Trivia / The Eiger Sanction

• California Doubling: Averted as Clint Eastwood was determined to have filming done on location in Switzerland.
• Completely Different Title: In Finland, this movie is called "Tehtävä Alpeilla" meaning "A Mission in the Alps".
• Fatal Method Acting: One climber, David Knowles, was killed by a boulder on the second day of shooting. Clint Eastwood had been in the same position just a few minutes earlier.
• No Stunt Double: Clint Eastwood did all of his own stunts, including the scene where he cuts his safety line over a drop of at least 1,000 feet. The only stunt he did not perform was a 2,500-foot drop, for which a dummy was used.
• Reality Is Unrealistic: Clint Eastwood mentioned in an interview that during filming he would have to dangle off the side of a cliff upside down with a rope tied to his leg. Eastwood insisted on doing the stunt himself, because he wanted the camera to zoom in on his face to show that it actually was him. Later, he snuck into a screening of the film to gauge the audience reaction, and most of them thought that the scene was done with special effects.
• Vacation, Dear Boy: One of the reasons Clint Eastwood chose the film was so that he could work in relative isolation on location in Switzerland away from the distractions of the studio and to work efficiently with a small cast and crew.
• What Could Have Been: Paul Newman was originally attached to star.

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