Filmmaking is a fascinating endeavor. It is compelling and energizing to the creative output, but it is also a long, tiring, and sometimes dramatic process. It's no surprise that audiences often want to know what goes on behind the scenes, especially if it's a film they like (and even more so if there is rumored to be drama on set). Thanks to photo archives, we can also learn how filmmaking has changed over the years, for better or worse. If you're curious, keep reading to discover some of the coolest and most revealing behind-the-scenes photos of films.

Michele Morgan (originally a candidate for the female lead in Casablanca) and Humphrey Bogart sit quietly between takes of The Road to Marseilles. Within a flashback, another flashback occurs, and within that flashback, another flashback occurs.

It's not entirely clear which film this is for (David Niven had appeared in various winter movies, including The Pink Panther), but the antics are quite in keeping with Niven's debauched, brash persona (both on set and off, he later admitted).

According to the caption of the original, very funny photo, “MGM director Edmund Goulding (back left) helps William Tweedy (left), Bill Easton, kiss on set.” Goulding was known for such popular films as “Razor's Edge,” “Nightmare Alley,” “Grand Hotel,” and “Dark Victory.”

Katharine Hepburn and Yul Brenner sit and talk during the filming of The Madwoman of Chaillot. The film was a satire, which didn't go particularly well, but it did allow for this shot of the two iconic actors (Hepburn as the madwoman and Brenner as the chairman).

Mia Farrow and Lawrence Harvey sit and chat in a Piccadilly café in London between takes of “A Dandy in Aspic” (a British film in which Harvey plays a double agent and Farrow a wealthy socialite). Famous director Anthony Mann died of a heart attack before completing the film.

I had forgotten that Laurence Fishburne (left) was a child actor. This is a still from the TV movie If You Give a Dance, You Gotta Pay the Band. He was 11 years old when the film was released (it was his first starring role), but it won him impressive acclaim. Fun fact: Fishburne would soon be cast in the soap opera One Life to Live.

Dawn Adams, Paul Massey (playing the lead role of Jekyll/Hyde), and Christopher Lee (who would later be seen in the “Lord of the Rings” films) sit and laugh between takes. The film is a pretty standard horror flick, but it's always fun to see how relaxed the mood becomes when the cameras aren't rolling.

Katharine Hepburn and director Stanley Kramer sit and talk on the set of Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. This was the last film Hepburn made with her partner Spencer Tracy before her death, with her niece, Katharine Horton, playing her daughter. The film was a huge success and Hepburn won an Oscar.

Here is a behind-the-scenes glimpse of Ziyi Zhang posing for Memoirs of a Geisha (directed by Rob Marshall). Most of the filming took place on soundstages and in California, as it is too difficult to film historical dramas in modern Japan.

Arnold Schwarzenegger and director Walter Hill standing on the set of Red Heat. For those who may not know, this is an action film in which Schwarzenegger plays a Soviet police officer.

Errol Flynn (who played the original Robin Hood on screen) relaxes between scenes of filming “Gentleman Jim,” about a 19th century boxer. According to the caption of the original photo, “Errol Flynn discovers a cool shower on a hot day, wearing an old-fashioned bathing suit.

Gene Hackman waits before filming during the shooting of Richard Attenborough's film “The Bridge Too Far” in the Netherlands (near where much of the actual wartime events took place). The film featured some impressive effects, including a real aerial drop.

Rita Hayworth chats with her then-husband Orson Welles on the set of “The Woman from Shanghai.” Welles actually directed and produced the film. Supposedly, he forced her to cut her hair and dye it blonde for the production (I believe he is holding her cropped hair). Shortly after the film was released, the two divorced.

During the making of this 1952 film noir drama, according to the original photo caption, “Director Fritz Lang played the role of Marilyn Monroe and in one scene demonstrated to Keith Andes how to strangle Monroe.” Now that is an impressive commitment to bits.

On the right are Marlene Dietrich and Jane Wyman, discussing the film “Stage Fright” with director Alfred Hitchcock. Hitchcock is on an uphill climb, and although this film is rarely listed among his best, it is a delightful noir about a woman (Wyman) who tries to protect her lover (Dietrich) from accusations that he killed her husband.

Stephen Boyd and Charlton Heston joke around during the filming of “Ben-Hur” at Cinecitta Studios in Rome. It's especially fun because Boyd and Heston play the roles of childhood friends-turned-fatal enemies in the film, and their animosity clearly doesn't carry over to real life. (This is a publicity shot, but still.)

This is a still from the film Revolution, in which Al Pacino (left) played a fur trader during the Revolutionary War. Interesting fact: After the film bombed commercially and critically, Pacino blamed hasty production and took a four-year hiatus from filmmaking.

Susan Sarandon and Barry Bostwick chat before filming “The Rocky Horror Show.”

Paul Newman prepares to shoot on the set of The Towering Inferno. The disaster movie, made at the height of Newman's career, was more seriously produced than many films of its genre and received numerous Academy Award nominations.

David Lynch, on location in London for the filming of “Dune,” stands with the impressive architecture in the background. The film was legendarily difficult to make (the length and scale of the book made it notoriously difficult to adapt), and Lynch would later disavow the film.

The fourth film in the franchise, Alien: The Resurrected, was not a commercial success, but the actors seem to be having fun behind the scenes. Sigourney practiced for a month to pull off a tricky shot through a hoop backwards and succeeded on the first take.

You may not be familiar with this 90s period drama about a Chilean family (which failed at the box office and drew criticism for not featuring more Latino actors), but we were able to get some photos of the iconic actors (including a young Winona Ryder) relaxing between takes I was able to take a few.

From a still from the same film, Meryl Streep is in costume next to the camera, quietly waiting and watching. Her character, Clara del Valle, is a woman from a wealthy family whose romantic entanglements and family legacy drive the plot.

During the filming of the movie Cleopatra, Elizabeth Taylor leans on props (various “artifacts” in the background). The film went over budget, the director resigned, and Taylor began an affair with co-star Richard Burton, but at least she seems to be enjoying herself.

Here, Sean Connery, Kevin Costner, and director Brian De Palma talk on the set of The Untouchables. The film was given many impressive touches, made it feel more epic, and earned numerous Academy Award nominations (and Connery won).

This is a small piece of history: at right, Steven Spielberg prepares to shoot a shot of “Jaws.” The film was historically challenging because it was shot over water rather than on a set, and because the mechanical sharks kept malfunctioning.

Faye Dunaway, posing for the continuing Polaroid, looks (understandably) exhausted. The production was long and difficult, and Dunaway and director Roman Polanski were reportedly quite at odds (Polanski at one point pulled the hair from her head because it was getting in the way of filming).

A young Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro. The director had been making films for years, but Taxi Driver was the film that defined his subsequent career (the film won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival). Extremely low-budget, the majority of the filming took place in abandoned buildings in New York City.

Martin Scorsese did not do many historical dramas, but when he did, they were characteristically grandiose. The Age of Innocence is considered one of his most underrated films. Here he is in conversation with Michelle Pfeiffer, who makes up one-third of the love triangle.

The production of the horror film The Shining was long and arduous, but Jack Nicholson and director/producer Stanley Kubrick have a moment of laughter on a hotel set (the infamous red door can be seen in the background).

What is particularly amusing about this photo is that Jay Gatsby (Robert Redford) and Tom Buchanan (Bruce Dern) - who play fierce romantic rivals for the same woman in the film “The Great Gatsby” - are chatting and relaxing while the cameras are not rolling They are chatting and relaxing while the cameras are not rolling.

Marlon Brando and director Elia Kazan on the set of the film “A Train Named Desire.” Fun fact: Brando was virtually unknown when this role catapulted him to stardom and an Oscar nomination.