Sometimes what happens behind the camera when a film is in production is so much wilder than anything that plays out on screen.
But the magic of cinema and being caught in the moment mean our imaginations run wild – we all remember Don’t Worry Darling’s ‘spit-gate’, don’t we?
Sometimes what becomes fact about a beloved film is nothing more than the stuff of myth and legend – some of which have even been debunked for decades.
Yes, even that one piece of film trivia you read on social media.
Here, we look at nine of the most popular movie myths that never happened at all – from paranormal activity caught on camera to grisly on-set deaths.
All of the clocks in Pulp Fiction are set to 4.20
Quentin Tarantino is well known for the plethora of references and symbolism he weaves into his films.
One that is often brought up by film fans is that all of the clocks in Pulp Fiction are set to 4.20, a reference among marijuana enthusiasts.
However, although a few are indeed set to 4.20, it’s not true that every clock is.
In fact, even the most prominent clock in the film – featured in a scene where Christopher Walken’s character gifts Butch Coolidge a pocket watch – is not at 4.20.
There’s a ghost visible in Three Men And A Baby
Starring Tom Selleck, Ted Danson and Steve Guttenberg, Three Men And A Baby smashed the box office in 1987 thanks to its abundance of warm-hearted fun.
But it’s been plagued by a sinister legend since its release that has, time and time again, been proven false.
Fans of the film have, for decades, said there is a scene in which the ghost of a nine-year-old boy – who took his own life in the building where the film was shot – can be seen.
A spooky figure can be seen peeking from behind a curtain during a scene involving Danson and his co-star Celeste Holm, which many cite as proof that director Leonard Nimoy captured proof of the paranormal.
However in 1990, Touchstone Home Video spokesperson Steve Feldstein debunked the rumour, saying: ‘He played a vain actor who had posters of himself all over the room. I thought it was always a full-sized poster that had been knocked over. That was my theory.’
Co-producer Robert Cort added: ‘I think someone just left it there.’
Additionally, Selleck later confirmed in an interview that they filmed Three Men And A Baby on a set, and not in a pre-existing building where anyone lived.
Heath Ledger’s reaction to the hospital explosion in The Dark Knight is real
Heath Ledger’s performance as the Joker in the 2008 film The Dark Knight is legendary, with many dubbing it the definitive performance of the comic character.
But an urban legend suggested he broke character during the film’s infamous hospital explosion scene and that his shocked reaction is, in fact, real.
Of course, this isn’t true, and was yet another example of incredible acting from the late star.
The pause between the explosions and the confusion by Joker is what started the rumour, but this was planned by director Christopher Nolan to keep Ledger safe.
He said in an interview on the film’s home release: ‘[Special effects supervisor Chris Corbould] was able to come up with a scenario in which Heath could actually be walking out of the building.
‘Because what Chris worked out is if we put in a little beat where the first set of explosions stops as if something’s gone wrong, and the Joker just takes a second to look around surprised like the audience is surprised, then the major demolition comes in and he jumps straight into the school bus.
‘In that way, he was able to come up with a practical scenario in which we could actually take a principal actor, walk him out of a building that’s about to be destroyed, and literally drop the building to the ground.’
Susan Backlinie broke her ribs while filming Jaws
Jaws terrified audiences upon its release in 1975, but thankfully one chilling backstage tidbit didn’t actually happen.
One rumour from the set of Steven Spielberg’s shark horror that has persisted across decades is that Chrissie Watkins actor Susan Backlinie broke her ribs during her attack scene.
Her screams of ‘it hurts’ were said to be real by some fans, adding even more terror to the sequence that opens the iconic film.
Backlinie has repeatedly refuted the rumour and said she did not get hurt even one bit filming the scene, though she has opened up about the gruelling schedules the cast and crew worked at the time.
On an appearance of The Morning X with Barnes and Leslie last year, she said: ‘We would film from anywhere from 6 to 7 in the morning till 9 because of the light. … I was home and exhausted at the end of the day.’
You can see a dead munchkin in The Wizard Of Oz
Plenty of horrifying things did surround the making of The Wizard Of Oz, but the case of the dead munchkin seems to be closed.
Legend has it that in a scene of Judy Garland’s Dorothy, The Scarecrow, and The Tin Man skipping along the yellow brick road, you can see a dead munchkin hanging from a tree after they allegedly took their own life.
But remastered footage of the scene makes it clear that the hanging body is actually a bird – one that the film’s crew borrowed from the Los Angeles Zoo to make the forest feel more realistic.
To kill two birds with one stone (pun not intended), another rumour about the film’s munchkins that has repeatedly been debunked is that they were drunk and debaucherous throughout filming.
Many of the actors came out and said these rumours were untrue and harmful.
The Alien cast’s reaction to the Chestburster scene is genuine
There is a sliver of truth to this one – but only a little.
The 1979 sci-fi horror Alien features plenty of shocking and gory scenes, but arguably none more hair-raising and stomach-turning than the Chestburster scene in which John Hurt’s character Kane has one of the creatures emerge from his torso.
It was rumoured for a long time that the terrified reactions of Hurt’s castmates were real as director Ridley Scott kept them in the dark about what would happen in the scene – which is partly true.
The cast did know how the scene would play out as it was included, in great detail, in their scripts.
However, Hurt said in a 2010 talk at the Science and Media Museum that they were not prepared for how gory the scene would be.
People who saw the first film of a moving train ran from cinemas screaming
Auguste and Louis Lumière were among the first people to create films, and they made history with their 1895 production L’Arrivee D’Un Train En Gare De La Ciotat.
As you would expect for the time it was created, it is a simple 50-second film that just shows a train arriving at a platform of people.
It is a groundbreaking piece in the history of cinema, and it became even more sensational with the story that cinemagoers were so shocked by what they saw on the big screen they ran from theatres screaming believing an actual train was coming toward them.
But there is no evidence that this ever happened – which could also make this the first-ever movie myth.
Brandon Lee’s death on the set of The Crow was used in the film
The tragic on-set death of Brandon Lee in The Crow led many fans to speculate the film is cursed.
Lee, who was the son of Bruce Lee, was killed when a prop gun was accidentally loaded with a real bullet, which hit him in the abdomen and caused his death.
Rumours soon began after the 1994 film was released that his actual death scene was used in the film in a sequence in which his character Eric Draven is killed by the thugs who attack his girlfriend.
In actual fact, the shots of Draven’s death were redone and no footage of Lee’s death was used in the film.
A stuntman died filming the chariot race scene in Ben Hur
The adrenaline-fuelled chariot race scene in Ben Hur is legendary more than 60 years since the 1959 film was released.
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But it was tinged with sadness due to a rumour that a stuntman died during its creation.
Some versions of the rumour state that the man’s death can even be seen on film, but there are no records of any injuries – let alone a death – linked to the scene.
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However, the 1925 version of the film could be where the rumour stems from, a production in which a lot of stuntmen were injured and many horses involved in the film died.
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