File of Film Facts, #2
1] Alfred Hitchcock once experimented with directing by electro-galvanism. Minute electric shocks were administered through electrodes attached to his cast’s anatomies, signalling them when and how fast to move. The experiment was abandoned when Herbert Marshall’s wooden leg failed to respond to stimuli.
2] Stuntwork is carefully supervised in modern Hollywood film, but occasionally something goes wrong. Four stuntmen were killed making THE FIRM with Tom Cruise, as director Sidney Pollack attempted to shoot an apparently simply scene of Cruise rising from a settee. Only on the fifth take was the illusion of a smooth “getting up off the sofa” movement captured without fatality.
3] He-man Arnold Schwartzenegger’s fame began at age 14, when he won a knobbly knees competition in Blackpool. Born Ernie Wattle in nearby Skegness, he changed his name and adopted a phoney “foreign” accent to stand out from other competitors.
4] Which glamorous Hollywood star was actually born with male sexual organs?*
5] Glowering director Brian DePalma keeps a lifelike miniature sculpture of himself in his fridge. The figurine, known as “Little Brian”, is made from the SCARFACE helmer’s own body fat, removed during liposuction in the early nineties. DePalma is said to believe that if “Little Brian” should ever melt, he will die.
6] Stephen Frears is never seen in public without his lucky trainers, but what is less well-known is that many other filmmakers depend on good-luck charms to make it through a tricky shoot. John Milius keeps a lucky bullet embedded in his skull, Peter Jackson wears a lucky false ear (but I won’t say where), and in later years Otto Preminger would only direct wearing his “Mr. Freeze” costume from the Batman television series.
7] Production designer Brian Eatwell was once tasked with building a set for a French palace without sufficient funds. Chancing his arm, he drove the director to the Palace of Versailles, and claimed to have “knocked it together for a tenner.” Filming went smoothly and to this day the director is unaware of the harmless imposture.
8] Maverick auteur Werner Herzog once planned to film the life of J.S. Bach with a cast of sea-lions, but was forced to abandon the project when told that the animals could not speak or play musical instruments.
9] Action movie mogul Joel Silver once made the same film twice, for a bet. Both versions of the film, EXECUTIVE DECISION, were shot back-to-back. While only one version was released to cinemas, the duplicate was eventually issued as a DVD extra. The films are said to be identical, except that in the second film Halle Berry’s air stewardess role is played by a heavily-disguised Gerard Depardieu.
10] During the seventies “blaxploitation” boom, black versions of traditional horror films were hits, under the titles BLACULA and BLACKENSTEIN. Schlockmeister Samuel Z. Arkoff planned to cash in with his own series, including THE HOUND OF THE BLACKERVILLES (featuring a rampaging dalmation filmed in negative to appear predominantly black); THE HUNCHBLACK OF NOTRE DAME; and THE MAMMY, as well as the first “whitesploitation” film, THE CREATURE FROM THE WHITE LAGOON.
*Answer to 4]: Brad Pitt.
