How the film “Death Becomes Her” was filmed: footage from filming and interesting facts (14 photos + 1 video)

The black comedy Death Becomes Her, directed by Robert Zemeckis, was released in 1992. The unusual plot, acting and excellent visual effects made this film a hit.

1. In order to play the overweight Helen Sharp, actress Goldie Hawn had to wear a special thickening suit with “movable” rubber so that the actress’s breasts and her butt would shake when walking.

As Goldie Hawn herself admitted, it was very hot in the suit, but playing the fat woman was very funny. The only thing is that the makeup took more than 3 hours, which, of course, few people will like.

2. The main role of Dr. Ernest Menville was to be played by actor Kevin Kline (Not to be confused with Calvin Klein). But due to conflicting filming schedules, the actor refused to participate in the film. Although, there is another version. They say that Kevin turned down the role because his fee was supposed to be $3 million, while Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn received $4 million each.

Be that as it may, the creators urgently had to look for a replacement. And they even managed to sign Bruce Willis for this role in the shortest possible time. For Willis it was an unusual and interesting experience. Well, judge for yourself - after the role of the brutal John McClane from Die Hard, he played a balding loser.

3. Model and actress Isabella Rossellini played the role of Lisli von Ruman, who sold anti-aging potions to women. But in the nude scenes where her character comes out of the pool, she was replaced by a stunt double.

As the actress herself admitted, he would not mind appearing naked, but her body did not fit the image of the character. According to her, Lisley should have a Barbie figure, which Isabella did not have (again, according to her).

4. The film “Death Becomes Her” was one of the first full-length films where computer graphics were used in the field of human skin.

So, for example, in order to film the scene where Madeline walks with her head twisted, computer graphics were used (naturally).

But, of course, we should give credit to the actress Meryl Streep, because she had to wear a blue mask backwards all day. Well, then they filmed the actress’s head separately, after which they superimposed one on top of the other using a computer.

For Meryl Streep, this was incredibly tedious, because in order to film a scene with a head, she had to make all movements clearly down to the centimeter, so that this same head could then be placed perfectly on the body.

But all this was not in vain, because the film “Death Becomes Her” received the coveted Oscar statuette for best visual effects.

5. In order to create the effect of tightening breasts and buttocks, Meryl Streep was wearing special underwear with a tightening mechanism. But with this approach, the process of pulling up did not look realistic.

Therefore, the creators decided to do it differently. Behind Meryl Streep stood a special person who managed the actress's underwear. This made the scene much more realistic.

6. Initially, the special effects artist wanted to make the hole in Helen's stomach more realistic and creepy. That is, according to his idea, we should have seen not only the hole itself, but also the woman’s organs. But director Robert Zemeckis abandoned this idea, since the film could have been classified as a “Horror” genre, which the director did not want.

7. In addition to computer graphics, animatronics were actively used in the film.

8. Meryl Streep liked the film. But according to her, the film was literally oversaturated with computer graphics, animatronics and special effects in general. Since then, the actress has sworn off working in films that are oversaturated with special effects.

9. Initially, the ending of the film was supposed to be different. According to the plot, after the fall of Ernest, he meets

l The barmaid, played by actress Tracey Ullman. She helped him fake his death, after which they rode off into the sunset and lived happily ever after.

After 27 years, Helen and Madeleine meet a couple of pensioners, whom they recognize as Ernest and the barmaid. And it seems that they (women) are young and beautiful, but they lack the most important thing - love.

The test audience reacted negatively to this ending, which is why the creators decided to completely change it, completely cutting out actress Tracey Ullman. Words cannot express how upset Ullman was that she ultimately didn’t get into the film.

10. There were some injuries on the set. During the fight scene between the main characters, Meryl Streep miscalculated a little and hit Goldie Hawn's cheek with a shovel. After this, filming was suspended, and several stitches were placed on Hawn's cheek.

11. With a budget of $55 million, the film “Death Becomes Her” grossed $149 million.

12. It was originally planned that the youth potion would look like a gray thick substance. But in the end they decided that the potion needed to be made more magical, so they added flowers to it.