Random Behind-The-Scenes Stories From Set Of '80s 'Flash Gordon' (14 items)

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  (#1) Italian Translators Are To Blame For The Weirder Scenes

  If you've seen Flash Gordon, you know the dialogue is weird at best and borderline incoherent at worst. This is because the screenwriter had initially composed the script in English, then had it translated to Italian for the foreign crew to read. Lastly, a non-native English speaker translated the screenplay back to its original language. 

  According to screenwriter Lorenzo Semple Jr., known for works like Batman (1966) and King Kong (1976), the entire situation was surreal:

  [Producer Dino De Laurentiis] reads English better than many people realize, but translates all of his scripts into Italian. We were living in Nantucket at the time, and his translator was a woman whose name I forget. She could barely translate the scripts; if it said, "The tall, beautiful woman walked into the room," she'd say, "Oh, what a beautiful cat."

  When Semple told De Laurentiis the translations were off, the producer reportedly didn't care. Semple said, "I told him the translator was horrible, her translations aren't any good; he said, 'I do not want to be fooled by the words; I do not want to be fooled by written words. I want to know the story.'"
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  (#2) Kurt Russell And Arnold Schwarzenegger Were Considered For The Lead Role

  Imagine a world where either Kurt Russell or Arnold Schwarzenegger played the role of Flash Gordon. Unfortunately, neither castings ever came to pass - both for completely different reasons. Russell got offered the part, but he thought the role was too one-dimensional - and this was before he became world-renowned.

  Producers tossed around Schwarzenegger's name for the role, but De Laurentiis said no one would understand the Austrian's thick accent. Instead, they hired Sam J. Jones after he appeared on The Dating Game. When discussing his casting, Jones said:

  I went on, and lost the date but got the job! Dino... I should say Mr. De Laurentiis, or a member of his family, was watching. They called me, and the next morning I went in with my manager for an interview to meet Dino and his staff.
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  (#3) Producer De Laurentiis Wanted Pink Floyd To Record The Score

  Flash Gordon is wild, over-the-top fun, so who better to score the film than Queen? Initially, producer Dino De Laurentiis wanted psyche-rockers Pink Floyd to create the soundtrack for the movie, which would have changed its tone significantly. Pink Floyd ultimately passed, but the members of Queen were on board the moment they heard the tale of a Flash Gordon movie in pre-production. 

  Supposedly, when the band's manager met with De Laurentiis and suggested the group score the film, the producer asked, "Who are the Queens?" When De Laurentiis finally listened to the group, he was impressed and signed them on to write the music for Flash Gordon.
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  (#4) Freddie Mercury Designed The 'Flash Gordon' Logo

  In keeping with the freewheeling production of Flash Gordon, the film's famous logo got designed by none other than Queen frontman, Freddie Mercury. The singer studied graphic design in college and created Queen's logo, so this task was right in his wheelhouse. 

  It would be strange to hear about a composer like Hans Zimmer drawing the logo for The Dark Knight, but with Mercury and Flash Gordon, this pairing makes sense. 
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  (#5) The Creators Made The Film Up As They Went Along

  The biggest problem with Flash Gordon's production was that the crew lacked a day-to-day filming schedule. This became such a prominent issue that director Mike Hodges called Flash Gordon, "the only improvised $27-million movie ever made." The filmmakers reportedly conceived the famous football-styled squabble during production. Actress Melody Anderson explained:

  In the beginning scene, all these people are bringing gifts, and one group brings these eggs. Sam Jones was saying, "Flash Gordon was supposed to be a quarterback, so why don't I use one of these as a football?" 

  Then I thought, "Well, I'm the All-American Girl, shouldn't I be a cheerleader?" It was very funny... that's how the whole film went because there was no time to prepare. We would just create and throw things in as we went along.

  Hodges decided to roll with this style of impromptu filmmaking, telling Empire: 

  So I had a producer who spoke mangled English and a production de­signer who spoke none at all. Both, like Ming, seemed to have ar­rived from an­other galaxy. Once I realized the film was in many ways out my control, I relaxed and made it up as I went along. I loved it.
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  (#6) Sam Jones Left The Set One Day And Never Returned, Only To Later Sue De Laurentiis

  It's well documented that lead actor Sam Jones took off during Flash Gordon's Christmas break and never returned. Though he hasn't elaborated on the rumors, Jones apparently kept getting into tussles during filming, which was a nightmare for the crew - specifically because they had to ensure Jones's face was consistent with continuity. 

  When it became clear Jones wasn't returning to the set, producer De Laurentiis told director Hodges, "We'll keep going, with the very best stand-in you can find." Later, Jones sued De Laurentiis for breach of contract because the producer did not honor his contractual agreement to produce two Flash Gordon sequels.
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  (#7) The Cast And Crew Played The Movie Straight

  As high camp as the film appears, the cast never hammed it up for the cameras. It was their goal to play everything as straight as possible even though they were aware that the film was ridiculous.

  According to director Mike Hodges, producer Dino De Laurentiis was the only person who didn't realize the movie was kitschy:

  That's why the movie's so funny, because we didn't try to make it campy. In fact, I'm surprised that (people) are laughing, because we weren't out to make a funny film. In fact, De Laurentiis was very upset when he showed the film and people started to laugh, because he thought they were laughing at it and not with it. In fact, he re-did the cheerleading scene. He wanted it to be serious.

   
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  (#8) Flash Gordon's Lines Are Mostly Dubbed

  After principal photography for the film wrapped, actor Sam Jones disappeared and kept his whereabouts a secret. When the second-unit crew reconvened to shoot the CGI-heavy scenes, they had to finish the film without Jones, which included finalizing the audio. 

  The team had to perform voiceover work, as Director Mike Hodges explained:

  After Christmas, I came back and did all of the second unit stuff, too. For instance, I had to do the shots with the flying men and that sort of thing - what passed as special effects back then. So I also had to shoot a whole bunch of other stuff with a stunt double for Sam, and I had to re-voice the occasional line of dialogue, too. Not much but some - and I got somebody to impersonate Sam's voice. You would never know it wasn't him.

   
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  (#9) Nicolas Roeg Spent A Year Working On An Unproduced Version Of The Script

  Director Mike Hodges and screenwriter Lorenzo Semple Jr. were hardly the first team to work on the film. De Laurentiis had initially approached Federico Fellini to work on the movie, but the director declined. Thus, the producer brought on Nicolas Roeg - the director behind The Man Who Fell to Earth. Long after Flash Gordon's release, Roeg explained that he spent a year working on a script, saying:

  It took me a long time, but suddenly I tore into what I felt he was doing! It was extraordinary, and I became so excited at the idea that I said to Dino, "Look, I'll go away and write. I think I know what I'd like to do with it..." It took me a year, almost exactly a year, 'til I'd got it down how I wanted to make Flash Gordon. And I nipped back and said to Dino, "Look, this is it. It's ready."

  Roeg's longtime writing partner, Allan Scott, told Empire about the writing process behind Flash Gordon:

  Nic loved the idea that the bubbles were for the kids, but the im­ages were just so stark-raving erotic. Nic's version was going to be a comic book story but for adults. Ming was a god. Flash and Dale were Adam and Eve, and Ming was an evil deity chasing them across the uni­verse.

  Our Ming's ambition was to conquer the uni­verse by destroying pop­u­lated worlds, leaving no survivors except chosen fe­males with whom he would pop­u­late their world in his im­age.
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  (#10) Max Von Sydow Loved Playing Ming

  Max Von Sydow has starred in a plethora of incredible movies, often choosing distinct and compelling roles. He's rarely subtle, which works perfectly for Flash Gordon. Sydow has received a series of award nominations for his roles in films like The Exorcist and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close; director Mike Hodges said that Sydow threw himself into Flash Gordon.

  Hodges told Empire, "I've never seen an ac­tor have such a good time as Max playing Ming. Cracking his fin­ger joints and doing little jigs, he relished every moment."
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  (#11) The Production Team Used Real Foliage To Build Miniature Trees

  Bill Pearson was one of many who handled the miniatures for Flash Gordon. Rather than phone in his work on the campy film, he created intriguing designs, such as when Flash goes to Dr. Zarkov's greenhouse. For the miniature, Pearson built tiny trees out of hedges, making them one of the few organic pieces in the film. 

  Pearson described to Futurism his experience creating miniatures for Flash Gordon:

  As everyone familiar with the Flash Gordon story knows, Flash and Dale meet Dr. Zarkov when their plane crashes near his laboratory. Martin and I had to construct Zarkov's greenhouse and the grounds around it. Richard Conway wanted us to build the miniature trees from scratch, so we went all around the studio grounds in search of the proper foliage.

  We found these amazing bushes outside this producer's office. Armed with a pair of sheet-metal cutters, we just snipped away at these bushes for about half-an-hour... The producer certainly had a less obstructed view of the studio when we finished!
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  (#12) George Lucas Wanted To Make 'Flash Gordon'

  Before redefining genre filmmaking forever, George Lucas wanted to make a Flash Gordon movie, as he had grown up watching the 1936 serials. He heard De Laurentiis was making the film, so he approached the producer and asked to helm the picture. De Laurentiis firmly objected and stated that Federico Fellini would be directing. 

  Undeterred, Lucas went off and made Star Wars IV: A New Hope, an overt homage to the Flash Gordon serials. Lucas used the same title crawl and wipes; in addition, Lucas allegedly felt inspired to use the title "Episode IV" because when he was a child, he'd have to watch non-sequential episodes of Flash Gordon.

  Producer Gary Kurtz later told Empire, "We decided we were making a Flash Gordon-type adventure and we're coming in at Episode IV... we're just racing through the story, not explaining any­thing."
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  (#13) The Hawkmen Couldn't Sit While Wearing Their Costumes

  Prince Vultan and his hawkmen are easily some of the weirdest parts of Flash Gordon. Their attack on Mingo City is a trippy spectacle that demonstrates the film's poor visual effects at the time. These characters' costumes, which appear to be a mix of Roman gladiator armor with giant bird wings, were apparently impossible to wear while sitting.

  Actress Melody Anderson told Starlog Magazine about her co-stars' uncomfortable costumes: 

  They could never sit down, because when they did the wings would dig into their backs. When we had a rest period, you'd see all these guys lying on their stomachs with wings, like they were ready to take off. It was a very funny sight.
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  (#14) Queen Wanted To Do Something Entirely New With The Music

  When you listen to the Flash Gordon score, it's clear Queen was working outside their element. Rather than crafting bombastic rock songs fueled by Freddie Mercury's signature howl, the group focused on rollicking tracks that used snippets of dialogue instead.

  According to guitarist Brian May, the curious tracks were exactly what the band set out to achieve, explaining:

  We saw 20 minutes of the finished film and thought it very good and over the top. We wanted to do something that was a real soundtrack. It's a first in many ways, because a rock group has not done this type of thing before, or else it's been toned down, and they've been asked to write mushy background music. Whereas we were given the license to do what we liked, as long as it complemented the picture.

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