When director Robert Altman made “Gosford Park” he had 55 days to shoot a film involving 58 actors, who were often in group scenes. Because of this time constraint, Altman would usually light the entire scenes and have all the actors individually mic’d, with two cameras always moving among them. There was no time to get all the eye lines right or have the action to match from shot to shot – and no two takes were ever the same.
For more information go to Bobbie O'Steen's Blog here.