TRIVIA: Having completed his first draft, screenwriter Colin Welland was unable to conceive a title for the film beyond the somewhat uninteresting Runners. The inspiration came one Sunday evening when Welland turned on the television to the BBCs religious music series Songs of Praise (1961) - featuring the stirring hymn Jerusalem (written by William Blake and set to music by C.H.H. Parry), its chorus including the words Bring me my chariot of fire; the writer leapt up to his feet and shouted to his wife Patricia, Ive got it, Pat! Chariots of Fire! Ian Charleson himself wrote Eric Liddells inspiring speech to the post-race workingmens crowd. Charleson, who had been studying the Bible in preparation for the role, told director Hugh Hudson that he didnt feel the scripted sanctimonious and portentous speech was either authentic or inspiring. Charleson was uncomfortable with performing the words as scripted. It was decided that Charleson himself should write words that he was comfortable speaking. And thus came the most inspiring speech of the movie. Stephen Fry is in the film, singing in the chorus of the Cambridge H.M.S. Pinafore production. He is the third face to the right of Harold Abrahams, singing He Is An Englishman. Hes on screen for about 35 seconds, starting at around 32:00. David Puttnam arranged a screening of the film for Eric Liddles widow. Afterwards she said she loved the film - and that it fully captured her husbands character. However, she felt that the only thing they got wrong was that her husband was a much more graceful runner that was shown. Puttnam was astonished - he said the only thing they really knew about Liddle when making the film was his running style (from newsreel films of the era). The one thing he was fully confident that they had gotten right was the only thing Mrs. Liddle felt was wrong. Eric Liddells 400 meter victory in the 1924 Olympics was an Olympic record of 47.6 and excited the crowd with an unorthodox run. He ran the first 200 meters in 22.2 seconds, considered by track experts to be tactically foolish, considering it was only 0.3 seconds slower than his 200 personal record, but he actually increased his lead in the second half beating the competition by nearly a second. The Church service shown at the very beginning and end of the film is based on the actual funeral service of Harold Abrahams, who (as only hinted at in the movie) converted to Christianity later in his life. The film does not mention that Harold Abrahams had earlier competed in the 1920 Olympics but was not very successful: He finished fourth in the 4x100 relay, 20th in the long jump and was eliminated in the quarter-finals of both the 100m and 200m races. In real life, Lord David Bughley (Lord Lindsay in the Film) was the first man to do the Great Court Run, not Harold Abrahams. This was changed, because David Puttnam was a socialist and did not want to show a Lord winning, and this is one of the reasons that Lord Burghley did not consent to let his name be used in the film. Liddell was born in China, and died in China. His parents were missionaries there, and he returned as a missionary himself. During the Japanese occupation of China, he was taken into the Japanese Weihsien internment Camp, where he was to die from a brain tumour just before the camp was liberated. The male military band featured several women disguised with false mustaches. Though it is not mentioned in the movie, both Eric Liddell won bronze in the 200 meters, and Harold M. Abrahams a silver with the 4x100 meters relay team. Extras in the Olympic crowd scenes were told to wear dark colours so they would not stand out. Extras who managed to wear actual Edwardian clothes were paid 20 pounds while those in normal dress were paid 10. 5 of 5 found this interesting | Share this Although it isnt mentioned, or even hinted at, in the film, it was Eric Liddell who in real life actually introduced Harold Abrahams to Sam Mussabini. The real Eric Liddell found out about the 100 meter heat being held on a Sunday several months in advance of the Paris games. The British Olympic team was then able to adjust and fit him into the 400 meter race instead. About six years after the films release, Trinity College reenacted the quad dash with British Olympic athletes Steve Ovett and Sebastian Coe taking part. Nigel Havers agreed to act as starter. At lunch after the event, the Dean confessed it had been a great mistake not to cooperate with the making of the film. In real life, the text from the Bible was handed to Eric Liddell by a coach on the US team, not by Jackson Scholz. Colin Welland flew to Florida to obtain Scholzs permission in person for the artistic license. Ruby Wax, Stephen Fry and Kenneth Branagh are among the crowd actors. Fry acted as shop steward (organiser) for the extras and managed in David Puttnams words to screw an extra pound a day out of me. Although it received a standing ovation when shown in competition at the 1981 Cannes Film Festival, this movie was mercilessly savaged by the French critics, because it called the French the frogs and an unprincipled lot. In order to prevent the negative critical response from hurting its international distribution, Roger Ebert lobbied the other American critics in attendance to award it the American Critics Prize, which they did in a 6-5 vote. This marks the only time in the 60-year history of the festival that this award has been presented. Director Hugh Hudson originally wanted Vangelis 1977 tune LEnfant, from his 1979 Opera Sauvage album, to be the title theme of the film, and the beach running sequence was actually filmed with LEnfant playing in the background for the runners to listen and pace to. Vangelis, however, finally convinced Hudson he could create a new and better piece for the films main theme - and when he played the new and now-familiar Chariots of Fire theme for Hudson, it was agreed the new tune was unquestionably better. But the LEnfant tune still made it into the film: When the athletes reach Paris and enter the stadium, a brass band marches through the field, and first plays a modified, acoustic performance of LEnfant. Vangeliss electronic LEnfant track eventually was used prominently in the film The Year of Living Dangerously (1982). Nigel Havers character, Lord Lindsay, was actually based upon Lord Burghley, who refused to cooperate with the filmmakers and would not allow his name to be used in the production. Upon seeing the completed film, however, Lord Burghley told the filmmakers that he regretted his earlier refusal to cooperate with the production. Although Harold Abrahams won gold in the 100-meter dash at the 1924 Olympics, he finished dead last in the 200-meter final. Colin Welland was researching Twice in a Lifetime (1985) shortly before the Oscars ceremony. When he entered the bar in the Pennsylvania steel town where he was carrying out the research, the regulars would call, Watch your wallets, the British are coming! This partly inspired Colin Wellands remarks at the end of his Academy Award acceptance speech. Walter Frith is watching...
Posted on: Thu, 18 Dec 2014 22:13:25 +0000
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