Many movies/tv shows have the big mess scene come very late in the proceedings. Many times because this is the comedic climax but other times because it means the character(s) won't have to stay messy for a long period of aftermath.
But I am asking....... Name a mainstream movie/tv episode where someone is messed up and STAYS messed up for a long period of time after. I am talking like 10-15 minutes or better.
I found this bit in the Washington Post about Glenn Close in 101 Dalmatians.
"Obliged to fall into a vat of latex billed as molasses, Close says her enthusiasm had more to do with England's wretched weather than professionalism. "After the first take I didn't want to get out into the cold air, so I just kinda stayed. That was the good part of the day," she says.
"The worse part was that from then on, I had to wear that coat, which was about 90 pounds, and be totally slimed for every shot and every scene. And the wig. God! It was like a cow pie. They put it in the refrigerator overnight to keep it from spoiling because it also had eggs in it."
I also found this in an old Q and A with Glenn Close on 101 Dalmatians
Q: What was your worst day on the set? The day you had to fall into a vat of molasses?
A: That stunt was actually performed by a double, but the rest of the molasses sequence was me, so every shot for four or five days after that was the worst. I had to be totally slimed up, the costume weighed about 90 pounds, and my wig had to be refrigerated overnight to keep the goop in it. As soon as the shot was over I'd run to a heater and an indoor shower. That was the most uncomfortable four or five days of my career.
SplatInDaVat said: I found this bit in the Washington Post about Glenn Close in 101 Dalmatians.
"Obliged to fall into a vat of latex billed as molasses, Close says her enthusiasm had more to do with England's wretched weather than professionalism. "After the first take I didn't want to get out into the cold air, so I just kinda stayed. That was the good part of the day," she says.
"The worse part was that from then on, I had to wear that coat, which was about 90 pounds, and be totally slimed for every shot and every scene. And the wig. God! It was like a cow pie. They put it in the refrigerator overnight to keep it from spoiling because it also had eggs in it."
I've thought of plenty, but they're all dudes. Like, the first 20 answers to this question would be dudes.
Anyway, it's a fairly pointless question, as any mainstream film or TV show isn't shooting more than 1-2 scenes a day, max, and those are often out of order. So yes, Glenn Close had to get into pre-messed-up clothing, and was "glopped" up every morning for 4-5 days, but the amount of time you actually SEE her messed on screen is a couple minutes.
If an actor/actress is "messed up" for 15 minutes of screen time, that translates to a good two weeks of shooting days. But after the initial mess, it's really closer to makeup than anything else. "Mud" would be carefully applied to face, hair, and clothes, for instance, rather than the actor actually falling into mud for real.
Some Japanese prank show did a thing where a guy was hit with pies for an entire day... from the time he woke up until evening, including while making food, using the bathroom, reading, etc. That's probably the longest amount of ACTUAL time (12+ hours) in real life. The final episode edited this down, but it was "reality TV" so he wasn't cleaning off in between.
Bozo1 said: Many movies/tv shows have the big mess scene come very late in the proceedings. Many times because this is the comedic climax but other times because it means the character(s) won't have to stay messy for a long period of aftermath.
Especially in early live TV or live-on-film TV, the messy scene was last because it would take too long to clean up the actor(s) for the next scene, so there wasn't a next scene. Jim Backus (later Thurston Howell III on Gilligans Island) described in his autobiography Only When I Laugh that after the climatic slapstick scene in I Married Joan, he'd get in his car and drive home, custard and all.
Alan Young, in his autobiography "Youngy" mentioned that the messy sequences were shot on Friday afternoon and spliced in. In one episode, he wouldn't mention what happened with Ed but doctors were called.
I've heard his radio variety show. Jim Backus was a regular player and that is where he developed the Thurston Howell character.
Some Japanese prank show did a thing where a guy was hit with pies for an entire day... from the time he woke up until evening, including while making food, using the bathroom, reading, etc. That's probably the longest amount of ACTUAL time (12+ hours) in real life. The final episode edited this down, but it was "reality TV" so he wasn't cleaning off in between.
Only the damn crazy Nihonjin would do something like this. It does sound hilarious especially if it was completely random.
dougiezerts said: Didn't Ann Margaret's famous soap suds/baked beans/chocolate syrup scene in Tommy take several days to film?
She cut her hand on the glass from the broken bottle and was rushed to hospital all covered in beans and chocolate. They had to retake a few days later with her bandaged hand out of shot. The set had to be cleared of putrid food and re-dressed with more - but fake baked beans this time so they could return to the set for several more days. It's well documented by first hand sources (and sauces)