4 films and 1 TV series filmed in appalling conditions
Miscellaneous / / August 17, 2022
Over 100 wild cats on set, 60 takes of a single scene, and a filmmaker's apocalypse.
1. Dow
Dau
- Russia, Germany, Sweden, Ukraine, 2019.
- Drama, biography.
- Duration: 14 episodes of 100 minutes.
- IMDb: 4.6.
Initially, "Dau" was conceived as a serial biopic about the Soviet physicist Lev Landau. However, it then turned into a 10-year project-experiment, where the film became a by-product. The work that was done on the set was not like classic filmmaking.
Director Ilya Khrzhanovsky sought to reconstruct the very spirit of the USSR, both on and off the screen.
Most of the filming took place in Kharkov. The team rented a large venue, where it was strictly forbidden to wear modern clothes (and everyone - not only actors) and use devices from the post-Soviet period. Per diems were issued in Soviet rubles, coupons were allocated for food, and instead of pads, the girls used bandages and cotton wool.
Oleg Silvestrov
Professor at the Dow project.
Late in the evening after the work shift, by 21–22 o’clock, a team of laborers who received 100–120 hryvnias a day, which had already changed into their own clothes, the young administrators begged to unload the belated car with props and take it to the site. Someone close to the “Politburo” reported that they went inside in modern clothes, and the next day, by order of the great director Khrzhanovsky, people were deprived of a weekly salary ...
The project participants very soon believed in the reality of what was happening, and the "Institute" (set) began to live its own life. Friendships, rivalries, sexual relations were established between people, and Khrzhanovsky only encouraged this.
Hidden cameras, bugs, one-way mirrors were placed in the rooms. Operators could also enter there at any time. Moreover, it was forbidden to hide from them - even if they were caught in the frame had sex or take a bath.
Being in isolation, reading Soviet books and plunging into the life of the 1930-1960s, the actors got used to the role too much. What Khrzhanovsky longed for was happening: all the emotions captured on camera were real.
Georgy Farberov
One of the directors of Dow.
Ilya Andreevich built his own empire, in which everyone and everything was a toy for him.
At the interview, Khrzhanovsky personally spoke with the candidates - even with drivers and cleaners. Often they took place at night, and if a young girl applied for a vacancy, the director made her frivolous suggestions.
Not everyone agreed to sign up to participate in such a project. Many left the shoot after a week. To ensure a constant stream of candidates, the coordinators called and offered jobs to random people. And in the end - even to those who themselves fired with a scandal.
By 2010, Kharkiv residents, who mostly served the film, began to hate Dow. There were many reasons: the film crew did not pay rent, local performers faced bullying and processing.
The situation was aggravated by the scandal that erupted after the thirteenth series of the biopic, “Dow. Degeneration". In it, according to the plot, doctors conducted experiments on children. In one frame there was a crying baby sitting in a cage, and in the other a baby with electrodes attached to its head.
It shocked people. But they were even more outraged by the fact that these shootings were taken orphans from orphanages in Kharkov region.
"Dow" was filmed for 10 years. The release of the film caused a public outcry. Some took it as a good highly artistic experiment, criticizing the Soviet regime. Others did not appreciate Khrzhanovsky's approach and wondered: was it worth it to multiply violence in the real world?
2. Roar
Roar
- USA, 1981.
- Thriller, comedy.
- Duration: 95 minutes.
- IMDb: 6.2.
Filming "Roar" is called one of the most dangerous in the history of cinema. Behind the comedy film about a family stranded on a manor with lions and tigers lies a tragic story behind its production.
The director of the film, Marshall Noel, insisted that all animals must be real. According to the film standard, each predator relies on at least two trainers who can control it. But it was impossible: the plan was to populate the set with 150 tigers and lions.
Then Noel came up with the idea to raise wild cats in his own house so that they become more "tame". As a result, Marshall and his wife Tippi Hedren brought 71 lion, 26 tigers, 10 cougars, 9 black panthers, 4 leopards, 2 jaguars and 1 liger.
Many actors refused to participate in the project, and the director took on the role of his wife and children. Melanie Griffith, Hedren's daughter, was also skeptical at first. And, as it turned out, not without reason: after she was attacked by a lion, she had to undergo facial reconstruction surgery.
Marshall himself almost died on the first day. Wanting to attract more sponsors, he provoked the lions into a fight. Presenting himself as the alpha male of the pride, the director also rushed into battle. The predators bit his hand, which caused him to get blood poisoning. Marshall spent 12 hours in a coma and was close to death.
Hedren broke her leg, got gangrene, and needed a skin graft. Operator Jan de Bont had his scalp torn off: to restore his face, doctors had to apply 120 stitches. A total of 70 actors and crew members were injured. Therefore, the blood that appears in the film is often real.
3. gate of heaven
Heaven's Gate
- USA, 1980.
- Drama, Western.
- Duration: 165 minutes.
- IMDb: 6.7.
In the center of the plot is a real historical event. This is the so-called Johnson County War, which broke out in the United States in 1890 between immigrant farmers and wealthy landowners.
Director Michael Cimino, who received the "Oscarfor another film, imagined that Heaven's Gate would be the next ambitious project in his biography. However, his perfectionism and excessive demands rather opened the gates to hell, and the production turned into a real torture for everyone who was involved in it.
According to one of the actors, Brad Dourif, it took between 32 and 60 takes for most scenes. Cimino demanded to run the same lines several times, even if this was not necessary.
So, it took a whole day of shooting to shoot a drunk Kris Kristofferson cracking a whip in a hotel room. The scene in the film takes only a few seconds. Because of this directorial quirk, the production quickly went off schedule.
Brad Dourif
Actor in Heaven's Gate.
I'm not used to doing the same scene 57 times. Even at 32. It was like a masterclass in acting. So we did the "happy version", here we did the "sad version", here we did the "furious version".
But the work stopped not only because of this. Scrupulous Cimino constantly handed out crazy orders. One day, he ordered the main set - an entire street - to be demolished and rebuilt so that the gap between the houses was six feet wider.
Then he made me cut down the tree and move it a few meters to the left to get the shot more beautiful. He also selected people for extras himself, and then for several hours he placed them on the set depending on their height and appearance.
In addition, in order to achieve realism, the director made the actors go through the “Cimino camp”, where they were given shooting and riding lessons, were taught the Yugoslav dialect and rollerblading skates. As a result, in addition to the main work on the set, the actors spent 2 hours a day to master all these skills.
It took six weeks to rehearse for the long dance scene, which involved waltzing on roller skates. And then it was cut in post-production.
Cimino did not spare the crew. He repeatedly put the actors in danger by forcing them to perform complex stunts on their own. Les Gaspay, a journalist who secretly entered the set, was amazed to see what chaos was happening during the filming of the battle.
Forest Gaspay
Journalist.
Extras do what stuntmen are supposed to do. Because of the frantic rush, they get injured, but the scene is filmed again and again. Immigrants are knocked down by horses galloping at full speed. They crushed the legs of one of the actors.
When this material became public, Cimino had to fight back, proving that his film was a real masterpiece. However, critics did not agree with him, calling him "an absolute disaster." Heaven's Gate failed at the box office.
4. Titanic
Titanic
- USA, 1997.
- Drama.
- Duration: 194 minutes.
- IMDb: 7.9.
«Titanic» James Cameron managed to hold the title of the highest grossing film in the history of cinema for 12 years. The conditions in which he was filmed are also amazing.
It was rumored that all the filming was done in cold water. However, Cameron denied them, saying that her temperature was about 26 degrees - like in a regular pool. Nevertheless, the entire team was given wetsuits and thermal underwear.
Winslet, however, did not wear all of these under her dress. Firstly, because Cameron wanted to see in the frame how wet clothes fit her figure. Secondly, she was worried that in thermal underwear she would look plump. Because of this, the actress developed hypothermia and was taken to the hospital. In the process, Winslet received other injuries - sprains, bruises, broken bones.
But the most dangerous was the scene in which only the stuntmen participated: in it, the broken tail of the ship gradually rose until it finally stood upright and went into the ocean. Hanging on the railing proved to be difficult even for trained people. Three of them suffered fractures after falling while filming this scene.
Another part of the team suffered at the hands of one of the cooks, who prepared a stew with seafood and phencyclidine, a narcotic psychotropic substance. Who exactly did this and why is still unclear. Some vomited, others were just stoned, said an eyewitness. Filming had to be postponed and the crew rushed to the hospital.
Marilyn McAvoy
Film crew member.
After everything was over, we went home, slept off, and then returned to work at night to finish the interrupted shooting. It was very strange.
And yes, Cameron insisted on a tight schedule with virtually no breaks. Because of this, the actors did not even always have time to go to the toilet and were forced to urinate directly into the water, which was filled with the set.
5. Apocalypse Now
Apocalypse Now
- USA, 1979.
- Military, drama.
- Duration: 194 minutes.
- IMDb: 8.5.
Apocalypse Now is a film by Francis Ford Coppola about war in Vietnam. The director chose the Philippines as a venue. However, soon after filming began, civil war broke out there. Helicopters provided for the film by the Philippine Air Force were urgently seized to strike at the insurgents.
Francis's wife, Eleanor Coppola, noted in her diary that the director was provided with a security guard, and 30 security specialists were posted at the warehouse of explosives and rifles belonging to the film crew.
Elinor Coppola
Documentary filmmaker, wife of Francis Coppola.
Everyone here feels that any carelessness can lead to the termination of filming.
The adventure didn't end there. Troubles haunted Coppola one after another. At first, he was not satisfied with the actor who played Willard, because of which several initial scenes had to be re-shot. Then, when everything seemed to go according to plan, the rainy season began in the Philippines. One day, a hurricane destroyed almost all the scenery and equipment, and filming was suspended for another two months.
Then Marlon Brando, who played one of the main roles, began to sabotage the film industry. Under the contract, he was supposed to lose weight, but instead recovered to 136 kg. And the first four days did not appear on the set at all.
Another actor, Martin Sheen, suffered a heart attack due to psychological abuse by the director and his own alcoholism. It was rumored that Coppola himself sometimes persuaded him to drink in order to see the desired state in the frame. And in general, according to the recollections of eyewitnesses, alcohol and drugs were used by the team without interruption.
Because of problems with filming, the director had to invest his own money in the project, mortgaging houses and wineries. And if the picture failed at the box office, Coppola would be declared bankrupt. Because of this, he threatened to commit suicide several times. Not surprisingly, Francis' wife called the documentary about the shoot "a filmmaker's apocalypse."
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