Revealed: 30 Nasty Behind-The-Scenes Movie Facts

Fine, I’ll spell it out—since you’re clearly not prepared for the stomach-churning realities of Hollywood’s grossest scenes. You probably *should* already know that The Exorcist’s pea-soup puke was real and infected with bacteria (per interviews in Empire and The Guardian), but in case your memory’s as hazy as that green goo, here’s the unfiltered play-by-play. Linda Blair and a crew of prosthetics artists whipped up that projectile vomit mix using pea soup, oatmeal, and even rancid milk—an ingenious combo that earned actors and extras alike panic attacks on set. Moving on to Alien’s infamous chestburster, Ridley Scott’s team smeared blood-red K-Y gel and lamb intestines across John Hurt’s chest, then let a mechanical animatronic pop out—only to hear Hurt guffaw between takes (source: Collider and Empire). Didn’t see that coming, did you?

You probably think The Shining’s sudden elevator flood was just CGI, but Stanley Kubrick flooded that hotel set with 6,000 gallons of fake blood, crafted from corn syrup and food coloring. Extras ended up wading through the stuff for hours, and the crew had to dump it all down drains that nearly clogged (reported by IndieWire and The Hollywood Reporter). Over in Psycho, Janet Leigh’s shower scene was choreographed with chocolate syrup standing in for blood (a color-blind director’s choice, as documented in Vanity Fair). The film’s low-budget genius makes it a case study any budding film student should already own on Blu-ray—if you’ve even dipped into Hitchcock’s catalog.

Silence of the Lambs fans might recall that Clarice Starling’s iceberg lettuce wasn’t so fresh; they actually used ground beef and intestines to mimic brain matter (HuffPost and People). If you thought the set smelled terrific, think again. Then there’s Super Troopers’ highway pothole prank—kids peeing into beer bottles to fool actors—while Cannibal Holocaust’s real animal slaughter scandal turned into an international court case (

Sources: Celebrity Storm and The Guardian, The New York Times). Moving to modern eras, The Passion of the Christ soaked Jim Caviezel in pig’s blood for authenticity, and Sweeney Todd’s meat pies were literally made from beef kidneys and off-cuts (reported by Deadline and Entertainment Weekly). Even The Lord of the Rings had morbid bits—Weta Workshop dunked prosthetic heads in real pig’s blood for Helm’s Deep.

Sources:
Empire, The Guardian, IndieWire, The Hollywood Reporter, Collider, Vanity Fair, HuffPost, People, The New York Times, Deadline, Entertainment Weekly
Attribution: Creative Commons Licensed