babies, months and years in the making

Hi,
“You have to feel for the film-makers bringing their babies, months and years in the making, into the merciless arena of Cannes.”

–If “babies, months and years in the making” there means their films being worked on for months and years, I wonder how else could you create a film (not in a decade surely). Was it used to imply the fondness the film-makers were expected to feel for their ‘babies’?

“months and years in the making” is a common expression indicating the passage of time that something takes. It’s quite similar to ‘… years and years’. It doesn’t have to be taken literally, though in this case it could be, as in general, films take well over a year from conception to release and large budget films take a number of years - in some cases well over a decade.

You are right that it helps invoke the feeling of fondness here and is often, but not exclusively, used that way.

You seem to be combining the phrases incorrectly in your subject line
bringing their babies // months and years in the making.
their babies - the things they created.
It is possible to talk about all sorts of things taking ‘months and years in the making’.
His artwork, many pieces if which were months and years in the making, was largely ignored until after his death.

Thank you, Bev.
If I got it right, ‘months and years in the making’ could refer to both the efforts one put in one’s undertaking and the length of time it took, underlining the seriousness of approach\one’s dedication.

Of course, large budget films could take a decade to be produced but in order to get swift returns, mass production should not take that long.

I didn’t quite get which phrases I combined incorrectly. (?)

You seemed to combine ‘babies, months and years’.

Ah, I just copied a part of the sentence with a couple of relevant words, not bothering about its completeness.
Perhaps “…their babies, months and years in the making,…” would sound more meaningful in that case…

It would. :slight_smile:

I’ve just got info from across the pond that I’m not alone in it. A certain Mr Trump seems to have outclassed my “babies, months and years” with his innovative approach to tweeting, namely 'covfefe’ing.

Have a read: bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-40104063

I don’t see the comparison, but it doesn’t matter as long as the question has been answered and the answer, understood.