Money doesn’t buy happiness or success in filmmaking, as was the case for centibillionaire Jeff Bezos’s fiancée, Lauren Sanchez, and her beleaguered project. The helicopter pilot, accustomed to flying high, harbored dreams of self-funding a $2 million feature-length movie. She even worked on it but quietly scrapped the ambitious project after encountering a myriad of issues during filming.
It seems that gumption played an important role here, as the 54-year-old former TV anchor called off “The Golden Door,” a psychological thriller in the making. Allegedly, the film starred Bezos’s incredibly private daughter with ex-wife MacKenzie Scott. Those hoping to catch a glimpse of the Bezos heir will be disappointed, as the project has been permanently shelved. The Golden Door was Sanchez’s first foray into scripted film, who has worked in media for most of her career.
Adding insult to injury was the fact that not a single network or streamer, including Bezos’s own Amazon Prime, wanted to add the film to their roster. The project was derailed due to an array of mishaps, such as chaos on set and several staff exits, according to Dailymail. This included the director of photography leaving one week into the 20-day shoot, as well as the assistant director abandoning the film.
According to news website Puck, Sanchez wasn’t just unlucky but also infrequently welcomed on the set due to her demanding nature. The soon-to-be wife of the Amazon co-founder apparently even asked if she could land her private helicopter on set, while the cast and crew were concerned about basic safety protocols.
Perhaps Sanchez is more suited to the $500 million mega yacht Koru, but one shouldn’t forget that the Emmy Award-winning journalist is also the owner of the aerial film production firm Black Ops Aviation and is no stranger to getting films made. It seems that this one was simply a case of bad luck.
