Rome had a dictator in charge and spent a lot of time on conquest. They had gladiator arenas where people fought to the death.

That's all you need.

It's not just that it drags, the directors cut changes songs, messed with the tone, and spells things out that were originally mysterious. One of the worst directors cuts you could possibly watch.

Didn't find it scary at all. Film spent a lot of time dicking around and then when the answers came, it was weak. Iirc there were alot of cliche jump scares as well

The ether/mescaline sequence in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is probably my favorite.

I feel like Heart of Darkness is one of the most remade/spoofed stories in all of modern media. There's even a critically acclaimed video game adaptation of it called Spec Ops: The Line. Personally, my favorite adaptation so far has been the Animaniacs spoof, which is more of a spoof of Apocalypse Now, but still.

You forgot to mention one of the most important features of an iconic movie car: car trouble. The entire plot of back to the future 1/3 hinges on the delorean being broken. The bluesmobile falls apart at the end of Blues Brothers. Ecto 1 is a complete piece of junk when it's introduced. The car in Ferris Beuhler gets driven off a cliff. The list goes on and on. I know Bond is the exception, but it's pretty much the exception.

It's like the millennium falcon. If something is glitchy, twitchy, destroyable and/or falling apart - it feels more real.

Just make it about how the thing alienated him towards making films. You could start the film with an old carpenter being interviewed about how it's one of horrors greatest masterpieces and then flashback to a story about studio meddling, critics shitting on it, poor box office numbers, and so on.

Get Sorkin to write it.