Horrid

Drop Dead Fred - Outtakes and cut spitting scene - VERY RARE FOOTAGE

This very rare footage was supplied by the director of 'Drop Dead Fred' Ate de Jong. 

The footage is in b/w because sometimes the rushes weren't printed in colour. 

The shot when Fred spits on Elizabeth's head was deemed 

too disgusting by studio executives who cut it out of the film. 

Sadly another extensive sequence involving Fred visiting Drop Dead Fred land appears to be lost :-( 

Was it based on a novel or an actual story by Elizabeth Livingston?

It was an article, and I’m not sure if it was the New York Times or The New Yorker. The writers certainly took a lot of freedom in adapting it and then when I came onboard I also took a lot of freedom; together with the writers. 

The whole foray into The Past was actually non-existent in the original script – not the script that we filmed - but the script I first got, and I felt that the thing in The Past was so essential in understanding her [Elizabeth - Phoebe Cates]. 

 Actually, this next bit might ruin your liking of the film...

No : nothing can do that.

There is an underpinning in the film which is actually extremely serious – because basically she is an abused child. We did it in a way that it wasn’t disturbing but there is a serious undertone in the film. And this psychiatry organisation in California actually used it a lot for therapeutic means – which to be honest I had never thought that could happen. But to me the whole reason for doing the film was this underlying tone.

Well people who don’t like the film just see Rik Mayall flicking snot at people –

Which is funny in itself!

Exactly, and there’s nothing wrong with that! 

So speaking of Rik Mayall, were you aware of Rik prior to the film?

Yes, because of THE YOUNG ONES.

How much of Fred’s antics were in the script and how much was improvisation on Rik’s part?

Not that much improvisation. Rik had to approve me. I lived in Hollywood so I flew to London because it was a British company, Working Title, and this was their first American film. So I talked to Rik and told him my ideas and apparently he liked me and I got along with him marvellously I must say. 

I certainly encouraged him to improvise – but within pretty strict boundaries – we set up very specific rules for what Fred could do and what he couldn’t do. And we stuck to that. 

And then sometimes, for instance when he smears the dog poo on the carpet, I said ‘Rik maybe you should jump on the chair’ and then he does that, but the way he does it is of course something I could never tell him because it’s so much better. 

The studio made us cut out a few things because he did a few more things which I thought were marvellous... like he spits into a cup of coffee and Elizabeth’s mother drinks it and says; hmm... but the spitting got thrown out – they didn’t like it – it was too much for them.

It’s got a ‘12’ certificate in the UK, and I was watching it with my young daughter and we came to the “cobwebs!” scene and I thought : ‘Please don’t ask me to explain that joke...’ but she didn’t.

But kids have the great quality that if they don’t understand something – they just don’t understand it. It’s the moment when they almost understand it that they then ask The Question.

Well she actually gave me Two Questions to ask you – but don’t worry, neither is about cobwebs.. Does Fred remember all the children he’s helped?

In our discussions – Yes, he does remember all the kids he has helped, but once he’s with a new child he doesn’t care about the previous case – so when he’s there at the end, he might recognise Elizabeth, but he’s not interested so he doesn’t pay her any attention.

Ok, and the second question : Was Fred trapped in The Box for all those years or was he off helping other children?

No, in our opinion, he was trapped in The Box. There’s one scene which explains a little bit about that first question, it was a scene of about 8-10 minutes, and they cut it out. At some point Fred goes away from her towards the end and he goes back to Drop Dead Fred Land.

Oh yes...

I must have it somewhere on a videotape. If I find it I’ll send it to you – I know it exists. They go to Drop Dead Fred Land; all the other characters you see in the psychiatrists’ office are there too all having fun. And there are loads of doors and each door represents a new assignment but Fred says : “No, I have to go back – I can’t leave her like that...”

Once again – this film deserves a Blu-ray release with extras...

We did shoot a new ending also, because the original ending finished with Elizabeth telling Her Mother that she needed A Friend. But we felt the film needed a more upbeat ending.

So only Rik Mayall was attached to the film when you came on board. What was it like working with Princess Leia herself, Carrie Fisher?

I adored her. (I was not extremely close to Phoebe to be honest, I mean we could work together) but I adored Carrie. The writers hated her because she made up her own dialogue very often and she was so, so sharp with the dialogue (you could see the writers grinding their teeth). I’m still in touch with the writers and still in touch with Carrie. You know she even once did a scene where she said: “May The Force be with You”. I laughed; but I cut that out – it was a bit too campy.

Bridget Fonda doesn’t appear in the end credits...

No, she did it as a favour for Phoebe, they were good friends and she did it as a cameo.

Your Director of Photography was  Peter Deming – who’d lensed Sam Raimi’s EVIL DEAD 2 prior to DROP DEAD FRED and who has since gone on to work not only with Raimi several more times, but also David Lynch, Wes Craven etc...

We started with another DP, but after 3 days I said to our producer Paul Webster : Paul, this isn’t working, we’re only making 6 shots a day. So Paul had to fire her and Peter, who we’d already met, came back – and he was a great guy.

And the animator on the opening credits, Steve Segal [no not that Segal] went on to work on A BUG’S LIFE and TOY STORY...You’re a human four-leaf clover Ate!

(Laughs) I’ve never thought about it. I hope so!

We spoke a little about the script and the certificate it received here in the UK, was it difficult to know who to pitch the film to, and how far to go with some of the more ‘adult’ references and jokes?

We personally anticipated a slightly older audience than it got. The film was finished, and there were test screenings in different cities. The results of the tests were that this film is ‘particularly good for women over the age of 33’. The film was going to go out with 150 prints (which for an independent film was great).  So they test-released it first in 5 cities. The audience was all kids (kids and their parents). The weird thing was, in the evenings, when there weren’t any kids; there were couples – generally on the younger side – but couples; lots and lots of couples. It was a date movie! (Which we never expected).  The film did so well over that first weekend of the test-release with the 5 prints that they said okay, not 150 prints – 950 prints! And instead of spending $1.5million on publicity and advertising : $7million – more than the actual film’s budget.

Which was...?

$6.5million.

Bargain.

So for me it was like a dream come true. But when we made the film we thought that it was actually more for kids, and that we made the adult jokes for their parents. And then the tests all said no; but ultimately it was more or less true.