How the film "9 1/2 Weeks" was filmed: 11 interesting facts about the cult scandalous film (12 photos)

Little-known details of the filming of the film that made Mickey Rourke and Kim Basinger the main sex symbols of Hollywood.





1. The story of the film begins with the novel “Nine and a Half Weeks” by an unknown writer Elizabeth McNeill, which was written back in the 70s. Only years later it became clear that the editor-in-chief of a feminist magazine named Ingeborg Day wrote under this pseudonym.

This novel is based on the real life of Ingeborg Day. For almost 10 weeks she was in intimate slavery to her lover, who forbade her to do almost everything and kept her almost on a leash.



Ingeborg Day (Elizabeth McNeill)

In general, the writer had a very difficult life. For a long time she was attacked because her father was an SS soldier. Because of this, she decided to move to the United States, where she married a priest and had two children with him. But her youngest son was a very sick child, which is why he died at the age of 7 years.

The book “Nine and a Half Weeks” gained wide popularity in the United States, so it is not surprising that after some time they decided to film it. The first person to set his sights on the book was screenwriter Zalman King. It was thanks to him that the film adaptation became possible in principle.

2. Oscar-winner Adrian Lyne was invited as a director, who was not at all opposed to making some scandalous film. But as Lyne argued, he didn’t just want to show a couple of sadomasochists, but two people whose relationship he would like to watch develop.





Adrian Line

The only thing is that Line decided to slightly change certain moments, since the original was much darker, more frank and more terrible.

3. Actresses such as Isabella Rossilini, Kathleen Turner, Andie MacDowell, Sigourney Weaver and Demi Moore auditioned for the role of Elizabeth. But all of them were not suitable for this role. And Demi Moore was too young (21 years old) to play divorced Elizabeth.



Demi Moore

And actress Jacqueline Bisset herself refused this role because she thought there was too much nudity in it. And this despite the fact that the nude scenes had to be performed by stunt doubles.

But 33-year-old Kim Basinger was perfect for this role. True, for this role she was nominated for the Golden Raspberry.



According to the actress (many years later), it was this film that became the springboard for her career. But at the time of filming she didn’t think so, because she almost had a nervous breakdown. She did not play, but literally lived this life.

4. As for the main character, the producers flatly refused to cast Mickey Rourke in this role. But the screenwriter and director insisted that Rourke play the role of John Gray. As a result, the producers had to give up.



5. In order to evoke the necessary emotions in Basinger, Adrian Lyne used various very harsh methods of manipulation in relation to her. For example, he persuaded Mickey Rourke to hurt the actress more than was required by the script. Once, Mickey Rourke went too far so much that he almost broke the actress’s wrist, for which she slapped him in the face, and received the same in return.

Also, the director asked Rourke to sing songs that she hated in front of Kim Basinger. In addition, he told Basinger herself that Rourke was spreading dirty rumors about her.



And of course, the director forbade the actors to communicate outside the set. In general, the director did everything to make the actress hate Rourke in real life. Kim Basinger later admitted that she felt disgusted kissing Mickey Rourke.

But just look how cute Basinger and Rourke look after many years.



6. In order to play John Gray, Mickey Rourke had to lose 13 kilograms. This was the director's main condition. Also, the director gave the actor an ultimatum that he would be obliged to listen to everything the director told him and to carry it out unquestioningly.



And strangely enough. Mickey Rourke never really argued with the director. And the director himself treated the actor with special care. He even made sure that the actor got enough sleep and ate right.

7. One of the most memorable scenes was the wall where Mickey Rourke fed Kim Basinger. It took a whole day to film this scene, as the director wanted to achieve maximum realism. He believed that this scene would be one of the most memorable. In general, this is what happened.

True, Kim flatly refused to eat real chili pepper, asking to replace it with something else, for example, melon. The director barely managed to persuade the actress to take a bite of a piece of hot pepper.



8. It was originally planned that the actors themselves would play in the intimate scenes. But at the last moment, Kim Basinger demanded that she be replaced with a stunt double during the filming of explicit scenes. According to her, her figure was not ideal to show off her body. But many believe that in fact, her jealous husband forbade her to play in explicit scenes.



9. Today the film "9 1/2 Weeks" is a cult film, but it failed miserably at the box office. With a budget of $17 million, the film grossed only $6.7 million.

During the premiere screening, people simply got up and left the theater. Only 40 out of 1000 people stayed until the end of the screening. And even then, most of those who remained said that the film was bad (and this is to put it mildly).

But in Europe (especially in France) the film was a huge success. Well, I’m generally silent about how popular it became in the USSR.

10. It’s very funny that the film called “9.5 Weeks” was filmed in exactly 10 weeks. It just took a year and a half to install and prepare. And after the film was ready in 1984, it remained on the shelf for a couple of years.



11. After 11 years, a sequel to the film called “Another Nine and a Half Weeks, or Love in Paris” is released. Although the film was a continuation of the original, there was no longer any of the old cast except Mickey Rourke. Even the director and scriptwriter were already different. Plus, the picture did not have a successful source material. Therefore, it is not surprising that the film was immediately released on media, bypassing cinemas.