Poltergeist The Rewatchables
Poltergeist poster
Poltergeist

Half-Assed Internet Research

Production debate; casting careers; curse lore; budget; football footage

In the discussion (22)
Approx. transcript time · 00:14:59Read transcript
  • The discussion places Poltergeist alongside Raiders of the Lost Ark and E.T. in Spielberg’s early-1980s dominance.
  • The project is described as growing from Night Skies, with Spielberg’s E.T. commitments preventing him from directing.
  • Spielberg’s visual fingerprints feed the disputed account that he effectively took over directing.
  • The discussion recounts Directors Guild involvement, a fine and Spielberg’s public letter praising Hooper.
  • Frank Marshall is quoted crediting Spielberg’s storyboards and near-daily presence while identifying Hooper as the on-set director.
  • Zelda Rubinstein is reported to have said Spielberg directed all six days she worked.
  • The film is said to have lost its effects, sound-effects and score Oscar nominations to E.T.
  • JoBeth Williams’s career is traced through Kramer vs. Kramer, Stir Crazy, The Big Chill and major television films; she is praised as this film’s driving force.
  • Craig T. Nelson’s long career is surveyed from film roles through Coach, Parenthood and The Incredibles.
  • The curse discussion recounts Dominique Dunne’s murder by her boyfriend and its connection to her father’s later reporting.
  • Heather O’Rourke’s death at twelve during the third film’s production is discussed as part of the curse lore.
  • Lou Perriman’s murder and other deaths are cited in the curse discussion, with a documentary series suggested for further context.
  • Williams is reported to have found pictures repeatedly crooked at home during production.
  • Rubinstein’s reported vision of her dog before learning of its death is presented as another strange anecdote.
  • The clown apparatus is reported to have malfunctioned and actually choked the child actor before the crew intervened.
  • The film’s roughly $10.7 million budget and strong 1982 box office are cited; the transcript garbles the gross.
  • Richard Lawson’s family connections and earlier acting work are discussed.
  • Spielberg’s childhood fear of clowns and a tree outside his window is said to have inspired the movie.
  • The house is said to remain in Simi Valley, California.
  • The televised Rams–Saints game is identified as a 1980 Monday Night Football game, with the Saints losing and Archie Manning struggling.
  • A late-nineteenth-century Denver cemetery incident is cited as an inspiration, correcting an initial garbled date.
  • The collapsing house is said to have been a roughly four-foot model.