Countless movies over the years have making-of stories that are almost as eventful as the film itself. Sometimes, some of the details of these making-of stories contain embellishments, different versions of the truth, or straight-up myths.
Let’s take a look at some of the most famous stories about your favorite movies…that may not be entirely true.
Steven Spielberg Directed ‘Poltergeist’
The Tobe Hooper classic, Poltergeist, to this day has Steven Spielberg’s name plastered all over it. His name was more marketable at the time than Hooper’s, and given his undeniable involvement in the production process, it, in all fairness, makes business sense. Spielberg co-wrote and produced the film that contains many of the overt themes present throughout the majority of his other works.
Given the presence of his name on all of the posters and trailers, as well as the overall vibe of the film, it has made a lot of people confused as to why he isn’t actually the credited director. Certain insiders have maintained for years that he functioned unofficially in a co-director role. Due to alleged contract issues at Universal, Spielberg wasn’t allowed to be an official director on the project. This is what prompted Hooper to allegedly be placed in the director’s chair. Obviously, all of these points remain hearsay and up to anecdotal rumor. To this day, Tobe Hooper remains the sole credited director of the film, and Spielberg himself has denied any involvement in a director role.
‘The Blair Witch Project’ Was Actually Real
‘The Blair Witch Project’Credit: Artisan Entertainment
Horror cinema was redefined in 1999 when The Blair Witch Project cascaded into movie theaters with one of the most innovative marketing campaigns in cinema history.
The filmmakers utilized the relatively new and untapped Internet to create a website dedicated to fake missing persons reports and pages upon pages of lore. Hiding the unknown actors from the public eye during promotional and premiere stages made the audience start to believe there may actually be some truth to the film. The found-footage style of the film revolutionized how horror films were produced in the coming decades. Being able to be made for such small budgets, and almost guaranteeing a full-blown return by the end of opening weekend, the style became a total cash cow. But with The Blair Witch Project being pretty much the first of its kind, it’s not hard to see why people thought this was some sort of supernatural snuff film.
Given how fast the Internet has moved in the 27 years since the release of the film, it may sound nonsensical and goofy to think that people experienced this kind of paranoia in waves. However, when you analyze the context of the time, this story remains one of the most fascinating relics in modern cinema history.
Leonardo DiCaprio’s Blood Smear
This one’s only a bit of a half-lie. One of the most iconic fun facts in modern movie history is attributed to Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained. In a now-famous scene, Leonardo DiCaprio snaps at Jamie Foxx, slamming his hand on a wooden table and shattering a glass. DiCaprio famously actually shredded his hand open with shards of glass and began bleeding in the middle of a take. All of this is true, and is maintained by everyone on set who’s been asked about it.
Where things become embellished is what DiCaprio does next. He begins taunting Jamie Foxx’s character by grabbing Kerry Washington’s face and smearing his blood all over her. Despite the belief, this part was thankfully added to the script later. The wound was dressed, fake blood was applied, and the scene went on.
While all of the artists in this scene are the epitome of professionals, smearing someone’s actual blood onto another person’s face is a stretch too far by any standard of personal boundaries and work safety.
‘The Social Network’s Character Motivations
David Fincher, famously on the sets of his true story films, remained incredibly attentive and committed to maintaining period and story accuracy. On The Social Network, however, he and screenwriter Aaron Sorkin had to take some liberties with real-life character motivations in order to prioritize drama. Sometimes a mild change to real life can make all the difference.
One major element of the film that Mark Zuckerberg himself has vehemently denied, and can be confirmed to be a fictionalization, is the breakup motivator for getting started on the initial idea that inevitably became Facebook. Zuckerberg had been dating his girlfriend, now wife, Priscilla Chan, since 2003, which well supersedes the initial stages of Facebook’s inception.
Nevertheless, it appears that Sorkin and Fincher made the right call, changing things up here, as the opening scene of The Social Network remains mandatory viewing for anyone studying cinema, and is guaranteed at least a couple of appearances in every film school classroom.
