The movie "Ghost": review, production and facts

Today, the name Patrick Swayze occupies not the last place in the list of legendary actors of the 20th century! His roles in "Dirty Dancing" and "Ghost" are considered iconic, and therefore it is hard to believe that Swayze was not wanted for the role of the ghost of banker Sam Wheat... In fact, there were more than a dozen candidates, and Patrick was the last one whom the director Jerry Zucker wanted to see in his movie.

Nevertheless, the stars aligned just right for the movie: "Ghost." (aka The Haunting) became the highest-grossing movie of 1990, grossing half a billion dollars and bringing the names of the lead actors back into the headlines. The director himself quickly "changed his anger to mercy", saying that "if he had not chosen Swayze - he probably would have made the stupidest mistake of his life.

So, from the iconic of the pottery sceneIn today's article we decided to highlight the most curious episodes of the production, which remained "behind the scenes". But first of all - a little review by FUZZ MUSIC.

"Even the creators themselves didn't believe in success" - how "Ghost" rewrote modern filmmaking

"Ghost." - a movie in which the most different and seemingly completely incompatible genres are intertwined: from melodrama and thriller to fantasy and... comedy! "God, what a hodgepodge" - ironically joked the creators themselves, who saw it as either a grand success or a resounding failure. No one expected anything more than that. The banker, who dies in an attack, turns into a ghost and tries to protect his beloved from danger, in parallel "unraveling" a tangle of events and conspiracy theories, colluding with a charlatan-medium and, finally, punishes the offenders and sends their souls to hell ... If we talk about the plot in a nutshell, it may seem that this is the most ridiculous. Nevertheless...

This sometimes painfully sad and sometimes tearfully comic story was very competently presented to the viewer. The plot simultaneously touches the soul and leads to deep reflections on worldview issues, and at the same time does not let you get bored, causing on the face of the genuine smile and the joy of seeing justice served in the end.

Everything is harmonious in this movie: the sense of irony and concern for the main characters, the cast, the music... No wonder that after more than 30 years, "Ghost" is still in demand by the public - and the most diverse: it was loved both in the West, and in Russia, and even in Japan, where it was filmed on its own interpretation! Some critics have called it "the tape that rewrote modern cinema": it was after the appearance of "Ghost" that comedy-melodramas with elements of the supernatural came back into fashion.....

We can talk about this picture for a long, long time, so we will only add that it is a rare sincere movie, which makes the viewer feel true emotions. And now about how it was created, and who could take Patrick Swayze's place - a fact that nowadays seems to be absolutely true unthinkable…

You are not born a perfect team, you become one - and not immediately

It is noteworthy, but the team for the production of "Ghost" was assembled for a long time and literally piece by piece - and everyone had big doubts about each other. Thus, the author of the script Bruce Joel Rubin was, to put it mildly, not thrilled to learn that the movie would be directed by Jerry Zucker. By then Zucker had established himself as the writer and director of the comedy "Aeroplane!", and this was clearly not an accomplishment that would impress Rubin. In his interview, the latter recounted:

"I wanted it to be Stanley Kubrick, or Milos Forman... But when they told me it was going to be the guy who made 'Aeroplane!', I was on edge. I'll be honest: I wanted to cry..."

However, it was Zucker who breathed more life into the script, detailing some comical and lyrical scenes, making them more sensual, sincere, and most importantly - publicly available. In the end, however, Zucker himself almost made the biggest mistake of his life when he wanted to give up on Patrick Swayze. As Rubin recounted:

"We saw Roadhouse, and after the session Jerry said to me, 'This guy will only play Sam over my dead body.' But then Patrick came in for an audition, and I have to admit we cried when he finished the script... That's when we all saw a side of Patrick we didn't even know existed."

Few people know, but the role of Sam was also offered Bruce Willisbut he refused, which he regretted. As Die Hard himself admitted:

"At first I thought it was some kind of nonsense. The script reminded me of some absurdity. When I read it, I said: "The dude is dead. How are you going to make him a lovelorn hero?". But then when I watched the movie, I realized I was coolly wrong about him. There was even a kind of regret that came up because I said no..."

By the way, it was Patrick who insisted that Mme. Odu Mae Brown played Whoopi Goldberg - and the creators had to go to him to meet (as a "threat" Patrick said that either Whoopi will shoot with him, or he washes his hands), despite the fact that for the role of the medium competed Patti Labelle and Tina Turner.

Swayze's real feelings that formed the basis of the movie

During the filming, Patrick was experiencing a very intense real feelingswhich made his character even more real. Thus, the scene where Swayze, who became a ghost, bent over his own body (which served as a plaster mannequin, by the way) made the actor remember his own father - or rather, his funeral…

"I threw that memory out of my life until that moment on set when it all came back. Overall, there were at least a few scenes where something very strange was happening to me - feelings sealed away a long time ago suddenly resurfaced..."

Following the movie's release, Swayze told a PEOPLE reporter that "Ghost" made him take a fresh look on some things:

"We have to live our lives in the here and now, because that's all we have. And if you don't communicate with the people you love, you doom yourself to incredible pain if you lose them suddenly..."

By the way: the most sensual scene not only of "Ghost" but of '90s cinema is now rightfully considered to be pottery scenethat we owe to Patrick. As he told us himself:

"It's not so much about physical love here as it is about a deep personal connection..."