Videodrome
Short description
Max Renn runs a small cable channel that deals in cheap adult and violent programming, and he is always looking for something more extreme to hold his viewers. He comes across a pirate broadcast called Videodrome, which appears to show torture and punishment, and he wants it for his own station. When he tries to track down the source, he finds that the violence he saw may not be staged, and the search draws him and those close to him into a blurring of television and reality.
David Cronenberg wrote and directed the film, the sixth of the twenty-two features he has directed in chronological order, arriving between Scanners and The Dead Zone. James Woods plays Max, with Debbie Harry as Nicki Brand, Sonja Smits as Bianca O'Blivion, Peter Dvorsky as Harlan, Leslie Carlson as Barry Convex and Jack Creley as Brian O'Blivion. Claude Héroux produced; the credited cast numbers twenty and the credited crew 123.
Made on a budget of about 6 million US dollars, Videodrome took roughly 2 million at the worldwide box office. Its ratings now stand at 7.2 out of 10 on TMDB from around 2,500 votes. The film mixes horror, mystery and science fiction, was produced in Canada and the United States, and runs 88 minutes.
What's left behind the scenes
- O’Blivion is the English word 'oblivion,' meaning 'the state of being forgotten,' stylized as an Irish surname.
- The legend that televisions could cause tumors or other illnesses originated in the 1940s, immediately following the advent of television.
- The idea for the film occurred to Cronenberg long before work on the project began. It was based on childhood memories of unusual programs the future director had watched on Canadian television.
- For a long time, Cronenberg was unable to realize the project due to high production costs, as it required many special effects. After the success of the film 'Scanners' (1980), Cronenberg began to be trusted with larger projects, and he was able to film 'Videodrome' (1982).
- Filming took place from October 19 to December 19, 1981, in Toronto.
- David Tsubouchi, who plays a Japanese pornographer in the film, later became a minister in the government of Ontario. The opposition reminded him of his participation in this movie throughout his entire political career.
- Debbie Harry, who plays Max's mistress, is primarily known as the lead singer of the band Blondie.
- In the scenes where a slot appears on the character's torso, James Woods lay on a bed at a specific angle, and a prosthetic body part with a cut was glued on top of him. Woods later admitted that he has been unable to stand having things glued to him ever since.
- The cassettes that the character inserts into himself are Betamax, because standard VHS cassettes were too large and cumbersome.
- When filming the scene for the 'Cathode Ray' mission, so many televisions were turned on that the building's electrical wiring nearly caught fire due to the high voltage.
- Almost the entire promotional trailer for the film was edited on a Commodore 64 computer.
- The prototype for the character Brian O'Blivion is Marshall McLuhan (1911-1980), a Canadian philosopher and theorist of modern communication methods. David Cronenberg was a student of McLuhan during his college years.
- The inspiration for CivicTV was Toronto's CityTV, which aired softcore pornographic films late at night. One of Max's partners is referred to in the film as 'Moses'—a reference to the founder of CityTV.
- Andy Warhol called 'Videodrome' (1982) the 'A Clockwork Orange' of the 1980s.
- In an early draft of the script, Max's arm turned not only into a gun (as happens in the film), but also into a grenade...
- During the filming of the scene where the character's arm transforms into a stylized gun, Woods played a prank on Cronenberg: he smeared his hand with blue paint and claimed he had suffered frostbite.
- Due to budget constraints, Cronenberg was unable to film several scenes, including the finale in which Max, Bianca, and Nikki appear on the set of 'Videodrome.' Bianca and Nikki have slits in their torsos, with mutated genitals protruding from them. According to another version, the scene wasn't filmed because Debbie Harry fell ill and James Woods had to leave for a family meeting. A third version suggests that the producers vetoed the scene due to its scandalous nature. Another scene from the script that didn't make it to the screen involved Max's television emerging from the water in his bathtub while still broadcasting. The crew spent a long time searching for a way to avoid a short circuit; options included placing a live actor inside an empty television shell, using a non-conductive liquid (which proved too expensive), and even coating all the television components in insulation. Ultimately, the scene was scrapped.
- The director's cut of the film, released on VHS and DVD, is approximately three minutes longer—primarily due to extended scenes of violence. For example, an additional shot is shown during the scene where Barry Convex is killed.
- There is a television version with a different ending. While the theatrical version ends with a shot of James Woods bringing a gun to his head, the TV version follows this by showing the faces of the other characters.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
