Line #5 Trivia/Freejack


1	* AwesomeDearBoy: Creator/AnthonyHopkins has stated that the only reason he took a role in ''Freejack'' was because he had always wanted to meet Music/MickJagger. Coincidentally, many sources say the reverse; the only reason ''Jagger'' took a role was because the producers told him Hopkins was involved.
2	* BoxOfficeBomb: Budget, $30 million. Box office, $17,129,026. This CyberPunk thriller was hit with ExecutiveMeddling and extensive reshoots which led to a product which was trashed by critics and ignored by audiences.
3	* CreatorBacklash: Creator/AnthonyHopkins called this a "terrible film" in a later interview.
4	* MissingTrailerScene: The trailer features alternative takes, including one where Alex and Julie ''don't'' realize that Michelette's men are going to shoot them when their elevator arrives into the lobby.
5	* TheOtherMarty: Creator/LindaFiorentino was originally going to play Julie, and had shot several scenes with Estevez, but dropped out and was replaced by Creator/ReneRusso.
6	* ReleaseDateChange: Poor test screenings and subsequent re-shoots bumped it from its original fall 1991 release date.
7	* RomanceOnTheSet: Creator/ReneRusso met her husband, co-writer Dan Gilroy, during production. They have been married since 1992.
8	* TroubledProduction: To say that the making of this film was difficult would be an ''understatement'', as detailed [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2X8j5iH4ToY here]] on ''WebVideo/GoodBadFlicks'':
9	** In the decade between ''Film/{{Alien}}'' and ''Film/{{Total Recall\|1990}}'', screenwriter Ron Shusett had secured the rights to Creator/RobertSheckley's novel ''Literature/ImmortalityInc''. In the process of writing the script, he removed the novel's supernatural elements and put more emphasis on action sequences. Shusett then sold the script to the studio Creator/MorganCreek.
10	** Geoff Murphy, a New Zealand filmmaker who was helming his first American production with another Morgan Creek feature, ''Film/YoungGunsII'', was given the task of directing ''Immortality, Inc.'', now retitled ''Freejack''. Murphy had not dealt with much ExecutiveMeddling during ''Young Guns II'' -- not realizing that Morgan Creek was devoting its energies to ''Film/RobinHoodPrinceOfThieves'' -- and agreed to helm ''Freejack'' on the assumption that he would continue to be given AuteurLicense.
11	** It was on the issue of script rewrites that things started going wrong. Not wanting to make a film too similar to ''Total Recall'', Murphy wanted to reincorporate the supernatural elements that had been excised by Shusett and make the film's tone more serious overall. Morgan Creek, however, wanted a blockbuster that was as action-packed as possible, disliking Murphy's rewrite despite previously agreeing to his suggested changes. This led to a battle of wills between the director and the studio.
12	** Complicating matters was the original contract, which stipulated certain aspects of Shusett's script not be changed. Murphy, who had not heard of these stipulations before agreeing to direct, was left flummoxed why Morgan Creek allowed him to make rewrites that he was unknowingly forbidden from making. He considered getting out of his contract by suing the studio, only to be warned that his career would suffer even if he won the case. Thus, Murphy reluctantly agreed to continue as director.
13	** Morgan Creek insisted on hiring Stuart Oken, who had mostly worked in theater and had no experience handling a sci-fi flick, as Murphy's line producer. Joe Alves, previously the director of ''Film/Jaws3D'', was taken aboard as production designer. [[HostilityOnTheSet Murphy immediately clashed with both men]] but the studio repeatedly took their side against him.
14	** The shoot was where things went FromBadToWorse. Morgan Creek pressured Murphy to fire Creator/LindaFiorentino, who had been cast as Julie, even though the director liked her performance and warned executives that [[TheOtherDarrin replacing her]] would be both disruptive and expensive. The studio went so far as to set up a thirty-minute meeting between Murphy and Creator/ReneRusso, exploiting a [[LoopholeAbuse Directors Guild rule]] to claim that he had been "consulted" about the recast. When Murphy asked studio head James Robinson why he was so dead set on getting rid of Fiorentino, Robinson replied, "She doesn't give me a hard-on!" Fiorentino was canned and Estevez was forced to reshoot her scenes with Russo, with whom he didn't share the same chemistry.
15	** Murphy wanted to shoot the climax between Estevez and Creator/AnthonyHopkins with camera tricks and other practical effects. Morgan Creek insisted on incorporating computer-generated special effects that were just getting off the ground at this time, even though nobody really understood the technology. They fumbled with the footage and effects for several days before finally cobbling something together that pleased the studio.
16	** After spending a couple of weeks vacationing at Music/MickJagger's estate in the Virgin Islands, Murphy returned to the editing booth to make a rough cut. He quickly discovered that the movie was a complete mess no matter how many ways he tried to fix it, and wasn't able to produce a presentable cut in the ten weeks given to him by Directors Guild rules.
17	** This cut of the film was not even viewed by the studio execs, but sent straight to a test screening which was a disaster. Morgan Creek panicked and ordered a ''second'' round of reshoots, but couldn't tell Murphy which scenes they wanted redone. Shusett was brought back to write fifteen new or reworked scenes, which Murphy was shocked to discover were all action sequences and insisted were "unshootable", to which the producer agreed. Dan Gilroy was then brought in to write more humorous scenes, which ironically made the film tonally similar to ''Total Recall'' -- which Murphy had wanted to avoid in the first place!
18	** Robinson, however, decided that the real problem was the film's score. He brought in Music/MarkIsham to compose twenty minutes' worth of rock music, which put Isham at a loss as he didn't know what was going on or think a rock score was appropriate for a sci-fi film. Despite his misgivings, Isham composed the score as Robinson wanted -- only for Robinson to hate the score and fire Isham. This prompted Murphy to unsuccessfully ask the producers to fire him; he would later ask that his possessory credit[[note]]The "Directed by" or "A film by" notices that you sometimes see in a movie's marketing[[/note]] be removed. He ''would'' have gone full AlanSmithee, but that would have necessitated another legal battle with the studio, and Murphy just didn't care by this point.
19	** Murphy finally completed the reshoots, only for Robinson to hate the new cut and decide he should take over the editing himself. This posed two problems: A.) the footage was scheduled to be sent to the negative cutter in just a few days and B.) ''Robinson wasn't an editor''. To fix this, he brought in a large team of editors, working on different parts of the film in different editing booths, going from room to room to oversee their work. He then sent the film off to the negative cutters without bothering to view it.
20	** Because of the constant reshoots and reedits, the film's release was pushed back from Fall 1991 to [[DumpMonths January 1992]]. It opened in fourth place and made only $17 million, less than half of its reported $36 million budget, thus cementing its status as a BoxOfficeBomb and an OldShame for Hopkins. Murphy's Hollywood career languished and he returned to New Zealand, where he eventually became second unit director for Creator/PeterJackson's ''[[Film/TheLordOfTheRings Lord of the Rings]]'' trilogy.
21	* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
22	** Creator/LindaFiorentino was originally cast as Julie, but was unceremoniously fired during production (as detailed in "Troubled Production" above).
23	** Creator/VincentSchiavelli was slated to play an unscrupulous "insurance salesman", who sold life insurance policies to Freejacks.

Context Trivia / Freejack