu Kassovitz, does not remember this movie well notably because of Vin Diesel (an awful actor according to him, as Diesel supposedly came late to the shootings and behaved arrogantly towards everybody) and a heavy dose of Executive Meddling from 20th Century Fox: His initial vision of a dark but thoughtful cyberpunk world was turned into "a bad episode of 24" and "pure violence and stupidity."
• Creator Killer: The film's failure put a very severe restraint on the career of director Mathieu Kassovitz, who has not had a major presence in Hollywood cinema since and is not fond of the final version of this film.
• Deleted Scene: The Hummer chase scene is an extra on the DVD, though it was in the theatre version.
• Executive Meddling: The film was reportedly disowned by its director because of Fox's meddling, as described here. They cut the film down so much that Vin Diesel, who hadn't seen a cut of the film for months, jokingly wondered if he was still in the movie at all.
• Screwed by the Network: Taken away from director, and heavily edited from its original concept. Release date postponed to just before Labor Day weekend and died against Tropic Thunder and The Dark Knight.
• Troubled Production: It took five years to get greenlit. French director Mathieu Kassovitz originally intended the film to be highly intellectual, but 20th Century Fox interfered with production all the way through, preventing Kassovitz from shooting scenes as he intended, sometimes even going against the script. Fox forced him to hire Vin Diesel into the lead role against Kassovitz' wishes, which limited him even further. Early in the production, uncooperative weather caused a two-week hiatus. A scene which was supposed to be shot in Eastern Europe ended up getting delayed and moved to Sweden due to a lack of snow. Actor Lambert Wilson was thrown into the movie late in production. By the time the whole ordeal was over, the film was allegedly over-budget and ruined to the point where it was virtually guaranteed to fail at the box office. Kassovitz ended up releasing a documentary called Fucking Kassovitz in 2011 covering the whole experience.
• What Could Have Been: Vincent Cassel, a regular collaborator of Kassovitz, was initially sought to be cast in the lead role.

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