Behind The Scenes

Some notable facts and comments from "the story behind the story"

 

 The Emperor's nurse loses her head and arms to three deft strokes of Aaron's sword.

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ABOUT BACKSTAGE WEIRDNESS, MAYHEM AND MADNESS:

A dozen life casts were made of actor's heads and relevant body parts, utilizing new techniques in latex, wax, silicone and urethane foam.

Real sharpened steel swords were used in all action scenes. A fiberglass chair and a silver bowl of blood were destroyed by overenthusiastic swordplay.

A prop infant's brains consisted of a mixture of customized stage blood and raw chopped turkey meat.

Because of his ill-fitting headwear, one character's off-screen nickname was "Little Joe Jigglehat".

The forest set was built indoors, utilizing tons of living sod, real foliage and truckloads of Spanish Moss. It was so authentic, for a time tropical insects, real birds and rats inhabited it.

 

 

Emperor Saturninus and Goth Queen Tamora conspire to murder their enemies, and a few others just for the hell of it.

 

It was hot. So hot, that fainting was a problem. A shower was installed on the set just out of camera range so overheated actors could drench themselves (in their costumes) under cool water. Equipment would fail when temperatures reached 120 degrees F.

Executed prisoner Alarbus was disemboweled and set afire. The remains of three real hogs were used in the shooting of the scene, drenched in alcohol and flaked shotgun powder. (Believe us, do NOT try that at home!)

To inspire the level of authentic stress required for many scenes, the director's instruction to actors preceding a take was usually, "Great, just great. Now give me something I can use".

Marcus numbly observes brother Titus admiring the disembodied head of his son Martius, as daughter Lavina clenches the freshly severed right hand of Titus between her teeth.

 

In an exterior shot, near the end of the movie, another character's remains consisted of beef lungs and entrails. A passing stray dog fainted cold dead away, overwhelmed by the odor (he quickly fully recovered).

During unusually inclement weather, roaring noise and vibration from re-routed low flying aircraft to Tampa airport required the shutting down of production for hours at a time.

Portions of some dialogue had to be "looped" (replaced or over-dubbed) during post-production editing. For practical reasons, these voice-overs were done by other actors' impersonations, particularly during extended screaming, wailing, blubbering and general crying fits. Lexton Raleigh (Aaron) covered the widest range of vocal effects.

 

 Titus realizes he has annoyed Saturninus.

After the set was scrapped, new beautiful offices were built in it's place and leased to a government agency. Now real modern day wrong-doers are "tortured" there in a somewhat kinder and gentler manner.

 

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