I’ve always been interested in those things in the movies that are supposed to be “fictional” but are accidentally real.
Like the punch that was supposed to a a stunt punch but the star was really hit, the sex scene where stars stopped acting and it got to be real, and so forth.
What scenes do you know where the “fiction” was non-fiction?
I think Tom Cruise really can’t handle the truth.
I’ve heard are rumors that the sex scene in Ingmar Bergman’s “The Silence” was real, but I’ve never seen any confirmation.
When Katherine Hepburn knocked down Cary Grant in “The Philadelphia Story,” it left bruises. She wasn’t angry at him, however; she just got very much into the role.
In “Vampire’s Kiss”, Nicholas Cage ate a real cockroach.
In The Usual Suspects, Redfoot’s character flicks a lit cigarette at Baldwin’s character, McManus, and hits him in the eye. The cigarette really did hit Baldwin in the eye (accidentally, of course) and they kept the scene in because the B camera was on Del Toro.
If you’ve seen the movie as many times as I have, you know to what scene I’m referring.
In A Clockwork Orange, during the scene in which Alex is held underwater and beaten by Georgie and Dim, Malcolm McDowell damn near drowned. Notice that the scene is filmed in one continuous take, with McDowell’s head underwater the whole time. There was a breathing apparatus at the bottom of the water trough for McDowell to use, but it failed. When they pull his head up from the trough, he really is gasping for air as if his life depended on it!
There’s a screwed-up stunt in Die Hard that was impressive enough that the action scene was modified slightly to incorporate it. This is described on the recent “five-star edition” DVD. To wit:
When McClane (the hero, if you don’t remember) climbs into the vertical venting shaft, wedging the assault rifle across the opening to hold him in place, the script called for him to lean across the shaft, leap slightly, grab the lip of the other hole, and climb into that airvent. However, when filming the stunt, the stunt guy leaped across and missed, plummeting down twenty or thirty feet into the bag or boxes or whatever safety pad was at the bottom. It looked cool enough that they went back and shot the closeups of the shoulder strap sliding through and out of the buckle, and picked up Bruce Willis looking more freaked-out than usual when he caught the other opening a few floors below. (Even though it makes absolutely no sense that somebody would bounce away from a vent and curve back in midair to be able to catch the next one.)
Another, more pedestrian example: A friend of mine played the bad guy in a low-budget direct-to-video flick a couple of years ago. The guy playing the hero was a jackass and, in one fight scene, clocked my friend, breaking his nose. I haven’t seen the finished film (legal problems obstructing distribution), but apparently that’s the shot that made it into the film.
And since you mentioned sex: The big finale sex scene in Wild Orchid 2 is supposed to be “authentic.”
I heard somwehere (sorry no cite) that in Apocolypse now, Martin Sheen actually cut his hand after punching the mirror.
And does Brandon Lee’s death count? supposedly the actual footage isn’t in the movie, but still…
Supposedly Ben Affleck and Charlize Theron screwed for real in the scene in Reindeer Games (by Charlize’s request.)
I thought that was supposedly in the first Wild Orchid, between Mickey Rourke and whatever that girl’s name is?
I’m afraid I’m going to need a cite before I believe that any sex scene in a non-porn movie was real. I don’t remember who, but I’ve seen two different actresses answer this type of question with an emphatic “no way, not remotely possible.” I’m sure SAG and / or the insurance provider for the studio would strictly forbid it anyway.
Yes, Martin Sheen did really cut his hand on the mirror in a drunken stupor. If you see Hearts of Darkness it shows more of that scene, and he’s quite clearly intoxicated. (There’s another scene with Dennis Hopper where Coppola is fucking with him b/c he’s obviously tweaking on some drug or another).
There’s a fight scene in The Manchurian Candidate in which Frank Sinatra swings at Henry Silva and misses, crashing through a table top. The table top was supposed to be a movie prop, but he missed the area where the material was soft and actually broke a finger. They discuss this in an interview with Sinatra that came with my VHS 30th Anniversary copy of the movie.
How about an Academy Award winner?
Okay, she doesn’t name names, and this could very well be nothing more than high-profile rumormongering. In addition, this section of IMDb news is provided by a British tabloid wire service; as you probably know, the entertainment rags in the UK rank only a peg or two above Dianetics in the accuracy department.
However, they don’t generally make up direct quotes. They found the actress saying that someplace, and couched it in prose to make it as sleazy as possible, but the direct quote is there and credited. I know from reading that news site that direct quotes are stolen regularly and re-used, but that the quotes stay as-is. And while her own words are a bit thin on specifics, the meat of the assertion is clear.
From what I read, James Caan did some actual damage to Gianni Russo in the scene where Sonny beats up Carlo.
From Cervaise’s linked article:
Tommy: Proper fucked?
Turkish: Yes, before zee Germans get there.
Oh, and another one, this time from the horse’s mouth: Sylvia Kristel, the original “Emmanuelle,” was on a British chat show a little while ago (“So Graham Norton,” if you want to be specific) and related an incident from filming. They were doing one of the many simulated sex scenes in one of the movies, and she said she was on hands and knees with a guy behind her. Nobody told the guy the scene was supposed to be simulated, she said, and she called a halt when she felt something poking her in the leg. It’s not outside the realm of possibility that while the scene would be stopped 99 times out of 100, a combination of (1) an inexperienced and insecure performer, (2) a sleazy work environment, (3) drugs, or other conditions might create actual follow-through.
I will say, though, that I agree that it’s very unlikely in any given situation and any actual intercourse would be very rare. Film scenes, especially intimate ones, are long and complicated to produce, from a logistical standpoint. It’s extremely doubtful that even the most virile male could maintain himself in front of a few Teamsters (even on a closed set). However, it’s conceivable that, on one or two takes, and especially if hidden by artfully draped linens, two actors could do the nasty, and then go back to simulation for further takes.
For what it’s worth, the stories of actresses auditioning to play opposite Richard Gere in Breathless (IIRC) are very risque.
Thanks for the link, Cervaise - I’m still a little leery about that being proof, though…
In The Miracle Worker (1962), there is a scene where Patty Duke (as Helen Keller) and Anne Bancroft (as Annie Sullivan) are crossing a stream on stepping stones. Bancroft accidentally slipped and fell into the shallow stream – you can lipread her saying “Shit!” (The scene has music, no dialogue.) Patty Duke stayed in character and plopped down into the stream next to her, then made the exaggerated frown-face that Helen used to indicate displeasure. Bancroft broke up laughing, and it’s all in the movie.
I don’t have a cite, but I’ve read that both David Carradine and Barbara Hershey have said they really were doin’ it when they made Boxcar Bertha. Maybe that can happen in a Roger Corman movie.
In the silent version of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, in the scene where Little Nell (if I remember the name correctly) is fleeing across the fast-moving river by stepping from one ice floe to another… well, that’s exactly what young Lillian Gish was doing, and a misstep could have been seriously bad news. Can you imagine that being allowed with a movie star in a major picture today?
You sayin’ Jackie Chan ain’t major?
Of course, the guy’s skeleton will eventually be reduced to the consistency of sawdust, but that’s why they pay him the big bucks.