Cutting Class

Cutting Class (1989)

Timing: 1:31 (91 min)

5.005/10
99

5.301/10
4229

4.6/10
7000

All about film

Video 1

Photo 6

Actors and characters

Release date

1989-07-01

Country

United States

Production

April Productions, Gower Street Pictures, april films

Genre

Horror, Comedy, Crime, Mystery

Budget

$0

Revenue

$0

Website

Director

Rospo Pallenberg

Actors

Donovan Leitch, Jill Schoelen, Brad Pitt, Roddy McDowall, Martin Mull, Brenda James, Robert Glaudini, Dirk Blocker, Nancy Fish, Robert Machray
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

Steve Slavkin

Producer

Rudy Cohen, Donald R. Beck, Peter S. Davis, William N. Panzer

Operator

Avraham Karpick

Composer

Jill Fraser

Artist

Audition

Eric Boles

Editing

Bill Butler, Natan Zahavi
All team (19)

• Once, the police appeared on the film set. They were called by someone from the passing cars, complaining about the indecent, in his opinion, appearance of Brad Pitt (he was playing Dwight).
• Producer Rudy Cohen was vehemently opposed to Brad Pitt’s candidacy. To convince him otherwise, director Rospo Pallenberg had to enlist the help of several women, who unequivocally stated that Pitt would look spectacular on screen.
• Jill Shoelen (who played Paula) was reluctant to appear in this film and initially rejected all offers. Eventually, she was persuaded that it would help her acting career, as Rospo Pallenberg was already a well-known screenwriter, and the film was to be his directorial debut. Over time, Shoelen agreed to film, mainly for the opportunity to work with Roddy McDowall and Martin Mull (who played Mr. Dante and William Carson III respectively), whom she had long admired. According to Shoelen, working with Pallenberg was difficult – he constantly insisted that lines be delivered exactly as he wanted, and no other way, an approach that many actors strongly dislike. Shoelen has no warm memories of working on the film.
• Unlike Jill Shoelen, Donovan Leitch Jr. (who played Brian) enjoyed filming in Rospo Pallenberg's directorial debut. Furthermore, Pallenberg was one of the screenwriters of Leitch Jr.'s favorite film – the fantasy action film 'Excalibur' (John Boorman, 1981). Shoelen said that Pallenberg did not allow actors to improvise, while, according to Leitch Jr., much of the filming was invented 'on the fly', and Pallenberg allowed him to try different variations of a particular scene.
• Jill Shoelen had been friends with costume designer Kelly Trupp for many years. They only found out they were working on the same project during costume fittings.
• The film was shot in 4 weeks in 1987, but was not released until 1989.
• Neither Donovan Leitch Jr. nor Brad Pitt appeared in the murder scenes. A stunt double was used each time to prevent viewers from identifying the killer by their physique.