My girlfriend and I recently adopted a kitten. We named him Moze (after Moses Pray in Paper Moon). Moze had a brother named Baxter who went to a different household. Through the kitten foster mother we’d heard that Baxter had gotten a kitten-warming party thrown in his honor and that his new parents also named a cocktail for him. We were determined to give Moze the same party treatment. So we invited some friends over, created a cocktail (which was easy since Moses Pray was briefly a bootlegger), introduced our lil guy and socialized against the screen backdrop of prepared titles: Paper Moon, Cat People (both the 1942 and 1982 versions) and The Adventures of Milo and Otis.
It was a fun gathering that became a little awkward while re-watching Milo and Otis. The backdrop film took over the conversation as we all wondered, “How’d they make this?” Milo and Otis is the tale of a kitten and a pug who go on a long adventure — battling other small creatures along the way — while trying to get home after the kitten (Milo) was accidentally separated from his litter. Then there was a scene where a kitten was dropped 50 meters or so from a cliff into the ocean. There was a real splash, followed by a quick cut to an entirely different cat, and everyone was silent. Did we all just watch a kitten drowned for a kids movie? Many of us had seen the film as a kid. (We didn’t remember viewing the live animal births as a kid, either; the circle of life!)
So, modern party as this was, we took to the interweb and found that, indeed, there were numerous allegations that the Japanese crew had knowingly put many animals in danger and potentially/accidentally killed up to 20 kittens during the making of Milo and Otis (which was a huge hit in Japan under the title A Kitten’s Story, which followed the adventures of Chatran and Poosky). Many of the allegations involved that scene from a cliff as the filmmakers used no green screen and had no representatives from their humane society on site. So it was inconclusive but the allegations also swept through Europe and the film (released in America three years later) wasn’t allowed to show in certain territories.
For the US release the Humane Society stamped their approval on the film, but admitted that they did because the Japanese Humane Society had stamped it previously, even though they couldn’t verify that anything malicious (or even proper) had happened on set. Regardless, it definitely appears that for whatever reasons, Milo 1.0 and Milo 2.0, onward, didn’t make it through the entire shoot. And at the very least it would be very traumatic for a kitten to be dropped off a cliff into the ocean, even if it survived.
25 years after the film was released stateside, is there a silver-lining legacy for Milo and Otis? Foreign productions had to become more transparent in their use of animals in film. 1989 saw the re-release (and success) of both Milo and Otis and The Bear showed that there was potential global box office from animal tales that could be re-dubbed. (The Bear was shot in British Columbia and had both French and Canadian animal services on site throughout the shoot; their only hiccup was that during promo photos on-set the main bear did claw the back of film’s director Jean-Jacques Annaud — perhaps due to camera flashes — but that bear, Bart, went on to have a very long Hollywood career, including appearances in The Great Outdoors, The Edge and Legends of the Fall.) But as Milo and Otis and The Bear were also released in America in the same year, their opposite press proved that if you’re filming lots of animals, you’ve gotta keep your stars in a row and accounted for by shoots end, so as to not have negative press when released in other countries.
But that got us thinking, on the 25th anniversary of the American release of Masanori Hata’s Milo and Otis, what other films from your childhood/teen years might be ruined or altered in fuzzy recollection if you knew some extra backstory information — lawsuits, on-set abuse, bad work conditions, etc? Below are 10 films aimed at children and teenagers that have some adult awfulness behind the scenes. Some might still be able to be enjoyed, somewhat enjoyed, or should be entirely avoided from re-watching. Feel free to let us know in the comments if certain movies are ruined for you, or if you don’t see the big deal, or if you don’t believe these allegations.
Slideshow: 10 Films Behind the Scenes Stories That Ruin Nostalgic Movies
Brian Formo is a featured contributor on the CraveOnline Film Channel. You can follow him on Twitter at @BrianEmilFormo.
10 Behind the Scenes Stories That Ruin Nostalgic Movies
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Mary Poppins (1964)
What Happened?: Walt Disney tried for 22 years to get the rights to P.L. Travers' series of children's books. When Travers finally relented in the 1960s she saw her version softened, her creative input silenced, her attendance barred from shooting and she had to grovel to be admitted to the film's premiere. Travers never allowed a sequel to be made, and for the stage version she required that British writers could only adapt her work and that no film people would be involved.
The Disney-Travers relationship was itself turned into a softball Disney film, Saving Mr. Banks, to which CraveOnline brought up concerns of Travers' representation in an interview with Banks' (British) screenwriter.
Re-watchability (1-10; 1: un-watchable, 10: who cares?): 7. Travers took particular umbrage to the animated sequence being included against her wishes, for making the film goofier and more sugary-sweet than she intended. Poppins is still an enjoyable film. But, perhaps, if that scene was stripped away her relationship with Disney wouldn't have been so irreparable. And perhaps it also would've made for a better final film as well.
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Flashdance (1983)
What Happened?: Two striptease dancers performed a photo-shoot for a photographer for use in a mood board for a production company to pitch a sale to Paramount about a steel worker by day, stripper by night (Jennifer Beals) who influences the uptight ballet world with a new routine. After the photoshoot (of choreography) Paramount bought the script (then titled Depot Stop and Grill) for $300,000.
Flashdance went on to gross more than $150 million and spawned a hit soundtrack, a different style of dance and a Broadway musical. The non-payment for the different style of dance is what rubbed the dancers and photographer the wrong way (they were led to believe that they'd be involved in the actual film production), as their choreography and photography were directly lifted. Details of the dancers' personal stories were also lifted for script purposes. And the dancers were only paid $2,300 for their life story rights and were forbidden to speak of their involvement.
Re-watchability (1-10): 3. This is a hindsight rating for a really bad contract, but a contract that was written pre-deal. The right thing to do would be to write another contract after the Paramount deal to acknowledge that the dance routine was actually more integral to the success of the film's story than the dancers' back-stories. Because, let's face it, the movie is remembered for those sequences and the soundtrack. Not the script that eventually earned Tom Hedley $8 million dollars for writing. And the above story reeks of a Hollywood desire to not be associated with (or to have to show respect to) two strippers -- even though they were making a movie about a stripper with a bigger, more artful dream.
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Cat's Eye (1985)
What Happened?: After E.T. and Firestarter, Drew Barrymore was a fast-emerging child star. While publicly unknown at the time, Cat's Eye marks the start of her very young addiction problem. By age 9 she'd already abused alcohol, by age 10 she was smoking marijuana and by age 12 she was using cocaine. Cat's Eye falls in the 9-10 range. Barrymore was doing TV films during the rest of the fast growing-up path she'd set up for herself.
Re-watchability (1-10): 8. This Stephen King adaptation isn't marred by Barrymore's very young addiction problems because it wasn't a documented problem during the shoot. It just falls within the timeline of Barrymore's admitted use. Thus, Cat's Eye appears to be the last film Barrymore made before having a very real and shockingly young addiction problem. Her innocent appearance in the film is the most shocking reminder of her youth when she began alcohol and drug use. But, because Barrymore recovered, addressed her past, and both survived and had a longer acting and producing career, that icky feeling is relieved.
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Milo and Otis (1986)
What Happened?: It's been alleged by Australian animal rights groups that 20 kittens were killed during production. Why is that allegation not verified? Because despite having the Humane Society's stamp of approval, the animal protection rights group was not actually present during shooting.
They just stamped their approval where the Japanese Humane Society stamped theirs (after the Japanese film made ¥5.4 billion) for US distribution, despite being unable to verify if the Japanese organization was present. The most shocking scene, a kitten dropping 50 meters into the ocean, followed by a quick cut to another kitten coming out of the water, and the same kitten that was swimming in the ocean and fell into the ocean, was, suspiciously never used again.
Re-watchability (1-10): 2. I suppose it isn't fully verified, but it's pretty hard to watch the sea sequences and believe that some kittens weren't lost in that sea sequence. More transparent self-regulation of foreign films that involved animals greatly changed after this film was released.
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Lucas (1986)
What Happened?: The two Coreys (Haim and Feldman) had a very public rift, particularly following an episode of "The Two Coreys" where Haim alleged that Feldman knew of sexual abuse that was occurring to Haim for two years.
In Feldman's 2013 autobiography, Choreyography, he said that Haim told him (during the filming of The Lost Boys), that on the set of Lucas, Haim was approached by an adult male who said that, "it was perfectly normal for older men and younger boys in the business to have sexual relations, that it was what all the guys do. So they walked off to a secluded area between two trailers ... and Haim allowed himself to be sodomized."
Re-watchability (1-10): 1. If this story is true, Lucas is pretty much unwatchable, for a boy was victimized not just by an older man, but most likely by someone in a position of power. Haim and Feldman have been open about their past sexual abuse by older men and their subsequent drug abuse, but Haim died of pneumonia in 2010 and Feldman's book came out in 2013. Haim had spoken about being repeatedly abused, but the only record of the very specific Lucas story is from Feldman's book. But the allegations alone, without the person named, make this unwatchable.
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The Lost Boys (1987)
What Happened?: This is, again, something from Feldman's autobiography, but he mentions that as Haim's and Feldman's friendship grew during the production of The Lost Boys, Haim then propositioned Feldman to "do what the older men do to them". Feldman's book has a picture of the two Corey's on Haim's 15th birthday (just after filming of The Lost Boys) surrounded by five older men that Feldman alleges abused both of them.
Re-watchability (1-10): 3. Again this is Feldman releasing a bit more information about Haim's (admitted) sexual abuse with details that Haim cannot speak to himself. But if Haim was attempting to legitimize his abuse as Feldman claims, then re-watching their friendship in The Lost Boys is even more sad than it already was.
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The Abyss (1989)
What Happened?: Director James Cameron asked actors Ed Harris and Leo Burmester to swim from one underwater base to another, with no scuba gear or oxygen tanks. The two actors were supposed to find a ladder in a specific spot, that would lead them to tubes of air, but when Cameron didn't like the way the shot looked he moved the ladder an extra 5-10 feet further without telling the actors. Harris and Burmester panicked and after figuring out where the ladder was moved, Harris laid into the director for putting their safety at risk. Harris refused to do publicity for the film (for which he was the star) and apparently still refuses to address the film in interviews.
Re-watchability (1-10): 7. While it's certainly understandable that Harris was upset and that Cameron indeed deserved a verbal lashing -- since no one was hurt -- we'll file this set story into that crazy auteur Werner Herzog folder (the director who notoriously pointed a gun at actor Klaus Kinski when Kinski was threatening to quit Fitzcarraldo).
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Sister Act (1992)
What Happened?: A Harlem street nun sued Disney 20 years after the film was released for stealing her life story. Delois Blakely claimed that she delivered a book synopsis of her life story (published in 1987) to Sony Pictures/Scott Rudin before a similar singing nun story was made by Rudin at Disney.
Re-watchability (1-10): 9. The fact that Blakely sued for $1 billion in damages makes it very hard to take her seriously. Yes, the two Whoopi Goldberg movies made more than $200 million and had a Broadway show and if there is some similarity to what she submitted to Rudin then she has something of a case. But seriously, drop the "b" and then drop two more zeroes.
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Powder (1995)
What Happened?: Director Victor Salva was tried and convicted of sexual misconduct with a minor on the set of his first feature film, Clownhouse. And Salva spent a year in jail. Powder, which concerns an albino boy (Sean Patrick Flanery) with strange powers, was a film that he shot for Disney after his release. Nothing inappropriate happened, and we do believe that people who've served their time should be given second chances, but Disney wasn't smart to so readily give a high school film to a convicted sex offender. We think that maybe Salva should've done a different film. Especially because of a certain scene ....
Re-watchability (1-10): 3. Because the scene where Powder peeks at the boys in the shower and is jealous of their pubic hair and is subsequently punished for looking, just possesses a lot extra baggage and ickiness with Salva's fresh back story.
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Flicka (2006)
What Happened?: Two horses died. One with a very rare leg injury that occurred from a misstep and was euthanized. The other was a runaway horse that tripped over a 13 foot lead rope. The deaths were deemed accidental and unpreventable.
Re-watchability (1-10): 6. At least there were Humane Society representatives on site to file a report of exactly what happened, unlike Milo and Otis.
