# Film Scenes Where Cast Is Unaware Of Plot **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 1, 2007, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-scenes-where-cast-is-unaware-of-plot/428476 "2007-12-01T19:07:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2007, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-scenes-where-cast-is-unaware-of-plot/428476/81 "2007-12-04T01:50:51Z")
Well, people do have to scream in non horror movies, too, right? ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2007, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-scenes-where-cast-is-unaware-of-plot/428476/82 "2007-12-04T02:09:42Z")
In Robert Rodriguez’s first feature film, El Mariachi, he filmed the shots of the actors walking the streets with various firearms at the ready using a telephoto lens from some distance away, so it wouldn’t be immediately apparent to bystanders that a movie was being filmed, basically to make the reaction shots from the “extras” more natural. ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2007, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-scenes-where-cast-is-unaware-of-plot/428476/83 "2007-12-04T02:37:18Z")
> [@Zoggie](#): > > Well, people do have to scream in non horror movies, too, right? Not to mention that the script for those parts may have been revealed later, and/or they may simply have been shot later or something. (Haven’t seen the movie, though.) ---
**Author:** ![Nonsuch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonsuch/32/2922_2.png) [@Nonsuch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nonsuch)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2007, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-scenes-where-cast-is-unaware-of-plot/428476/84 "2007-12-04T02:56:42Z")
There’s a scene in **At Close Range** where Sean Penn threatens Christopher Walken with a gun. Walken, as per his practice, checked the gun before filming to make sure it was harmless. Just before cameras rolled, Penn ducked off set and returned with a completely different gun that Walken had never seen. The scene was shot, and Walken’s terror at having a gun waved in his face was quite genuine. Once the scene was shot, Walken chewed Penn out … then, after he’d cooled down, thanked him. “That’s the kind of things actors do for each other,” he said. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2007, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-scenes-where-cast-is-unaware-of-plot/428476/85 "2007-12-04T03:38:41Z")
[QUOTE=EJsGirl] Huh, no shit. I thought that the scenes of him trying to escape from his daddy would have given it away- plus all those screaming reaction shots… But maybe not. ETA- at six or seven, he might have guessed it… [/QUOTE] Nope. In fact, if my ex’s mother is to be believed, even the casting call didn’t let on (to the children or the children’s families) exactly what kind of movie it was going to be. Family lore is that one of her boys was neck and neck with whatsisname; flown out for screen tests and everything. When the movie finally came out, she was shocked to find out what she had encouraged him to audition for, and secretly relieved he didn’t get it! ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2007, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-scenes-where-cast-is-unaware-of-plot/428476/86 "2007-12-04T03:56:13Z")
Damn it, I can’t find it now, but I remember reading in imdb’s trivia section for some movie (a cop movie, I think) that there was a scene where a character flings open a door and then gets startled when he looks into the next room. One of the Star Trek movies was being filmed at the same time very close by, so the director had Shatner and Doohan, in their Starfleet uniforms, waiting behind the door. For some reason, imdb’s search engine says there are no trivia pages with the word “shatner” in them :dubious:. Anyone know which film this is? ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2007, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-scenes-where-cast-is-unaware-of-plot/428476/87 "2007-12-04T05:12:54Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot] Nope. In fact, if my ex’s mother is to be believed, even the casting call didn’t let on (to the children or the children’s families) exactly what kind of movie it was going to be. Family lore is that one of her boys was neck and neck with whatsisname; flown out for screen tests and everything. When the movie finally came out, she was shocked to find out what she had encouraged him to audition for, and secretly relieved he didn’t get it! [/QUOTE] Which kinda makes me wonder about Gage Creed’s parents ([aka Miko Hughes](http://imdb.com/name/nm0400816/)). Alas, he has a built in actor’s name, poor kid. He has done quite well, however. Nice filmography. ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2007, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-scenes-where-cast-is-unaware-of-plot/428476/88 "2007-12-04T15:05:33Z")
[QUOTE=Nonsuch] There’s a scene in **At Close Range** where Sean Penn threatens Christopher Walken with a gun. Walken, as per his practice, checked the gun before filming to make sure it was harmless. Just before cameras rolled, Penn ducked off set and returned with a completely different gun that Walken had never seen. The scene was shot, and Walken’s terror at having a gun waved in his face was quite genuine. Once the scene was shot, Walken chewed Penn out … then, after he’d cooled down, thanked him. “That’s the kind of things actors do for each other,” he said. [/QUOTE] IIRC, during Walken’s _Inside the Actors Studio_ interview, he discussed this incident. Walken is sacred to death of guns, and he was very frank about his horror and anger at having the props switched. But not pissed enough to stop himself from doing it to someone else! He recounted doing the exact same thing to another actor in another film- shouting “Give me the other gun!” right before the cameras rolled. I can’t remember which film though… ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2007, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-scenes-where-cast-is-unaware-of-plot/428476/89 "2007-12-04T15:37:11Z")
Imagine Walken shooting that Russian roulette scene in _The Deer Hunter_! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-scenes-where-cast-is-unaware-of-plot/428476.md?page=4)