{"id":42866,"date":"2020-08-08T01:43:00","date_gmt":"2020-08-07T22:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/28-things-we-learned-from-the-ghost-commentary\/"},"modified":"2020-08-08T01:43:00","modified_gmt":"2020-08-07T22:43:00","slug":"28-things-we-learned-from-the-ghost-commentary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/28-things-we-learned-from-the-ghost-commentary\/","title":{"rendered":"#28 Things We Learned from the \u2018Ghost\u2019 Commentary"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_84 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a25bed07adc2\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a25bed07adc2\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/28-things-we-learned-from-the-ghost-commentary\/#Ghost_1990\" >Ghost (1990)<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/28-things-we-learned-from-the-ghost-commentary\/#Best_in_Context-Free_Commentary\" >Best in Context-Free Commentary<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/28-things-we-learned-from-the-ghost-commentary\/#Final_Thoughts_on_the_%E2%80%98Ghost_Commentary\" >Final Thoughts on the \u2018Ghost\u2019 Commentary<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<p>&#8220;<strong>#28 Things We Learned from the \u2018Ghost\u2019 Commentary<\/strong>&#8221;<\/p>\n<div><i data-stringify-type=\"italic\">Welcome to\u00a0<\/i><b data-stringify-type=\"bold\"><i data-stringify-type=\"italic\">Commentary Commentary,<\/i><\/b><i data-stringify-type=\"italic\"> where we sit and listen to filmmakers talk about their work, then share the most interesting parts. In this edition, Rob Hunter returns to the Jerry Zucker well after llistening to the <\/i>Airplane!<i data-stringify-type=\"italic\"> commentary last week, but this time it\u2019s for something wholly different<\/i><em>\u2026 the supernatural rom-dram\/horror\/pottery lesson that is<\/em> Ghost.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<\/hr>\n<p><strong><em>Ghost<\/em><\/strong> (1990) was the kind of surprise hit that no one saw coming. A romantic thriller about a dead guy? From the director of <em>Top Secret!<\/em> (1984), the writer of <em>Deadly Friend<\/em> (1986), and the stars of <em>Steel Dawn<\/em> (1987) and <em>Wisdom<\/em> (1986)? Good luck Paramount Pictures. But then the $22 million dollar movie opened in the summer of 1990 and went on to earn over half a billion at the box office.<\/p>\n<p>Ten years later that creative duo of <strong>Jerry Zucker<\/strong> and <strong>Bruce Joel Rubin<\/strong> reunited to record a commentary track, and two decades after that? We gave it a listen. Keep reading to see what I heard on the <em>Ghost<\/em> commentary!<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Ghost_1990\"><\/span>Ghost (1990)<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Commentators: Jerry Zucker (director), Bruce Joel Rubin (writer)<\/p>\n<p><strong>1.<\/strong> It was Zucker who decided to \u201cput stars around\u201d the mountain in the Paramount logo. This is not true.<\/p>\n<p><strong>2.<\/strong> Rubin had wanted to tell a ghost story from the ghost\u2019s perspective for some time, an idea partially inspired by Shakespeare\u2019s <em>Hamlet<\/em>, and the clincher for the <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">script<\/a> was cracking the idea of who\/what\/how the ghost would be able to contact the living.<\/p>\n<p><strong>3.<\/strong> Rubin used to work in New York City renovating old buildings and lofts, and capturing that visual \u2014 tearing down walls, dust through the air, junk laying around \u2014 was important here.<\/p>\n<p><strong>4.<\/strong> Heads up job seekers, Rubin has a tip. After graduating from college he went to an employment office and found a pile of applications for an editing gig at NBC <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News<\/a>. He took the whole stack so no one else could apply, and he got the job.<\/p>\n<p><strong>5.<\/strong> \u201cI cried,\u201d says Rubin about the time he first discovered that his serious script about ghosts and love was going to be directed by one of the guys behind <em>Airplane!<\/em> (1980). There\u2019s a slim chance he\u2019s joking, but I think he\u2019s being sincere as he mentions that he expected Zucker and the studio to turn it into a <em>Beetlejuice<\/em> (1988) inspired romp. His view changed after sharing some deep conversations with Zucker about the script in which the director shared criticisms \u2014 something no one at the studio had done.<\/p>\n<p><strong>6.<\/strong> The sensual pottery scene between Sam (Patrick Swayze) and Molly (Demi Moore) was originally scripted to be followed by a sex scene on the floor. They quickly realized that the pottery shenanigans were all they needed. \u201cWe decided to cut it after I interviewed about twelve body doubles for Demi,\u201d says Zucker.<\/p>\n<p><strong>7.<\/strong> Tony Goldwyn is married to the film\u2019s production designer, Jane Musky.<\/p>\n<p><strong>8.<\/strong> Nicole Kidman auditioned for the female lead, but while they loved her tape they went with the more well-known Moore instead. Kidman\u2019s tape made it up the Paramount ladder, though, and it led directly to her landing a role in <em>Days of Thunder<\/em> (1990). Rubin also cast her later in his directorial debut, 1993\u2019s <em>My Life<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>9.<\/strong> Both Tom Cruise and Harrison Ford turned down the lead role. Can you even imagine either of them here? They went with Swayze after Rubin saw him cry on a Barbara Walters interview special. Zucker was doubtful, but Swayze was a big name so he said yes to letting the actor come in and read for the part \u2014 and Zucker quickly realized how wrong he had been to discount him.<\/p>\n<p><strong>10.<\/strong> Zucker refers to <em>Road House<\/em> (1989) as being not among Swayze\u2019s finest films. Crazy bastard.<\/p>\n<p><strong>11.<\/strong> Rubin says that people would ask if ghosts can walk through walls why don\u2019t they fall through chairs? \u201cYour mind creates the world.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>12.<\/strong> They already liked Moore, but it was her performance in 1988\u2019s underrated apocalyptic thriller <em>The Seventh Sign<\/em> that convinced Zucker she could do this role. \u201cThat was the first movie I saw her in where she played a mature character.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>13.<\/strong> It was editor Walter Murch\u2019s idea to have physical material \u2014 like the door at 31:43 \u2014 affect the ghost as they try to pass through it. Here the door\u2019s color bleeds up Sam\u2019s arms while his hands are \u201cin\u201d the door.<\/p>\n<p><strong>14.<\/strong> Rubin says the mirror that Molly is glimpsed changing in is now in his bathroom, and Zucker adds that \u201cI have that bra in my closet.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>15.<\/strong> They shot five weeks in New York City and the rest in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n<p><strong>16.<\/strong> They wrote nineteen drafts of <em>Ghost<\/em>\u2018s script beyond the several Rubin had already written solo.<\/p>\n<p><strong>17.<\/strong> Oda Mae Brown (Whoopi Goldberg) was \u201cthe most fun character\u201d Rubin has ever written. He originally envisioned the character as a real psychic, but friends convinced him she\u2019d be far funnier as a phony revealed to have the gift only through Sam\u2019s presence.<\/p>\n<p><strong>18.<\/strong> They had a major disagreement regarding the scene where Oda Mae yells up to Molly\u2019s window from the street. Neither of them recall the exact line, but Rubin had written a bit of dialogue involving a passerby that Zucker \u201crefused\u201d to shoot.<\/p>\n<p><strong>19.<\/strong> Zucker was horrified after hiring Moore while she had her usual long hair only to have her show up for filming with it short. Fool. He realized she looks fantastic once he saw her on film.<\/p>\n<p><strong>20.<\/strong> Carl Bruner (Goldwyn) is named after Rubin\u2019s teacher in elementary school who never let him put on the plays he wanted to do in the auditorium. \u201cI hated her, so I made her name the bad guy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>21.<\/strong> Molly originally threw the glass jar against a wall, but Moore felt she\u2019d be far more subtle and suggested she simply roll it down the stairs.<\/p>\n<p><strong>22.<\/strong> Zucker didn\u2019t like the scene where Carl \u201caccidentally\u201d spills coffee on his shirt and has to take it off \u2014 an effort to seduce Molly \u2014 and had the editor try a cut without it. He im<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">media<\/a>tely realized how wrong he was.<\/p>\n<p><strong>23.<\/strong> They saw thirty or so actors for the the role of Subway Ghost, but \u201cno one really got the anger of it\u201d until Vincent Schiavelli.<\/p>\n<p><strong>24.<\/strong>The sound made by the shadowy demons that rise up to claim bad people when they die consists of various noises including recordings of crying babies slowed down to creepy levels.<\/p>\n<p><strong>25.<\/strong> \u201cDemi did not like to smile,\u201d says Zucker, adding that he had to ask her for \u201ca little one\u201d at 1:46:52. He ran the camera at a speed where they could create slow-motion so he could stretch her smile out just a little bit longer than it lasted in reality.<\/p>\n<p><strong>26.<\/strong> Rubin\u2019s original script had Sam enter Oda Mae\u2019s body and then make love to Molly. He says some producers only wanted to make the film because of that scene, but Zucker wisely nixed it.<\/p>\n<p><strong>27.<\/strong> An early test screening saw the audience giggling at the scene where Sam \u2014 in Oda Mae\u2019s body \u2014 and Molly touch and kiss, and it drove Zucker nuts as he saw no way around it. He tried various things to address it but eventually decided to simply accept that \u201cthe movie\u2019s a roller coaster\u201d and would take audiences all over the place emotionally. \u201cSo I took all of the sound out, and\u2026 this part of the roller coaster is just gonna make people feel as uncomfortable as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>28.<\/strong> Oda Mae dies in early drafts of Rubin\u2019s script, \u201cand it took a while for Jerry to persuade me that that wasn\u2019t the best way to end the movie.\u201d He adds that she was killed by other bad guys but then possesses her own mangled corpse to attack them. And now I want this crazy, sex and violence-filled, hard-R version of <em>Ghost<\/em> that Rubin originally wrote?<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Best_in_Context-Free_Commentary\"><\/span>Best in Context-Free Commentary<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>\u201cI believe in a world in which ghosts can exist, and probably do exist.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBruce was sitting cross-legged in a monastery, and I was writing fart jokes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe audience didn\u2019t hate him for killing Sam as much as they hated him for seducing Sam\u2019s girlfriend.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt defies genre, this film.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe don\u2019t know exactly how he got the penny from the floor to the door.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s the old \u2018gun on the end of a string\u2019 gag.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNow how does this rate on the schmaltz meter, do you think?\u201d<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Final_Thoughts_on_the_%E2%80%98Ghost_Commentary\"><\/span>Final Thoughts on the \u2018Ghost\u2019 Commentary<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>The <em>Ghost<\/em> commentary is a solid enough track that feels at times as if it\u2019s been edited together in some way due to quiet gaps, an occasional lack of interaction or response, etc, while at other times sees the two men in conversation. Still, it\u2019s rarely uninteresting. Zucker reveals numerous moments where he was majorly wrong about something \u2014 he didn\u2019t originally want Swayze, Goldwyn, or Goldberg, he thought certain scenes weren\u2019t needed, he inexplicably didn\u2019t like Moore\u2019s short hair \u2014 and it\u2019s enough to leave you wondering about his intuition on things. That said, this was his first dramatic turn after a decade of spoofs and comedies, so it appears it was a learning process from beginning to end.<\/p>\n<p>Read more Commentary Commentary from the archives.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more Like this articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/social-media\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Social Media category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>if you want to <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/watch-movies-tv-seriess\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"8\" title=\"Watch Movies &amp; TV Series\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">watch Movies<\/a> or Tv Shows go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/dizi.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dizi.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a> <\/span> for forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/filmschoolrejects.com\/ghost-commentary\/#utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=ghost-commentary\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;#28 Things We Learned from the \u2018Ghost\u2019 Commentary&#8221; Welcome to\u00a0Commentary Commentary, where we sit and listen to filmmakers talk about their work, then share the most interesting parts. In this edition, Rob Hunter returns to the Jerry Zucker well after llistening to the Airplane! commentary last week, but this time it\u2019s for something wholly different\u2026&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":42867,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[50565,1354,22447,43119,1361],"class_list":["post-42866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-social-mediaa","tag-28-things-we-learned-from-the-ghost-commentary","tag-columns","tag-commentary-commentary","tag-ghost","tag-movies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42866"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42866\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}