It shocks people to know that The Wizard of Oz is actually a remake of hundreds of other “wizards of oz.” It was adapted from a theater production, starring Fred Stone. Ray Bolger was set to play the Tin man, but decided he wanted to play the Scarecrow after his idol Stone, so he switched the role with Buddy Ebsen. The Tin man costume was made out of aluminum, which Ebsen was allergic to and ended up almost suffocating him, so he was rushed to the hospital while his role now became Jack Haley’s. Haley wasn’t told why Ebsen had to leave but the costume was changed to aluminum paste. And after all this humility (since Ebsen had said it was the most humiliating moment of his life), Ebsen’s vocal are still in the movie- he sings most of the songs, while Haley sings “If only I had a Heart.” Also, known as one of the early color movies (not the first), the producers had a tough time switching from sepia to color, so the producers had a double for Judy Garland, who would wear the same dress Garland was wearing, only painted over in sepia. In other words, the camera was always filming in color; it’s just that the sepia scenes were actually the sets painted sepia. Also, both the double (who was painted over in sepia) and Garland had to wear a corset so they would look younger and flat-chested. Many of the winged monkey actors fell several feet to the ground, suffering injuries due to the piano wires holding them up snapping. Toto also received more pay and benefits than the munchkins on set- when the dog was stepped on, it had a two week vacation and a double was brought in, while the munchkins were almost set on fire due to the fireworks in the celebration scene. Jerry Maren was the led munchkin, and he told the press that the munchkins were paid $50 for a 6 day week while Toto was paid $125 per week. Each day was 16 hours long and there were many lights around on set, causing the set to go upwards of 100 degrees at times. There is even a rumor that a munchkin hanged himself while the “We’re off to see the Wizard” scene played on, but people say it was just a bird stretching. .. .
4. The Birds
Just like Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick had to get every detail straight. But it was to an extreme, and most of the time, Kubrick would just end out being annoying. For starters, Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut received a Guinness World Record Award for The Longest Constant Movie shoot, lasting 400 days. Two of those days were used to film Sydney Pollack opening a door. Kubrick’s notorious reputation to take long film shoots was well known to Pollack, who asked Kubrick how he should open the door. Kubrick responded, “I don’t know, you decide.” It took two days for Pollack to say that he was satisfied with the door opening, in which Kubrick then responded, “I wondered how much longer it would take you.” While filming The Shining, Kubrick would call Stephan King at 3 in the morning and ask him odd questions like if he believed in God and such. The first time Kubrick called King about the making of the adaptation, King believed it to be a prank, and then Kubrick rambled on about how ghost stories were actually optimistic because they implied humans lived after death. King asked if Kubrick believed the same about afterlife in Hell and Kubrick paused to reply, “I don’t believe in Hell.” Shelley Duvall stated that for each scene, there would between 30-50 rehearsals before the final product was filmed. Kubrick received another Guinness World Record for the most takes of a single scene– although the number of times is debated. It took a year just for blood to spill correctly from the elevator doors, since Kubrick would always state the blood looked fake.
2. The Abyss.
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If you haven’t seen this movie, drop all things right now and watch it. Everyone admits that anyone associated with the movie had temporarily gone insane. (Just one minute in the interview and they talk about how insanity was expected). First off, everyone was to defend for themselves. George Lucas was originally supposed to co-direct with Francis Ford Coppola, but had to drop out due to Star Wars IV: A New Hope. (Although Lucas wanted to make it a fake documentary on Vietnam). Francis Ford Coppola decided that Marlon Brando was great in The Godfather so he might be just as great in Apocalypse Now. He was shocked to find out that Brando had put on over 100 pounds since the last time they saw each other, and that Brando had not read the script nor the book it’s based on (Heart of Darkness). Coppola decided to ask other actors, but they all turned the movie down, and so Coppola made an agreement with Brando to pay him $1 million in advance and to film Brando in the shadows so people would not notice his. . .gut. Brando would show up drunk to set and throw coconuts at Coppola- who threatened suicide numerous times. During filming, Martin Sheen (yes, Charlie Sheen’s dad) even had a heart attack, and Coppola told the producers it was heat exhaustion, fearing that the movie might be shut down. Sam Bottoms (the actor who played Lance Johnson, the soldier who was supposed to be taking acid and LSD in the movie) actually was taking LSD and acid in real life. In all, this is the “most insanest” movie ever made- taking 16 months to film, 3 years to produce, and all during an actual war, since the movie was shot on location, in the Philippines and Vietnam. In fact, a typhoon destroyed most of the set and some helicopters, causing 2 month delays.
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