ThatDavid Cronenbergis so hot right now! Although he has been one of the most innovative horror filmmakers for decades now, the gender-swapped Amazon TV adaptation of his 1988 movie,Dead Ringers, has made the Canadian King of Body Horror a topical subject at the moment. While he has a plethora of iconic and beloved titles including but not limited toScanners,Videodrome, andA History of Violence, 1986’sThe Flyis a quintessential Cronenberg creation. Being one of, if not the most popular film of his, it might come as a surprise thatThe Flyalmost wasn’t made by Cronenberg — or at all!
The Fly, a remake of the 1958 movie of the same name, follows scientist Seth Brundle (Jeff Goldblum) as he completes a teleportation device and plans to test it on himself. While he is running the tests, a common housefly sneaks into the device and causes Brundle’s body to merge with the fly. The movie follows Brundle as he slowly transitions from human to insect, horrifying everyone around him, including his girlfriend, Veronica (Geena Davis).
So, what happened during the making of this horror classic and how did it almost get swatted out of production?
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Mel Brooks Saved ‘The Fly’
Charles Edward Pogue, the screenwriter of the remake, had some trouble, in the beginning, getting people interested in the project. Pogue and producerStuart Cornfeldwanted to change the pace of the film and make Brundle’s transformation gradualinstead of instantaneous like in the original film. 20th Century Fox was initially uninterested in the script and actually turned it down, only to be persuaded by Pogue to distribute the film, but production funds were up to Pogue and Cornfeld. Pogue reached out to friend and colleagueMel Brooks, with whom he had co-producedThe Elephant Man.Brooks agreed to produce the films at his production company, Brooksfilms, and put up $1 million to get the movie into production.From there, Pogue was removed as a screenwriterand replaced withWalon Green. However, Green’s version of the script wasn’t up to snuff, so Pogue was brought back in as screenwriter.
David Cronenberg Wasn’t the First Choice as Director
Cornfeld, after reading the script, naturally wanted David Cronenbergto direct it. At the time, Cronenberg was the hottest horror director on the scene. Knowing what type of special effects and body horror elements were required, he was a no-brainer of a choice to lead this film. Unfortunately for them, Cronenberg had already committed to directingTotal Recall. Because of this,Robert Biermanwas selected to direct the movie. With a director locked in, it seemed likeThe Flywas moving to production. Tragically, Bierman’s daughter was killed in an accident while they were on vacation, so Brooks let Bierman out of his contract in order to grieve with his family.
By nothing other than a chance encounter, Cornfeld was speaking with producerScott Rudinand learned that production ofTotal Recallhad come to a halt, so Cronenberg was available once more. Cronenberg agreed to direct the film under the condition that he could rewrite the script and start from scratch with the character’s dialogue. The script that he wrote is the script for the movie we have today.
‘The Fly’s Search for the Right Actors Wasn’t Easy
Once Cronenberg was locked in and had a fantastic script to film, the next hurdle was trying to find actors to fill the roles. Because the original from 1958 was still considered a B-film, it was hard to wrangle actors to audition for the roles or even want to be involved in the filming.John Malkovichwas the first up for the role, and he turned it down because he didn’t feel like it would be a benefit to him or a good project to be on because of the original’s status in the film industry at the time. Some others who were up for the role of Brundle includeMichael Keaton,Richard Dreyfuss, andJohn Lithgow.In an interview with IN Magazine, Lithgow said he turned the role down because he felt it was too “icky” and he was exhausted from coming off another project. The reputation of the original film coupled with the extreme makeup requirements to pull off the look of the fly was enough to drive away many actors, but not Jeff Goldblum. Goldblum accepted the role andbrought with him Geena Davis, his girlfriend at the time, to play his love interest.
20th Century Fox President,Larry Gordon, didn’t feel like Goldblum was the right choice for the role, but instead of denying the casting,he told them it was their mistake to make. Cronenberg was also hesitant about Davis being cast as the love interest because she and Goldblum were dating in real life. He was worried that if something fell through between the two of them, it would throw off the chemistry of the characters entirely. Luckily for everyone involved, Goldblum and Davis nailed their roles. Goldblum ended up giving one of his most defining performances as an actor. Despite all the heavy makeup and prosthetics, he was still able to convey the emotion that had audiences sympathizing with him despite his insane transformation into a villain-type. His and Davis’ off-screen relationship also really brought a wonderful chemistry between the doomed lovers on-screen.
‘The Fly’s Tagline Will Go Down in History
The famous tagline from the film, “Be afraid, be very afraid,” almost wasn’t written into the script either. Cronenberg, after rewriting the script from Pogue’s original, included a line that said “Don’t be afraid.“Mel Brooks said the answer to that line should be “Yes be afraid, be very afraid"and Cronenberg thought that was brilliant. Davis is the one who spoke the line, and it goes on to be one of the most widely recognizable horror taglines known.
Despite all the hiccups, delays, and potential shortcomings,The Flywent on to become Cronenberg’s most popular film as well as one of thetop 10 movies of the 1980s according to IMDb. With a budget of $9 million dollars, it grossed $60 million at the box office.The Flytranscended the creature feature subgenre at the time and made audiences feel everything that the characters on screen were conveying.The Flyisn’t just a horror movie, it is a story of love and loss that is a crowd favorite 37 years later.
