Yahoo News 6 movie scandals that never actually happened
You would think that Hollywood would have enough scandals to deal with, from the blacklist era to Hugh Grant's 'relationship' with Divine Brown.
But apparently not, as Tinseltown has a habit of manufacturing weird and horrible stories about itself that aren't even remotely true. It should probably look into some healthier hobbies. We suggest knitting.
1. "Animals were abused while filming A Dog's Purpose"
People were understandably up in arms when a disturbing video was released that showed a German Shepherd "nearly drowning"(as PETA put it) when it was dunked in water on the set of the Britt Robertson, Dennis Quaid and Josh Gad-starring film A Dog's Purpose.
A boycott was called on the comedy, which ended up cancelling its premiere in the storm of horrible publicity.
But American Humane eventually confirmed what the cast and crew of the movie had claimed from the beginning – that the video "mischaracterised the events on the set" and had been "deliberately edited" to make the dog appear in distress. It had also been conveniently saved until the film was about to be released. Funny that.
2. Fatty Arbuckle and the original Hollywood scandal
Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle was a silent film comedian and one of the hottest stars in Hollywood, but you probably only know him as the man who killed an actress called Virginia Rappe by sexually assaulting her with a piece of ice. Or was it a champagne bottle?
It turned out to be neither. After three trials, Arbuckle was acquitted, and it's quite telling that the chief witness to his attack – Maude Delmont – was considered so unreliable that the prosecutors never actually brought her to the witness stand. There was seemingly no evidence at all to support the story, and Rappe's death from a ruptured bladder had nothing to do with Arbuckle at all.
But he had already been judged guilty in the court of public opinion, and that judgment stuck until his death and far, far beyond.
3. "The Crow used footage of Brandon Lee's fatal shooting"
Brandon Lee's accidental death at the age of 28 famously occurred on the set of cult classic The Crow after a series of cock-ups with a firearm led to him being shot.
But that fatal shooting (which happened when Lee's Eric Draven walks in on his fiancée, played by Sofia Shinas, is being attacked) cannot be seen in the film. Despite rumours that the footage was used in the final cut, the crew of the film say that director Alex Proyas had the film destroyed without ever being developed. Because you would.
4. "Richard Gere had an unhealthy relationship with a gerbil"
You know the one about the gerbil and Richard Gere's... uh... let's just call it an "intimate region". It hasn't escaped Gere's notice either: "I got more grief from people over the years for that stupid gerbil rumour than I did for making The Mothman Prophecies," he told Hollywood and Swine.
Sylvester Stallone has said that he thought Gere blamed him for making up the rumour after he had Gere fired from Lords of Flatbush (following a sordid and true event involving mustard stains).
A man called Wayne Matthews eventually accepted the blame for starting the rumour in Albuquerque in the '90s to see how gullible his friends were. Pretty gullible, it turns out.
5. "Frances Farmer was lobotomised for being a misfit"
Frances Farmer was a successful actress in the '30s and early '40s who disappeared from view after an arrest and some mental-health problems, before staging a low-key comeback in the late '50s.
She was mainly forgotten until gaining legendary status in the '90s thanks to Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love, who championed her as a non-conformist hero who was punished, sectioned and lobotomised for refusing to fit in. (Now you finally know who 'Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge on Seattle' from Nirvana's In Utero is about.)
Except the story wasn't true. The lobotomy was made up by William Arnold in his biography of Farmer, Shadowland. Arnold is thought to have been a Scientologist pushing the church's anti-psychiatry message in the book. He later sued the makers of the film Frances (starring Jessica Lange) for copying his book, effectively admitting that he made the whole thing up.
6. "Max Schreck was a real vampire who planned to dine on his castmates"
The 2000 movie Shadow of the Vampire is based on the absurd rumour that Max Schreck – German actor and star of 1922's horror classic Nosferatu – was actually a vampire who made a deal with director FW Murnau to star in the film at the cost of devouring its heroine.
The story is believed to have been popularised by critic Ado Kyrou in 1953, who claimed that Nosferatu's star was working under a pseudonym in "a deliberate cover-up". And, come to think of it, 'schreck' does mean 'terror' in German.
Could this possibly be a coincidence? We don't think so.
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