© DR - THE QUICK & THE DEAD de Sam Raimi (1995) p11 par tellurikwaves blog (75 Paris)

Sharon Stone was so insistent that Leonardo DiCaprio appear in the film that she paid his salary personally.

There is a scene where Gene Hackman lightly slaps Sharon Stone. It wasn't scripted and Stone's reaction is real.

Sharon Stone hand-picked 'Russell Crowe (I)' to be in this film. The studio was initially unsure about this choice because Crowe was a complete unknown to the American audience.

Sam Raimi's original ending didn't work, so he went to Sony Pictures to ask for a writer to fix it. The studio suggested Joss Whedon, who saw the movie and fixed the ending for Raimi in one afternoon.

All of the actors on the set in the gunfight scenes were instructed in the art of the quick draw by a stunt coordinator. Due to his limited screen time, Gene Hackman had the most opportunity to prepare his quick draw and as a result was the fastest actor on the set.

Russell Crowe's first American feature.

According to the "Evil Dead Companion", Sharon Stone was given a lengthy list of directors that had been approved to direct this film, so that she could choose the directors she thought would work. She sent back a list with a single name... Sam Raimi. When asked why she chose Raimi, she said it was because she liked L'armée des ténèbres (1992), among Raimi's other works.

Bruce Campbell had a cameo appearance during a wedding scene, but the scene was cut. Campbell says Sam Raimi created that scene for the specific reason of giving Pat Hingle something more substantial to do and was never intended to be in the movie in the first place. Campbell was also visiting the set on his day off when Raimi drafted him to play a skid-row character in several background shots. Although all of Campbell's appearances ended up on the cutting room floor, he is still listed high up in the credits.

Final film of Woody Strode.

The badly dilapidated pistol that Herod (Gene Hackman) buys from Fee Herod (Leonardo DiCaprio) for Cort (Russell Crowe) to use in the contest is a model 1851 Colt Navy cap and ball revolver that has been converted to use metallic cartridges. Such converted cap and ball pistols were common in the Wild West era and were popular as they could be purchased for about a third of the price of the newer cartridge pistols like the Colt Peacemaker, Remington New Army or Smith and Wesson Schofield.

The title "The Quick and the Dead" comes from the King James translation of the Bible, I Peter 4:5, which admonishes the believer from behaving like pagans, "who shall give account to him [Christ] that is ready to judge the quick and the dead." The phrase became better known in English as part of the Apostle's Creed, a Christian doctrine which appears to date back (at least in partial form) to the second century. The Creed, as translated in the Book of Common Prayer for the Church of England, states that Christ "...ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead." In both cases, the word "quick" is a more archaic use meaning "living" (in modern parlance, the "quick of the fingernails" is a rare instance of the older meaning); however, the movie title clearly plays off the double-meaning, in that there are two kinds of gunslingers: quick (meaning both fast and alive) and dead.

A sex scene between Ellen (Sharon Stone) and Cort ('Russell Crowe (I)') was shot, but Stone and director Sam Raimi decided that it wasn't a necessary part of the story. The scene was not included in the American release of the film, but international versions do include it.

For obvious reasons, this is the only Sam Raimi film to date (2002) where his trademark beige 1973 Oldsmobile Delta 88 doesn't appear in its original form. However, according to Bruce Campbell, the car makes an appearance in the form of a wagon's chassis. He claims the car was disassembled and the chassis was used for the wagon.

Sharon Stone's gun for this film was made by a master gunsmith John Phillips. Mr Phillips was a fast draw legend.

During the scene where the gunfighters are signing up for the Quick Draw Competition in the saloon, Sharon Stone's character is sitting under a wanted poster listing "Rape" and "Murder." A few moments later when the camera angle shifts you can see the drawing on the poster and the name of the wanted man: It's Virgil Sparks, one of the shooters who has just joined the competition.

David Arquette was considered for the role of The Kid.

Matt Damon turned down the role of 'The Kid'.

All the props set pieces for the Quick and the Dead came from Abbas Acre of Antiques in Tempe Arizona, It is now a train depot.

Roberts Blossom's last role in a theatrical feature.

The Kid (Leonardo DiCaprio) has a real name: Fee Herod.

John Sayles did on-set rewrites of the film's script during principal photography.

CINEMA :Les blessures narcissiques d'une vie par procuration

© DR - THE QUICK & THE DEAD de Sam Raimi (1995) p11

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