Just 20 minutes of Scorsese epic pulls crowds

The biggest queues yet seen at the Cannes film festival wound along the Croisette last night to view a mere 20 minutes of celluloid.

Inside the Palais des Festival were three of the biggest names in cinema, the first sight of a movie that has been 25 years in development and a swirl of rumours about artistic disagreements and celebrity fall-out.

The veteran New York director Martin Scorsese brought to Cannes a 20-minute clip of his latest opus, Gangs of New York.

The film began shooting in 2000. The storyline, about violent gang culture in 1860s New York, has been gestating in Scorsese's head for 25 years, and production is still not complete. The film set is said to have been the scene of heated rows and A-list disagreements.

Yesterday the movie's glamorous stars, Cameron Diaz and Leonardo DiCaprio, sat alongside Scorsese in a show of unity at a press conference after the screening.

But perhaps significantly another of the stars, Daniel Day-Lewis, was not in Cannes. He is said to have quarrelled with DiCaprio and Diaz during the making of the film. At one stage Day-Lewis was reported to have checked out of his hotel after complaining about DiCaprio's late-night partying. Scorsese gave DiCaprio a dressing down in front of other cast members for not taking the film seriously.

Day-Lewis, an inveterate "method" actor, prepared for his role as a butcher by working undercover in a London butcher's shop. He said of the film recently: "Everyone is living in their own private purgatory."

The relationship between Scorsese and Harvey Weinstein, the all-powerful producer and head of the film company Miramax, was also fraught at times. Scorsese wanted the film to run at four hours. Weinstein insisted on 90 minutes of cuts.

Scorsese's£65m film – £10m more than planned – tells the story of an Irish immigrant played by DiCaprio. With the help of Diaz he plots to avenge the death of his father, played by Liam Neeson. Day-Lewis plays Bill "the butcher'' Cutting, who killed Neeson's character. Scorsese said: "A film has never been made before about this period in New York. Yes, there was a lot of racism and it is also a fact that that mid-19th century period was the most violent in US history.''

Mr Weinstein said the film was nearly complete and would be in cinemas by this Christmas. He added that reports of the disagreements between himself and Scorsese had been exaggerated.

He said: "Marty made the set into a unique classroom where the stars and everyone else were the pupils.

"He created such a sense of camaraderie and family that, even after six months of shooting, Leo and Daniel agreed to continue working for an extra eight weeks. And Cameron Diaz, whose contract was originally for less than six weeks of work, stayed six months, continuing to work as her role expanded. All three actors took significantly reduced fees to participate."

Disaster movies - Hollywood's expensive flops

Cleopatra (1963)

Often described as the grand-daddy of all flops, the final cost was $40m, the equivalent of $300m today. Writer Joseph Mankiewicz famously described it as "conceived in a state of emergency, shot in confusion and wound up in blind panic".

Heaven's Gate (1980)

This Western starring Kris Kristofferson cost $44m and made only $1m at the box office. Michael Cimino, who had just won five Oscars for The Deer Hunter, never quite recovered his reputation.

Ishtar (1987)

Warren Beatty was accused of the worst excesses of ego-driven Hollywood vanity. Costing Columbia $50m, it sank without trace.

Waterworld (1995)

Often selected as one of the worst epics on record, it is forgotten that this Kevin Costner movie actually made $55m. The problem was that it cost up to $225m.

Raise The Titanic (1980)

"It would have been cheaper to lower the Atlantic," its producer, Lord Grade, famously conceded.