River Phoenix was a rare artist with an undeniable talent at a young age. Reiner was impressed, often deeply moved on set by the actor’s talent and depth.
During one of the emotionally-charged scenes in the film, he asked Phoenix to think of a time when an adult let him down. The actor dug deep, so much that he couldn’t stop crying long after the scene. Phoenix was an artist committed to the craft and every moment. The world remembers him that way.
The Pond Was Man-Made, But Nature Took Its Course
Anyone who grew up watching the film ended up always thinking long and hard before jumping into a pond in the woods. The film’s most famous scene has the four friends take a dip, only to find themselves covered in leeches from head to toe.
The pond was man-made. Its construction began six weeks before shooting for the scene commenced. But by the time the actors needed to film the scene, the pond was no longer fake. It had become one with the forest and home to leaves, bugs, and even raccoons!
Jerry O'Connell and the Story of Some Special Cookies
The actors reportedly got into all sorts of mischief on set. But Jerry O’Connell’s experience took the cake – or a strange cookie in this case. One day, O’Connell tied up his babysitter so he could leave set and visit a local Renaissance fair.
Once there, he bought some cookies that, unknown to him, contained illegal substances. A disoriented O’Connell got lost in the woods until the crew found him two hours later crying. The crew had to shut production down for two days after the affair.
The Boys ‘Smoked’ Cabbage Leaf ‘Cigarettes’
It goes without saying (but we’ll say it anyway) that the young actors weren’t smoking real cigarettes. Instead, they smoked cabbage leaves in the film. Rob Reiner insisted on cabbage leaves as the prop cigarette of choice.
Why cabbage leaves in particular, nobody knows for sure. What we know for sure is that neither the actors nor the director wanted to encourage a cigarette-smoking image. The act was simply integral to the film. Reiner was actually a non-smoker who passionately advocated for anti-smoking laws in California.
The Making of Barf-O-Rama
Rob Reiner made the pie scene an over-the-top one to mirror Gordie’s flair for dramatic storytelling. The crew worked hard to bring Reiner’s vision to life – especially while creating projectile vomit. Imagine putting that on your resume!
The vomit was a large mixture of blueberry pie filling and cottage cheese. As for the projectile effect, four to five crew members pressed down on a massive plunger attached to the top of a cylinder. This cylinder, in turn, pushed five gallons of fake vomit up a vacuum hose and into the air. A child extra reportedly (and understandably) threw up on set.