20 Insane Rules Films & TV Shows Weren't Allowed To Break

So at its core, filmmaking is a feat of both collaboration and compromise, of hundreds of

artists pooling their talents to produce art under a set series of constraints. But some of the

requests that had to be met in order to get films off the ground were pretty mad

Lofeld couldn't be named on screen or have his face shown. For Your Eyes Only

1981's Roger Moore-starring Bond film For Your Eyes Only kicks off with a pre-titled sequence in

which 007 dispatches a bald-headed, wheelchair-bound white cat owning antagonist by dropping him down

a bloody chimney. The villain is credited as, ahem, bald-headed man with white cat

yet obviously bears an uncanny resemblance to iconic Bond baddie Ernst Stavro Blofeld

However, due to an ongoing legal dispute between Thunderball producer Kevin McClory and Eon

Productions over the rights to Thunderball and, by extension, Blofeld, he could only be included

in the film as a Blofeld-adjacent facsimile, even though it's hilariously obvious to any fan

watching that this is a Blofeld stand-in, the production had to ensure not to show the

character's face or mention him by name for fear of triggering a massive lawsuit from McClory

And so, that pre-title sequence is infamous for its awkward not-depiction of the character

which has made all the more bizarre given that there wasn't really any urgent need to put him

in the movie at all. Contestants can't be shorter than Pat Sajak, Wheel of Fortune

Her game shows are a staple of television and have been so for several decades

Their enduring nature has allowed for a variety of these shows to emerge, and one of the most prolific examples of this is Wheel of Fortune

The nearly 50-year-old show's premise is rather straightforward, yet very, very appealing

and has seen dozens of contestants and winners over the years. In addition to this, hosts like Pat Sajak have made for truly affable hosts

All this said, the show has an odd rule that, while not harmful, is very, very strange

Players shorter than Sajak should stand on risers to appear to be the same height as the host

Before this, shorter players would stand on boxes, and this most likely made for an amusing

sight behind the scenes. It might help level out the contestants on screen, but it's just so

weirdly specific and rather unnecessary. Despite this, the requirement is one of the show's unseen

staples and definitely adds to its weird charm. Only Deadpool can break the fourth wall

Deadpool and Wolverine Deadpool and Wolverine marked the official debut of Ryan Reynolds' fourth wall-breaking

MOTORMOUTH in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And despite some sceptical expectations to the contrary, he indeed rocked up in full R-Rated glory

Many also wondered precisely how Deadpool would be integrated into the MCU, given his

tendency to address the audience with meta quips and gags, something the MCU is decidedly

not really known for, even if a lot of scenes are basically poking fun of the fact that

they're in a comic book movie. And as director Sean Levy revealed in an interview shortly before the film's release, himself

Reynolds, the screenwriters, and producer Kevin Feige agreed on a system whereby Deadpool

would be the only character capable of breaking the fourth wall. The purpose of this was to preserve Deadpool's stature as the only unreliable narrator, whilst

also ensuring that everyone else without this ability could be taken as seriously as possible

and not be reduced to a mere gag. From that perspective, it totally makes sense, and it's fairly comic accurate too, which is a neat little bonus

Hugh Jackman even initially suggested that Wolverine also break the fourth wall during the movie

only for the idea to be swiftly shot down as Reynolds explained the system they were going with to him

It's fair to assume that this rule will remain in place for any future MCU films Deadpool appears in

most likely at least one of the two upcoming Avengers movies, which fill me with great fear

and dread. No direct references to the MCU. Deadpool Though Deadpool is of course a Marvel character, it's only recently that he's been included under

the Marvel Studios banner, following Disney's acquisition of 20th Century Fox. But when the

first Deadpool movie was released back in 2016, it was a Fox property entirely unrelated to the MCU

and so couldn't in any direct way interact with aspects of that franchise. As a result

director Tim Miller had to be extremely careful with how he staged the film's finale between

Deadpool and Ajax, which appears to take place on a S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier. But because a Fox

Marvel movie couldn't legally include assets or designs owned by Marvel, during production the

concept artist was ordered to ensure the totally not-a-helicarrier wasn't an exact replica of the

MCU's own version. And for his part as well, director Tim Miller offered up his own denial

that it was intended to be a S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier, but now that Disney owns Fox

I think it's going to be smooth sailing from here on out. An Unsettling Lack of Privacy

Jersey Shore Now, reality TV is one of the most baffling trends that has emerged from the 21st century

and it does not seem to be dying down any time soon. The idea of following people around as they

live their lives, however scripted that may be, seems very trite and invasive in some cases

The latter is most definitely the case with Jersey Shore, one of MTV's most enduring

and not in a good way, reality shows. But one of the weird stipulations is that the show's cast

was not allowed to use cell phones in its early days, and in its place, they had to use the duck phone

The duck-shaped phone was the primary communication device between the castmate's house and all of their conversations

bar one, were recorded. The latter was a strange mandate and made some newbies to the show

wonder why the cast's private conversations were recorded in the first place. It was probably meant to manufacture tension or big reveals

but it was so odd to see that these sometimes very personal conversations

were just played out on screen for audiences. Godzilla Can't Eat People

Godzilla Minus One Toho the Japanese studio behind Godzilla revealed a new set of rules which govern all Godzilla movies from 2024 onward including the recent Godzilla X The New Empire and Godzilla Minus One

I'll let you figure out which one of those movies has the better title and is also a better movie

Hint, it's not the American one. Now, one of the more obvious rules is that Godzilla cannot die

though presumably he can still be mortally wounded as long as he is shown to be regenerating

by the film's ending, but more intriguingly, Toho has also mandated that Godzilla can't eat people

The wording actually says that Godzilla can't quote-unquote prey upon humans, and given that he

generally has little regard for human safety in Minus One in particular, it's a fair interpretation

that Toho is actually referring to the notion of Godzilla hunting humans for food, or sport

Pick your poison. Also, Q putting an image of Tommy Lee Jones' K in front of Zilla and screaming

EAT ME! and being ignored repeatedly. And while the knee-jerk reaction is to question why this

even needs to be a written rule at all, in the context of Godzilla's legacy and audience

expectations, it does seem fair enough. Like, you wanna go for a drink and hang out with

Godzilla and not really be chewed up by him. Nobody's watching a Godzilla movie to see

him chug down a skyscraper full of office workers like a pack of Skittles, as fun as

that honestly sounds. Actually, yeah, let Godzilla have one human. That's a treat

the villain couldn't use an iPhone. Knives Out Rian Johnson is just one of many filmmakers who's had to deal with this restriction

but he is definitely the director who's been most vocal about it in recent years. Though Apple did indeed provide iPhones for Johnson's brilliant murder mystery Knives Out

it did come with a strict caveat that the phones not be used by any villainous characters on screen

Like most major companies, Apple are extremely, one could argue, pathetically protective over how their brand is portrayed, and were seemingly fearful that

having a murderer use an iPhone could create an unsavory connection in audiences' minds

Tellingly, then, most of Knives Out's suspects can be seen using an iPhone at one time or another

except for Ransom, who of course turns out to be the killer. Johnson was reluctant to reveal this

deal, as he's effectively given away the game for not only his fellow filmmakers, but for himself

Basically, if you see any character in a movie using an iPhone, they're not going to be the bad

guy. Referencing the movie was forbidden. Hannibal. The short-lived but much-beloved Hannibal prequel series worked due to its captivating lead performances, unique visual

style, and brutal but well-crafted storytelling. Its nature as a prequel meant that the series was

not going to touch on key elements of The Silence of the Lambs, or at least not in the earlier

episodes. This was further compounded by various rights wrangles surrounding the ownership of the

film and the book that it was based on. This meant that any character who originated in the above

mentioned story could not appear in the show, as well as the only characters available to the

showrunner and writers were from the relatively lesser-known books such as Red Dragon. Therefore

its overall plot had to be structured around the book and adapt a rather convoluted timeline

at least for those that have read the books. Despite this, the show worked on its merits and was able to deliver a captivating tale in its brief time on air

Peter Parker Can't Use Google The Amazing Spider-Man When The Amazing Spider-Man was released back in 2012, many fans poked fun at the fact that

Peter Parker, played by Andrew Garfield, used Microsoft's unpopular search engine Bing

rather than Google, like, you know, just about everyone else in the Western world

This was, of course, because Microsoft paid the production to feature Bing, resulting

in several scenes where the web slinger is shown researching information using said search engine

To many, it just didn't track that a person as smart as Peter would be using such an objectively

inferior search engine when Google is, you know, right there. But of course, PETA was contractually prohibited from using Google because it would cause a

conflict of interest with the Bing product placement and open the production up to a

legal challenge from Microsoft. However, Sony evidently took all that mockery to heart, as by the time The Amazing Spider-Man

2 rolled into theatres two years later and Bing had failed to make much of an impression

for anyone, Peter jumped ship to Google. The irony now of course being that not only is the

amazing Spider-Man a relic for its Bing inclusion, but so is its sequel, given it depicts a time and

place where Google had, you know, a functioning search engine that wasn't full of AI slop

Yeah, yeah, take that Google. No guns for the angels. Charlie's angels

So in addition to being one of the film's three stars, Drew Barrymore was also a producer on the

2000 blockbuster adaptation of Charlie's Angels, having acquired the movie rights to the property

years earlier. This gave Barrymore major creative control over the film, and one of her primary

mandates was that the Angels never fire guns throughout. Now, it was an odd choice given

that the original TV show had regularly featured the trio operating firearms, and yet Barrymore

preferred to have them triumph through their martial arts abilities and tech skills. As creative impositions go, it's at least somewhat admirable from a moral perspective

even if the no-guns rule probably felt like a rather extreme restriction to the screenwriters

and was totally ignored in the reboot. He wouldn't ever hurt a pigeon. Spider-Man

The 1994 Spider-Man animated series is considered to be one of the best superhero animated shows

and with good reason. It was a faithful adaptation of the classic tales featuring Spidey and handled

the characters and arcs with a reverence that was not even found in live-action comic book

adaptations at the time Despite all of this Spider action set pieces were a bit wanting due to censorship rules This meant that punches couldn be thrown by characters breaking windows and fires were seen as taboo blood could definitely not be shown on screen and that the Sinister Six oddly had to have its name changed to the

Insidious Six. However, none of these rules can even hold a candle to the weirdness that is

its pigeon censorship. For some inexplicable reason, Fox Kids couldn't show Spider-Man

imperiling the bird on screen, and landing on rooftops could not disturb a group of pigeons

This request, as amusing as it is, makes one wonder. Who would want to show Spider-Man fighting pigeons

That's just odd. No scenes of excess passion. It Happened One Night

1934's iconic romantic comedy, It Happened One Night, was released a few short months before the MPPDA began strictly enforcing the Hays Code

a set of self-censorship guidelines in an attempt to cut down on

quote-unquote, objectionable content in Hollywood movies. Though It Happened One Night was produced and released before The Code came into effect

director Frank Capra nevertheless appreciated that adhering to its rulings would allow his

film to be far more commercially successful, and so he did. The Code had specific guidelines

about filmmakers avoiding depictions of sexuality and, as they put it, excess passion. Yet

But with Capra's movie revolving around the charged romance between Source Pot Clark Gable

and Claudette Colbert's characters, he found himself in a bit of a bind

As the two leads spend much the film in isolation together, Capra came up with a clever compromise

When they sleep in the same room for the first time, Gable's protagonist Peter hangs a blanket

over a clothesline, creating a barrier between him and Colbert's Ellie. At film's end, this blanket falls straight to the floor, emphatically implying that the

sexual union between the two finally happens, even while showing nothing that could be considered

even remotely racy, adhering to the code's rules in the process. None of Jimi Hendrix's music could be used

Jimmy All Is By My Side 2013's Jimi Hendrix biopic, Jimmy All Is By My Side, came and went without much of a

peep despite starring a perfectly cast Andre 3000 in the title role, in large part because

the film didn't include any music written by Hendrix. The filmmakers were unable to secure

Hendrix's songs from his estate for use in the film, forcing writer-director John Ridley to

alter the scope of his movie, focusing it instead in Hendrix's early years as he rose to prominence

And so we never see Hendrix play any of his most beloved songs, instead largely playing covers of

other people's songs that he was known to have performed in the mid-to-late 1960s. It seems like

a movie-breaking restriction, really, and though the end result is still an interesting experiment

topped by a fantastic performance from Andre 3000, it is absolutely missing the undeniable

kick and pizzazz that Hendrix's music would have given it. As such, Jimmy, All is by My Side

fascinatingly underlines the tension inherent in making any musical biopic, and why so many of them

end up as sanitized, estate-endorsed nonsense. The Walking Dead and its Odd Choice of Language

AMC's The Walking Dead is one of the goriest and most violent shows on cable television

and with good reason. It does not shy away from zombie and human carnage

often lingering on what surviving in such a world takes. Despite being on cable and

featuring disturbing content, a particular swear word has never been uttered by the show's cast

Now, saying the word f*** is one of the more vulgar expletives out there, but it seems like it would definitely feel at home in such a show as this, right

Well, not quite, as AMC regulations stipulate that you could not say that

but every other curse word could be used. This is odd due to the aforementioned mature content

of the show and that other things like racial slurs were used in the show's earlier seasons

It also makes for clunky scenes where intense conversations between characters feel oddly sanitized compared to the violence surrounding them. It just goes to show how no

one is safe from absurd rules and censors, not even gory nihilistic zombie shows

No unbiblical behavior. The King of Kings, 1927 Cecil B. DeMille's 1927 biblical epic The King of Kings went to extreme lengths to ensure that

it wouldn't suffer any negative PR blowback as a result of the conduct of its main cast

DeMille infamously had stars H.B. Warner and Dorothy Cumming, who played Jesus and Mary

respectively, sign agreements to ensure they wouldn't do anything to compromise the film's

public image. This included avoiding quote-unquote unbiblical activities during shooting, such as going to ballgames or nightclubs, playing cards, swimming, or even riding in a convertible

Because, you know, the 11th commandment, we all remember that one, right? Thou shall not look cool as hell in your motor vehicle

Really important. Okay, so beyond this, DeMille also demanded that the pair couldn't star in any other films

that might compromise their quote unquote holy screen roles for an entire 5 year period

But worst of all, DeMille also attempted to prevent Cumming from divorcing her husband

Frank Elliott during and after production for fear that it would upset Christian audiences

though in this case his demand was ultimately and rightly ignored. To call these rules extreme is quite the understatement and certainly not something any filmmaker

could get away with of asking talent today. At least I hope so

The Rules of the Dogma 95 Manifesto Festin Thomas Vinterberg's acclaimed 1998 black comedy Festin was the first entry into the Danish Dogma

95 cinematic movement started by Vinterberg and fellow Dane filmmaker Lars von Trier The pair created an artistic manifesto effectively a checklist of 10 rules for films made under the Dogma 95 banner in an attempt to create movies that deferred to a story and character over special effects The rules were as follows 1 Location shooting only with

no additional props. 2. No extra diegetic sound. 3. Handheld camera work only. 4. Shot in color

with no additional lighting. 5. No VFX or camera filters. 6. No superficial actions such as murder

7. No temporal and geographical alienation. 8. No genre movies. 9. It must be projected in 35mm

Academy format. And 10. The director goes uncredited. Finderberg's Festin was the first

film produced under these constraints, and though the director later admitted to bringing in an

outside prop for lighting purposes, in turn breaking two rules at once, shock horror

for the most part he adhered rigidly to the agreed regulations. And truly, Festin is a

technically stripped-back film free of typical cinematic affectations. It was shot on a Sony

Handycam with regular mini-DV cassettes and without any sort of post-produced sound

Festin went on to receive rave reviews from critics and won the jury prize at the 1998

Cannes Film Festival. Despite Vinterberg being uncredited, it also helped establish his fledgling

international career as a filmmaker. A pregnancy scare? Just not the way you would expect

I Love Lucy If you ever want a reminder of how prudish mainstream TV was and sometimes still is

look back in time to 8 December 1952, the day that saw the release of the 10th episode of the

second season of I Love Lucy. The beloved black and white sitcom was a mainstay in American

households for the better part of the 1950s, and placed its cast in era-appropriate hijinks

The aforementioned episode saw Lucy discovering that she was pregnant, and hilarity ensues from her attempts to tell her husband of the good news

What was supposed to be a wholesome episode had the weirdest behind-the-scenes wrangles

though, as CBS executives balked at the idea of saying the word pregnant on air

This led to terms such as with child or expecting being used in its place

And while this did not detract from the episode's overall narrative, it's an amusing peek into the absurdly conservative sensibilities of studio executives back in the day

No eyebrow movement. Nosferatu 2024 During the lead-up to the release of Robert Eggers' quite good reimagining of Nosferatu

star Nicholas Holt revealed that the director had one very peculiar rule for the entire cast

Don't move those eyebrows! Holt arrived to shoot his role in the horror film and soon discovered to his surprise that

Eggers HATES it when actors move their eyebrows during takes. Eggers himself has elaborated on this rationale, saying that, quote, I don't like actors

to move their eyebrows. Because you just waste a lot of energy and the actor doesn't seem as focused and doesn't

seem as committed. Okay, so in fairness, there's probably an argument to be made that if an actor has to spend time and

energy focusing on their eyebrows, then they're probably not going to have their attention fully

dialed in to performing the scene in question. I mean, it's kind of effortless for me, but like

maybe other people have to concentrate really, really hard to start their hairy caterpillars

Who knows? Let me know down in the comments below. Do you have to do a lot of concentration to do

this? Or this? Or this? I'm curious. Okay, that's enough eyebrow malarkey. Clearly Eggers' track record shows that this is maybe a

good idea, even if you watching Nosferatu have likely noticed the lack of eyebrow acrobatics

Heroic and more child-friendly turtles in the UK. TMNT. At the height of its popularity

the 1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated series encountered a most peculiar challenge

across the pond. Its UK release saw the beloved Toon change its name to Teenage Mutant

Hero Turtles, and had scenes where Michelangelo wields his iconic nunchucks replaced by random

clips from the show. This was due to the BBFC director James Furnan imposing strict guidelines

on British film and television, specifically on the display and use of weapons in movies and series

It turns out that Furnan and many others of his ilk were worried by the weapon's rise of

popularity following the release of Enter the Dragon 14 years prior. The ironic bit is that

more dangerous weapons feature in the movie, but future shows and films never censor the use of

guns or swords in their action set pieces. Ultimately, the series' animator had to replace

Mikey's nunchucks with a grappling hook known as the Turtle Line for the show's fourth season

Now, it didn't detract from the series as a whole, but it's definitely weird to watch the two versions side by side. Art the Clown can't explicitly kill children on screen

On paper, it sure seems like the Terrifier franchise is all about breaking the rules

and tossing good taste into the wind, like GAH, GET OUTTA THERE

But even this gore happy series appears to have its limits. In an interview shortly after the release of last year's smash hit Terrifier 3, filmmaker

Damien Leone revealed that there was one line he simply couldn't bring himself to cross

explicitly showing Art the Clown, played by David Howard Thornton, killing children on screen

Leone certainly gets extremely close to this line though, given that the film opens up with

the implication that Art butchers a young girl and later in the movie he sets off bombs in a

mall which very clearly kill a number of kids. Leone's distinction is that there is a measure

of disconnection in these acts because we never see Art directly murdering a child with his bare

hands, such as stabbing or shooting them. The director ultimately felt that he'd risk alienating

most of the audience by explicitly showing art killing a kid, and that he'd simply be deigning

to cheap shock value in that particular instance. So, um, thanks for sparing us that, Damien, I guess