Half-Assed Internet Research
Mann's takes and budget overrun; Fort William Henry set; waterfall reshoot; composer change; costume designer exit; release delay and three cuts; Native American extras; Russell Means's background
In the discussion (10)
Approx. transcript time · 00:55:26Read transcript
- The hosts say Mann did at least 20 takes per setup, the budget ran $7 million over, and 20th Century Fox sent a representative to keep it on track.
- A story has Mann shouting over speakers about an orange light that turned out to be the sun rising; the host questions whether it is true.
- The hosts say the production used North Carolina for 1757 New York and spent $6 million on a Fort William Henry set built to historical specifications.
- The hosts say Mann decided he did not like the waterfall scene and reshot it nine days before, as transcribed, 'Revere saw the movie', and that the 'stay alive, I will find you' moment came from the reshoot.
- Citing a 1996 Randy Edelman interview, the hosts say Mann fired Trevor Jones over a more electronic score and brought in Edelman for a classical one; both are credited, with jokes about Jones being replaced.
- The hosts say the original costume designer, a multiple Academy Award winner (transcribed 'Jay Matcheson'), left over artistic differences and removed his name, and Elsa Zampelli (as transcribed) finished; this is joked into Mann's pattern of people walking off sets.
- The hosts say the film was scheduled for summer 1992, Mann delivered a three-hour version, Fox postponed it to September, and it was cut to two hours, with three cuts existing.
- The hosts say the production employed 900 Native Americans from across the United States, most notably Cherokee.
- The hosts say Russell Means was 52, making his first movie, and was a famous American Indian activist; they say he ran for vice president in 1984 as Hustler publisher Larry Flint's (as transcribed) running mate and lost the 1988 Libertarian nomination to Ron Paul.
- A reported practical-joke war between Day Lewis and Stowe escalated from food fights to a staged bloody car crash; both hosts doubt it happened.