15 Fun Facts About David Cronenberg’s THE FLY
David Cronenberg’s The Fly was one of the few films that I saw growing up that really messed me up. It was the most horrifically disgusting horror/sci-fi films that I had seen, and even to this day it’s still hard for me to watch. The Fly had some of the greatest and most effective make-up and practical effects that have ever been put on film.
I recently posted a piece of poster art for The Fly, and that’s what inspired me to put together this latest Fun Facts list. There's a lot of stuff that I wasn't aware of, and I hope that maybe there's something here that you didn't know before, either.
A lot of the information below comes from Imdb and Anything Horror, and I’ve added some commentary, photos, and videos as well.
- The famous tagline, "Be afraid. Be very afraid", originated in this film. It was spoken by Geena Davis, who played Veronica Quaife.
- Mel Brooks was a producer on the movie, but he didn’t want people to know he was a part of it because, he thought people wouldn't take it seriously. When people did find out, he decided to make the most of it by handing out deely boppers at the premiere.
- Director Martin Scorsese asked to meet Cronenberg after seeing some of his early films. Scorsese said he looked like a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon. This apparently inspired Cronenberg to give himself a cameo as a doctor in the movie.
- In a 1987 interview, Vincent Price, who starred in the original 1958 film, said that Goldblum wrote him a letter saying, "I hope you like it as much as I liked yours." Price was touched by the letter, and he wrote a reply and went to see the film, which he described as "wonderful right up to a certain point...it went a little too far."
- Davis says that the only time she felt "grossed out" by the amount of gore used in the film was during the scene where Seth's ear falls off and she holds him. She claims that her reaction to holding her face up to Goldblum's was not acting, but that she was legitimately disgusted by it.
- The first name mentioned during the end credits is Chris Walas, the creator and designer of the fly. He ended up winning an Oscar for Best Makeup, which was well deserved. The make-up and designs in the film were incredible and absolutely disgusting. Walas claims that this was probably because his name was listed first.
- 20th Century Fox didn’t want to cast Goldblum in the film because the project supervisor thought that he wasn’t a bankable star. On top of that, Walas felt that his face would be hard to work with for the make-up effects. Luckily Cronenberg had final say in who was cast. Goldblum and Davis were in a real-life relationship during the development of the film. Cronenberg didn’t want to cast her at first because he didn’t want to work with a real-life couple. He ended up casting her, though, after she had an awesome first audition.
- The inspiration for the design of the telepods came from the shape of the cylinder in director Cronenberg's vintage Ducati motorcycle.
- Seth Brundlefly's "vomit drop" was, in reality, made from honey, eggs, and milk.
- Tim Burton was originally supposed to direct the film.
- In the movie, Veronica tells Seth (Goldblum) that "Something went wrong." Ellie Sattler tells Ian Malcolm (Goldblum) the same thing in Jurassic Park. Seth and Ian also both wear the same set of clothes every day.
- Michael Keaton was offered the role of Seth Brundle at one point, but he turned it down. That would have been interesting to see!
- It took almost five hours to apply the most extensive makeup stages on Goldblum. He was often wearing as much as five pounds of prosthetic makeup in his more grotesque scenes.
- “An early treatment for a sequel, written by Tim Lucas, involved Veronica Quaife dealing with the evils of the Bartok company. Brundle's consciousness had somehow survived within the Telepod computer, and the Bartok scientists had enslaved him and were using him to develop the system for cloning purposes. Brundle becomes able to communicate with Veronica through the computer, and he eventually takes control of the Bartok complex's security systems to gruesomely attack the villains. Eventually, Veronica frees Brundle by conspiring with him to reintegrate a non-contaminated version of his original body. Cronenberg endorsed the concept at the time. Geena Davis was open to doing a sequel (and only pulled out of "The Fly II" because her character was to be killed off in the opening scene), while Goldblum was not (although he was okay with the cameo), and this treatment reflects that. However, a later treatment written by Jim and Ken Wheat was used as the basis for the final script, written by Frank Darabont. Mick Garris also wrote a treatment, with elements incorporated into the final film.”
- “Several versions of a happier ending were shot but ultimately never used. Two were filmed in which Veronica has another dream of her unborn child, this time as a baby with beautiful butterfly wings. She wakes up in both and is revealed to still be pregnant in one while her pregnancy is left open in the other. Another two versions featured her having an unseen nightmare and being comforted by Stathis, who in one version states the baby is his and in the other that it is dead. Jeff Goldblum admits to being angry about the filmed 'Stathis' endings, as he felt Veronica ending up with Stathis undermined the tragedy of the film. Eventually it was decided that, although some of the filmmakers - including producer Stuart Cornfeld - liked the alternate ending, it was more appropriate to end with Seth's death as, according to Cornfeld, ‘Once your hero is dead your movie is over.’”
Below you’ll find the original trailer for the film, a behind-the-scenes featurette, and a collection of deleted scenes.