When All Else Fails, Have a Raffle pt. 2
an extract from Robert Cettl's book Film Tales: Movie Trivia in the Age of DVD (on sale now in print and soon in e-book)
When director John Frankenheimer was filming the 1977 Superbowl terrorist thriller Black Sunday, he was struck with a strangely familiar problem. He needed extras, lots of them. He had to fill as much of an American football stadium (Miami’s Orange Bowl) as possible. His solution was… to hold a raffle, the prize going to a random extra. This time there was a cash prize on offer (as well as an appearance in the film) and a big promotion was held in advance. Although people showed, the main problem was with the weather, which soon broke into rain. Considering the day an un-filmable wash-out, the director sent his assistant to announce over the PA loudspeakers the end of the day. The cost of re-filming another day would be $330,000. On the way, however, the assistant was met by his girlfriend and the two of them stopped by the press box for a… quickie. In the meantime, the weather cleared up enough to allow filming to begin but Frankenheimer was distraught – he had already sent the assistant. Frankenheimer eventually found him and was informed that the order to quit hadn’t been given yet and everything was still in place. The director was delighted and the needed filming was done. The assistant’s girlfriend was awarded the raffle’s cash prize (and the brief appearance in the movie).