20 movie "facts" that are actually urban legends

Jared Leto has a well-earned reputation for his various method acting antics. One particularly gross rumor claimed that he immersed himself in his persona of The Joker for Suıcide Squad  and even sent his co-star Margot Robbie (who plays Harley Quinn) a dead rat. This, however, has been denied by Leto himself, who claims that he actually sent his co-star cinnamon buns, not a dead rodent. Still, there’s no denying that Leto remains an unusually committed actor.

The late Stanley Kubrick is one of those directors who seemed to attract urban legends. One of the most persistent of these claims is that he directed the faked moon landing and sent messages to that effect in The Shining. This, however, is not at all true. The moon landing wasn’t faked, and Kubrick had no involvement in filming it. Given that he was responsible for the filming of 2001: A Space Odyssey, with its remarkable special effects, it’s easy to see why this rumor would get some credibility. 

Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings films are some of the director’s finest work, and they set a high standard for their complexity and the skills demanded of the actors. However, while some stories about the filming are true, such as the claim that star Viggo Mortensen broke his toe while kicking a helmet during a key scene in The Two Towers, others are not true. Most notably, while there was a knife thrown at him during a key fight scene in The Fellowship of the Ring, this wasn’t unexpected but instead was a prepared stunt. 

Who Framed Roger Rabbit remains an unqualified success, thanks to its smart writing and its skillful blending of animation and live-action. It’s also been the source of some controversy, since there were reports at the time of its release on LaserDisc that viewers could spot Jessica Rabbit’s genitalia if the film was slowed down enough. Though there were some parts of the animation that were suggestive, there’s no real truth to the rumors, though this has done nothing to keep this particular urban legend from becoming a part of the film’s subsequent legacy.   

Nicolas Roeg’s Don’t Look Now  has a deserved reputation for being a controversial film, in no small part because of the graphic nature of the sex scene between Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie. In fact, the scene was so graphic that many people wrongly assumed that Roeg had actually filmed unsimulated sex. This rumor persisted for quite a long time, given support by some who supposedly saw the raw footage. The late Sutherland and others, however, repeatedly insisted that there was no truth whatsoever to these particular rumors.

Released in 1982, Poltergeist became one of the most famous horror movies of the decade, known for its numerous horror flicks. However, its fame came as much from the fate of several members of its cast as it did from the movie’s narrative itself. While it is true that two cast members died shortly after it was released, these deaths — one by homicide and one by unexpected cardiac arrest — were, it must be said, a simple coincidence rather than any sinister curse associated with the film itself. 

Robert Shaw gives one of the best performances of his career in Jaws, but this hasn’t stopped the rumor mill from concocting some untruths about him. In particular, there remains a persistent idea that he was drunk during his pivotal speech in the film. While there is no question that Shaw was drunk on the set, he was actually sober during this particular moment, in large part because he couldn’t have hoped to get it right if he was drunk while trying to perform.

Singin’ in the Rain is without a doubt one of classic Hollywood’s most beloved musicals, and so it makes sense that it would be the source of many myths. One in particular claims that the famous scene in which Gene Kelly sings and dances in the rain used a mixture of milk and water to make the drops show up on camera. The truth, however, is much less messy. The crew simply used backlighting to ensure that the rain appeared on camera.

Throughout the 1990s, Disney was subject to a wide variety of rumors, particularly ones that juxtaposed the company’s kid-friendly identity with lascivious messages in its films. For example, there was the persistent idea that a voice whispers that good teens should take off their clothes. Obviously, this isn’t something that would ever make it into the final version of a Disney film, and the filmmakers have gone on record many times to say that this was not and has never been the case. The public, though, loves a Disney scandal.

Many urban legends surround the filming of Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining. One, for example, states that the director spiked the drinks of his stars. While there’s no question that Kubrick could be difficult to work with for his talent, particularly Shelley Duvall, who the director constantly harrangued, it does strain credulity to think that even an unorthodox director like Kubrick would go that far. The rumor mill, however, adores a scandalous story about a director, and so this particular legend has been particularly difficult to dislodge.

Braveheart remains one of Mel Gibson’s most recognizable and beloved films, and it’s also one of his most epic undertakings. This has led to a number of misunderstandings about the filming process, including the persistent misunderstanding that it took only three weeks to film. This is obviously false, as even a much more modest film would take longer than a mere three weeks to wrap. Even a skilled director would find it impossible to complete an undertaking of this magnitude in such a short amount of time. 

The original version of The Crow had what is arguably one of the most tragic filming processes, since star Brandon Lee was actually killed during the process of filming. This, of course, has given birth to the persistent rumor that his actual death was used in the final film. It should probably go without saying that this is untrue, as even the most unscrupulous Hollywood executive would balk at such a grievous betrayal of trust and just general distaste. Nevertheless, the rumor continues to make the rounds. 

The Lumière Brothers are deservedly credited with helping to revolutionize the moving image. Given their fame, a number of urban legends and falsehoods have emerged, including the idea that audiences were so terrified of the moving image, particularly of a train arriving at the station, that they ran away in fear. There is no evidence to support this assertion; however, it appears that those who first witnessed the moving image experienced strong emotions, including fear. 

One of the most enduring myths surrounding The Wizard of Oz claims that during a scene in which Dorothy and the others are walking down the yellow brick road, a silhouette can be seen in the distance that is the body of a desperate employee who hanged themselves. This particular claim has been debunked many times — it’s actually the silhouette of a large bird — but it has proved remarkably enduring. All too often, people prefer to believe the most salacious and macabre things about a family-friendly film like this one.

Disney’s The Little Mermaid might have been most famous for jumpstarting the Disney Renaissance, but it was also at the center of its fair share of controversies. Most notably, there were many claims that the home video case of the film featured a phallic image as part of the illustration of the city of Atlantica. This was supposedly due to an angry animator at the studio, but this has, like so many other urban legends surrounding Disney and its movies, been thoroughly disproven.

Django Unchained, like so many other Quentin Tarantino movies, has a lot of blood spatter. However, while there is a persistent rumor that Leonardo DiCaprio smeared his own blood on co-star Kerry Washington, this is simply not the case. He had suffered an injury during filming, which had occurred before the scene in question. Given the viscerally disturbing nature of this particular urban legend, however, it’s easy to see why belief in it would be so persistent despite all evidence to the contrary.

The Lion King, like many other Disney films of the 1990s, has been at the center of several controversies. One notable example involves the moment when Simba lies down on the ground, sending a puff of dust out into the air. Rumors at the time insisted that said dust spelled out the word “sex,” but this has been thoroughly debunked over the years, and it is due much more to a desire to see something illicit in the famously family-friendly studio.

One of the most memorable scenes in a James Bond film involves the moment when Shirley Eaton’s Jill Masterson is suffocated by being painted with gold. This, of course, was the source of the disturbing rumor that the actress herself had died as a result of having so much gold paint on her body. The fact that this was transparently false. Eaton is still alive and well — hasn’t done much to rob the rumor of its vitality, and many people continue to believe that it is true.

Three Men and a Baby, a 1987 comedy, might be hilarious, but it has also been the subject of a rather disturbing urban legend. The legend claims that a ghost is visible during the film, supposedly that of a boy who had died in the house. The truth, as so often, is far more pedestrian and far less spooky. There is no ghost. In fact, the figure that is visible is just a cutout of none other than Ted Danson himself, wearing a top hat.

Given just how complicated the production of Ben-Hur was, it was inevitable that many urban legends would crop up around it. One particularly pervasive one suggests that someone died during the filming of the chariot race, arguably one of the most exhilarating moments in the history of Hollywood filmmaking. No one died during the making of the film, though perhaps this particular myth can be traced back to the 1925 film, in which several horses did die during the filming of the racing scene.