History Trivia / TheLastMovie

* BoxOfficeBomb: Budget, unknown. Box office, $1 million.

* TroubledProduction: Creator/DennisHopper's eagerly awaited follow-up to ''Film/EasyRider'' turned out to be drug-fuelled disaster that almost destroyed him.
** Hopper had a hard time finding backing for the film. Creator/ColumbiaPictures and Creator/WarnerBros both passed, while Music/PhilSpector agreed to be a backer, until his accountant convinced him that Hopper was too big a risk. Ultimately, Creator/UniversalPictures backed the film.
** Filming took place in Chincero in the Peruvian Andes, one the world's leading producers of cocaine. On the flight down, the plane was barely in the air before the film crew started passing drugs around, much to the horror of a staid South American businessman, who muttered, "Damn gringos".
** In Peru, Hopper managed to offend the government by spouting the joys of marijuana and expressing tolerance of homosexuality. The ruling junta started investigating Hopper's background, not liking what they saw. Creator/KrisKristofferson told ''The Guardian'' in 2008:
-->I see the guy he's mellowed into now and I love Dennis. But back then, he was the most self-destructive guy I had ever seen! He got a priest defrocked because he got him involved in some weird mass for Creator/JamesDean. He antagonised the military and all the politicians. It was crazy.
** Inevitably, substance abuse was rampant. Brad Darrach, a reporter from ''Life'' magazine claimed that a crew hand had managed to score cocaine, seven dollars for a packet that cost ten times that in America. By the first evening, some thirty crewmembers were snorting coke, dropping acid or smoking weed. Darrach was awaken at 2 A.M. by screams he believed to be from a young actress experiencing a bad trip. At one of the many wild parties, one actor reportedly tied a young girl to a post because she looked like Joan of Arc and wanted to re-enact her immolation. There was also a rumour that a young actor died after taking too many peyote buds. Another reporter, Kit Carson, answered his door one evening and a man with a bottle offered him some ether.
-->I mean, everything you can imagine was being done in this hotel. That whole shoot, that was one of the most out-of-control situations I've ever seen.
** During one scene, a horse bolted after hearing a prop gunfire and fell off a high wall, breaking its back. After a crew member euthanized it, a group of locals arrived carrying knives and butchered the animal for its meat. Two cast members fainted and the rest retreated to the nearest bar. Hopper later broke down crying at this.
** Hopper had a fling with one of the groupies (or ding-a-lings as he called them) onset shopping around for drugs. Then he kicked her out because he was convinced that she was a spy for the government. [[ProperlyParanoid This wasn't paranoia - the local government had posted spies among the crew, looking for any excuse to kick Hopper out of the country]].
** As filming went on, the crew turned to booze rather than drugs as the temperature dropped markedly. At the wrap photoshoot, Hopper hollered, "This picture was not made on grass. This picture was made on scotch and soda". During filming, Hopper's personal supply of grass was stolen and for the rest of the shoot he had to bum from other people's private stashes.
** Amazingly, filming was completed on schedule and within budget. A physically drained Hopper now had to edit the film, which he did in Taos rather than Hollywood. It took a year to cut forty hours worth of footage into a two-hour film and was constantly changing the message he wanted to convey. When the studio called him up to check on his progress, Hopper cursed them down the phone. When they came to see a rough version, Hopper retreated to a local bar instead.
** At a test-screening at the University of Iowa, Hopper was booed, jeered and [[ProducePelting pelted with objects]] as he got onstage. Dragged into the lobby, a young woman asked Hopper if he'd made the film. When he said yes, she punched him in the face and called him a "sexist fucking pig".
** Hopper refused to edit the film into a more commercial form and Universal played it for just a couple of weeks in L.A. before shelving it, despite the fact that it won the Critics' Prize at the Venice Film Festival. Within the space of eighteen months, Hopper had gone from industry saviour to unemployable rebel.

* TroubledProduction: After ''Film/EasyRider'' was a hit, Creator/DennisHopper was given $1 million by Creator/UniversalPictures to shoot a passion project with full AuteurLicense. While it managed to avoid the usual downfall of going over budget and behind schedule, principal photography was still a messy drug-fuelled disaster with Hopper and other crew and cast members getting stoned and drunk while also running into problems with the Peruvian authorities. And then came post-production, which ran for a year as Hopper cut forty hours worth of footage into a two-hour film and was constantly changing the message he wanted to convey, with the final result being badly received by audiences and mostly shafted by the studio.

* ProductionPosse: Along with Creator/PeterFonda other ''Film/EasyRider'' alumni in this feature include Toni Basil and Warren Finnerty as well as editor, Henry Jaglom.

* TroubledProduction: Creator/DennisHopper's eagerly awaited follow-up to ''Film/EasyRider'' turned out to be drug-fuelled disaster that almost destroyed him.
** Hopper had a hard time finding backing for the film. Creator/ColumbiaPictures and Creator/WarnerBros both passed, while Music/PhilSpector agreed to be a backer, until his accountant convinced him that Hopper was too big a risk. Ultimately, Creator/UniversalPictures backed the film.
** Filming took place in Chincero in the Peruvian Andes, one the world's leading producers of cocaine. On the flight down, the plane was barely in the air before the film crew started passing drugs around, much to the horror of a staid South American businessman, who muttered, "Damn gringos".
** In Peru, Hopper managed to offend the government by spouting the joys of marijuana and expressing tolerance of homosexuality. The ruling junta started investigating Hopper's background, not liking what they saw. Creator/KrisKristofferson told ''The Guardian'' in 2008:
-->I see the guy he's mellowed into now and I love Dennis. But back then, he was the most self-destructive guy I had ever seen! He got a priest defrocked because he got him involved in some weird mass for Creator/JamesDean. He antagonised the military and all the politicians. It was crazy.
** Inevitably, substance abuse was rampant. Brad Darrach, a reporter from ''Life'' magazine claimed that a crew hand had managed to score cocaine, seven dollars for a packet that cost ten times that in America. By the first evening, some thirty crewmembers were snorting coke, dropping acid or smoking weed. Darrach was awaken at 2 A.M. by screams he believed to be from a young actress experiencing a bad trip. At one of the many wild parties, one actor reportedly tied a young girl to a post because she looked like Joan of Arc and wanted to re-enact her immolation. There was also a rumour that a young actor died after taking too many peyote buds. Another reporter, Kit Carson, answered his door one evening and a man with a bottle offered him some ether.
-->I mean, everything you can imagine was being done in this hotel. That whole shoot, that was one of the most out-of-control situations I've ever seen.
** During one scene, a horse bolted after hearing a prop gunfire and fell off a high wall, breaking its back. After a crew member euthanized it, a group of locals arrived carrying knives and butchered the animal for its meat. Two cast members fainted and the rest retreated to the nearest bar. Hopper later broke down crying at this.
** Hopper had a fling with one of the groupies (or ding-a-lings as he called them) onset shopping around for drugs. Then he kicked her out because he was convinced that she was a spy for the government. [[ProperlyParanoid This wasn't paranoia - the local government had posted spies among the crew, looking for any excuse to kick Hopper out of the country]].
** As filming went on, the crew turned to booze rather than drugs as the temperature dropped markedly. At the wrap photoshoot, Hopper hollered, "This picture was not made on grass. This picture was made on scotch and soda". During filming, Hopper's personal supply of grass was stolen and for the rest of the shoot he had to bum from other people's private stashes.
** Amazingly, filming was completed on schedule and within budget. A physically drained Hopper now had to edit the film, which he did in Taos rather than Hollywood. It took a year to cut forty hours worth of footage into a two-hour film and was constantly changing the message he wanted to convey. When the studio called him up to check on his progress, Hopper cursed them down the phone. When they came to see a rough version, Hopper retreated to a local bar instead.
** At a test-screening at the University of Iowa, Hopper was booed, jeered and [[ProducePelting pelted with objects]] as he got onstage. Dragged into the lobby, a young woman asked Hopper if he'd made the film. When he said yes, she punched him in the face and called him a "sexist fucking pig".
** Hopper refused to edit the film into a more commercial form and Universal played it for just a couple of weeks in L.A. before shelving it, despite the fact that it won the Critics' Prize at the Venice Film Festival. Within the space of eighteen months, Hopper had gone from industry saviour to unemployable rebel.

* VindicatedByHistory: While he had disparaged the film in the past, Hopper said it was ahead of its time, and only now had audiences and critics started to understand his artistic vision. In 2006, Hopper told ''Magazine/{{Playboy}}'' that he had re-acquired the rights to the film and was planning a DVD release. Hopper did not realize his plans to release the film on DVD before his death in May 2010. On August 16, 2018, Arbelos Films, Vidiots & American Cinematheque hosted the Los Angeles 4K restoration premiere at Sid Grauman's Egyptian Theater in Hollywood, California. A Blu-ray of the film was announced for release on November 13, 2018.

* CreatorKiller: Creator/DennisHopper was a rising star during the 1960s, but the massive success of ''Film/EasyRider'' in 1969 (which he co-wrote, directed, and starred in) catapulted him onto the A-list and left him [[ProtectionFromEditors carte blanche]] to pursue his choice of projects. His follow-up film was such a critical and commercial disaster that Hopper couldn't even get another ''acting'' job in Hollywood until 1979, when Creator/FrancisFordCoppola offered him what would turn out to be a [[CareerResurrection career-reviving role]] in ''Film/ApocalypseNow''. However, this film did completely kill his writing and directing careers; 1988's ''Film/{{Colors}}'' was the only significant movie that he directed after that, and he never wrote another screenplay.

** During one scene, a horse bolted after hearing a prop gunfire and fell off a high wall, breaking its back. After a crew member euthanasied it, a group of locals arrived carrying knives and butchered the animal for its meat. Two cast members fainted and the rest retreated to the nearest bar. Hopper later broke down crying at this.

** As filming went on, the crew turned to booze rather than drugs as the temperature dropped markedly. At the wrap photo shoot, Hopper hollered, "This picture was not made on grass. This picture was made on scotch and soda". During filming, Hopper's personal supply of grass was stolen and for the rest of the shoot he had to bum from other people's private stashes.

* TroubledProduction: Creator/DennisHopper's eagerly awaited follow-up to ''Film/EasyRider'' turned out to be drug-fuelled disaster that almost him.

** Filming took place in Chincero in the Peruvian Andes, one the world's leading producers of cocaine. On the flight down, the plane was barely in the air before the crew started passing drugs around, much to the horror of a staid South American businessman, who muttered "Damn gringos".
** In Peru, Hopper managed to offend the government by spouting the joys of marijuanah and tolerance of homosexuality. The ruling junta started investigating Hopper's background, not liking what they saw. Creator/KrisKristofferson told ''The Guardian'' in 2008:

** During one scene, a horse bolted after hearing a prop gunfire and fell off a high wall, breaking its back. After a crew member euthanasied it, a group of locals arrived carrying knives and butchered the animal for its meat. Two castmembers fainted and the rest retreated to the nearest bar. Hopper later broke down crying at this.

** As filming went on, the crew turned to booze rather than drugs as the temperature dropped markedly. At the end-of-shoot photo, Hopper hollered, "This picture was not made on grass. This picture was made on scotch and soda". During filming, Hopper's personal supply of grass was stolen and for the rest of the shoot he had to bum from other people's private stashes.
** Amazingly, filming was completed on schedule andd within budget. A physically drained Hopper now had to edit the film, which he did in Taos rather than Hollywood. It took a year to cut forty hours worth of footage into a two-hour film and was constantly changing the message he wanted to convey. When the studio called him up to check on his progress, Hopper cursed them down the phone. When they came to see a rough version, Hopper retreated to a local bar instead.

** Hopper had a hard time finding backing for the film. Creator/ColubmiaPictures and Creator/WarnerBros both passed, while Music/PhilSpector agreed to be a backer, until his accountant convinced him that Hopper was too big a risk. Ultimately, Creator/UniversalPictures backed the film.

** Hopper had a fling with one of the {{groupies}} (or ding-a-lings as he called them) onset shopping around for drugs. Then he kicked her out because he was convinced that she was a spy for the government. [[ProperlyParanoid This wasn't paranoia - the local government had posted spies among the crew, looking for any excuse to kick Hopper out of the country]].

* StarDerailingRole: Dennis Hopper only got a few small roles through TheSeventies after this film, before having a CareerResurrection with his role in ''Film/ApocalypseNow''.

** Hopper offered Creator/JackNicholson the lead role. Nicholson would later say, "We had some conversations about it, but Dennis wanted to play the part himself."

* SavedFromDevelopmentHell: Creator/DennisHopper conceived the film in the mid-1960s, and wanted Creator/MontgomeryClift to play Kansas. Clift died before production began.

** Hopper offered Creator/JackNicholson the lead role. "We had some conversations about it, but Dennis wanted to play the part himself."

* CreatorKiller: Creator/DennisHopper was a rising star during the 1960s, but the massive success of ''Film/EasyRider'' in 1969 (which he co-wrote, directed, and starred in) catapulted him onto the A-list and left him [[ProtectionFromEditors carte blanche]] to pursue his choice of projects. His follow-up film was such a critical and commercial disaster that Hopper couldn't even get another ''acting'' job in Hollywood until 1979, when Creator/FrancisFordCoppola offered him what would turn out to be a [[CareerResurrection career-reviving role]] in ''Film/ApocalypseNow''. Meanwhile, it completely killed his writing and directing careers; 1988's ''Film/{{Colors}}'' was the only significant movie that he directed after that, and he never wrote another screenplay.

* CreatorKiller: Creator/DennisHopper was a rising star during the 1960s, but the massive success of ''Film/EasyRider'' in 1969 (which he co-wrote, directed, and starred in) catapulted him onto the A-list and left him [[ProtectionFromEditors carte blanche]] to pursue his choice of projects. His follow-up film was such a critical and commercial disaster that Hopper couldn't even get another ''acting'' job in Hollywood until 1979, when Creator/FrancisFordCoppola offered him what would turn out to be a [[CareerResurrection career-reviving role]] in ''Film/ApocalypseNow''. Meanwhile, it completely killed his writing and directing careers; 1988's ''Colors'' was the only significant movie that he directed after that, and he never wrote another screenplay.

* CreatorKiller: Creator/DennisHopper was a rising star during the 1960s, but the massive success of ''Film/EasyRider'' in 1969 (which he co-wrote, directed, and starred in) catapulted him onto the A-list and left him [[ProtectionFromEditors carte blanche]] to pursue his choice of projects. With his newfound freedom, he wrote, directed, and starred in a bizarre, nearly incomprehensible film-within-a-film called ''Film/TheLastMovie''. It was such a critical and commercial disaster that Hopper couldn't even get another ''acting'' job in Hollywood until 1979, when Creator/FrancisFordCoppola offered him what would turn out to be a [[CareerResurrection career-reviving role]] in ''Film/ApocalypseNow''. Meanwhile, it completely killed his writing and directing careers; 1988's ''Colors'' was the only significant movie that he directed after that, and he never wrote another screenplay.

* CreatorKiller: Creator/DennisHopper wouldn't direct another film until 1988,[[note]]With the exception of ''Out of the Blue'' (1980), and even then he only stepped in at the last minute to replace original director Leonard Yakir.[[/note]] and wouldn't write another film at all.[[note]]With the exception of uncredited rewrites in, again, ''Out of the Blue''.[[/note]]
* StarDerailingRole: Dennis Hopper only got a few small roles through TheSeventies after this film, before having a CareerResurrection with his role in ''Film/ApocalypseNow''.