AS11-44-6550 and AS17-134-20384

[JayUtah]

...so they went with Slim Pickens. I simply can't imagine that film without Slim Pickens.

Nor can I.  That's the magic of theater and film.  And yes, Sellers was slated to play Maj. Kong until he injured his ankle.  Similarly, the guy originally cast as the senior drill instructor in Full Metal Jacket was replaced by R. Lee Ermey when Ermey got all up in Kubrick's face about it -- literally.  The original actor was recast as the door gunner.  Can you imagine Full Metal Jacket without Ermey as the senior drill instructor?

[Sus_pilot]

The best part of Pickens' playing Major Kong is that he thought it as a straight dramatic role.

[Peter B]

All one really needs is geometry to show the impossibility of artificially lighting a huge set as the sun would. But hearing it from Kubrick -- who supposedly did just that for NASA -- is the icing on the cake.

[hoax believer]
Yeah, but he would say that wouldn't he?
[/hoax believer]

[Bryanpoprobson]

"Survival kit contents check. In them you'll find:

- One forty-five caliber automatic
- Two boxes of ammunition
- Four days' concentrated emergency rations
- One drug issue containing antibiotics, morphine,
  vitamin pills, pep pills, sleeping pills, tranquilizer pills
- One miniature combination Russian phrase book and Bible
- One hundred dollars in rubles
- One hundred dollars in gold
- Nine packs of chewing gum
- One issue of prophylactics
- Three lipsticks
- Three pair of nylon stockings.

Shoot, a fella' could have a pretty good weekend in Vegas with all that stuff."

[gillianren]

That line was originally "a pretty good weekend in Dallas."  For obvious reasons, they changed it.

[Luther]

The best part of Pickens' playing Major Kong is that he thought it as a straight dramatic role.

I've heard some story about how someone loved his in-character performance during some meeting and ended up casting him, not realising that he wasn't acting at all, that's actually the way Slim Pickens is

[JayUtah]

You may be thinking of what James Earl Jones once said in an interview:  he thought Slim Pickens was just staying in character off-camera, and someone had to tell him that's what Pickens was really like.  And yes, Pickens was given only his pages of script (this is common in the motion picture business) and therefore didn't know it was a comedy.  Woody Allen was infamous for rarely giving out full scripts to the cast and keeping the storylines of his movies on a "need to know" basis.  One of my good friends was in Shadows and Fog, and tells the story of when he and Fred Gwynne were in the makeup trailer together -- Gwynne turned to him and asked, "So do you know what the f--- this movie is about?"

[VQ]

And was also used in Apollo 13 on Gene Kranz when Lovell announced the sighting of the oxygen venting.

It took me multiple readings of this post for me to realize that you were talking about the movie, not the actual mission. It really, really was not parsing. Oy, I need to grab some more coffee.

[Luther]

The "fryin' chickens in the barnyard" scene works so well because Scott has so far to deflate at the very end of it.  Without Kubrick goading him to inflate it, I think it would lose effect.

"Has he got a chance?!?"

I thought Scott's performance was the best part of the film!

You may be thinking of what James Earl Jones once said in an interview:  he thought Slim Pickens was just staying in character off-camera, and someone had to tell him that's what Pickens was really like.

That's probably it.

And yes, Pickens was given only his pages of script (this is common in the motion picture business) and therefore didn't know it was a comedy.

That's got to be weird.  You spend all this time and effort working on something, and then you don't know until it's all finished what you were actually doing.

He must have figured out it was a comedy by the time they did his final scene in the film, though.

[Abaddon]

The "fryin' chickens in the barnyard" scene works so well because Scott has so far to deflate at the very end of it.  Without Kubrick goading him to inflate it, I think it would lose effect.

"Has he got a chance?!?"

I thought Scott's performance was the best part of the film!

You may be thinking of what James Earl Jones once said in an interview:  he thought Slim Pickens was just staying in character off-camera, and someone had to tell him that's what Pickens was really like.

That's probably it.

And yes, Pickens was given only his pages of script (this is common in the motion picture business) and therefore didn't know it was a comedy.

That's got to be weird.  You spend all this time and effort working on something, and then you don't know until it's all finished what you were actually doing.

He must have figured out it was a comedy by the time they did his final scene in the film, though.

All of those are fiction. Reality trumps that. The real Gene Kranz will always be a real hero. 

[BazBear]

All of those are fiction. Reality trumps that. The real Gene Kranz will always be a real hero.

Oh, do you mean that NASA guy played by Ed Harris? *quickly ducking to avoid whatever Abaddon might throw at me*

[Luther]

Oh, do you mean that NASA guy played by Ed Harris?

Yes, apparently in Dr. Strangelove as well.

I'm not sure we're all reading the same thread.

[Noldi400]

The best part of Pickens' playing Major Kong is that he thought it as a straight dramatic role.

About as OT as it gets, but it reminds me of the story of Frankie Laine recording the theme to Blazing Saddles under the impression that it was a serious film.

[DD Brock]

I did not know that. That is funny!

[Zakalwe]

The best part of Pickens' playing Major Kong is that he thought it as a straight dramatic role.

Apparently James Earl Jones thought that Pickens was staying in character off-set. That was until he realised that Pickens always talked like that!