We've become so used to movies made by committee, with multiple writers and sometimes even multiple directors, that sometimes it seems as if the passion project is a lost art in Hollywood. Still, every few years one of the world's esteemed directors manages to yank a beloved idea out of development hell and show off their virtuosic vision, as wild and unrestrained as it can be.

Many of these movies are famous simply because of their lengthy production schedules, the hoops everyone involved had to jump through before the making of the projects could even start, and the setbacks that continued to delay things, sometimes almost up to the movie's release date. Stories like this are somewhat rare, which is what makes them exciting.

The other reason these long-gestating movies are exciting when they finally happen is just that: they've finally happened, someone talented has finally managed to do what seemed impossible a year ago, ten years ago, 20 years ago. Regardless of whether or not it's even good, there's a certain aura to a much-hyped passion project with a "famously difficult production" that a regular movie made on a regular schedule with no issues that came in under-budget just doesn't quite have. Something that is important enough to spend years waiting to make is automatically a must-see, even if it's just to see whether it was worth the wait.