OFOTCN: Production Context Notes

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest	Vertigo
- Risky production; not safe audience pleaser -> low-budget, improvised, non-formulaic	- 1958 – Cold War                  Communist fear in USA
- Actors had freedom to act how they wanted to -> they had more creative freedom	- Studio system: A-list actors, big Hollywood studios putting up the money
- Independently produced	- World famous director (Hitchcock)
- Exclusively filmed on location	- Safe audience pleaser
- Director -> less directing, more about observing	- Structured
- Forman created a safe zone for the actors	- Controlled

Documentary on Production & Making of OFOTCN: Notes

- Originally a play -> audiences startled -> only ran between 5-6 months
- Kirk Douglas asked Forman to make a film of OFOTCN. 10yrs later he received the book from them due to a mix-up
- No major studio wanted to finance the film
- Made independently with a low budget
- Needed cheap director they respected = Milos Forman
- Big-name directors interview bu wouldn't say what they had in mind
- Forman realises how much picture meant to them, outlined his idea for the film in his meeting
- Forman; 'Czech movie about society' on OFOTCN, could relate, knew how these people felt
- Original script directly from book, however Forman sent new scriptwriter the script changes & screenplay writer was hired for £8k
- Casting conversations: McMurphy -> Gene Hackman, Marlon Brando rejected
- Jack Nicholson: persona was sensitive young man or intellectual badass -> not suitable for McMurphy, however 'The Last Detail' changed this perception
- Forman wanted Burt Reynolds for his 'cheap charisma' if they couldn't wait for Nicholson
- Had to wait 6/7 months if wanted Nicholson as he had previous commitments
- Nurse Ratched: Wanted someone who was personification of evil. Offered to actresses such as Anne Bancroft, Geraldine Page & Angela Lansbury
- Forman met Fletcher -> told Fletcher she wouldn't get part -> 'doesn't belief she isn't helping people', changed direction of character from being gradually nice to being evil so Fletcher was cast
- Chief: Douglas got help from Mel Lambert to cast, Chief wasn't an actor
- Forman wanted unknown members for rest of cast -> distinctive faces + distinctive characters -> wanted cast to look strange as tired of everyone in Hollywood looking the same

- 'entering the world of unknown. Mental institution'
- Visited 4 mental institutions
- Wanted to make movie in place people lived/died and on location, not at a studio -> created ambience & isolation that's hard to match in a studio
- Oregon State hospital
- Rehearsals: half day rehearsing scenes from camera, half day spent on ward being there -> gives sense of being hospitalised & realistic tone
- 3rd day: Personal items bought out -> living in space on ward
- Ate at hospital: each floor had game areas
- 5 days into rehearsal: Nicholson arrived -> confused why cast always in character originally
- Cast never broke character -> even at lunch etc
- Dr Brooks helped actors with their problems, put them with patients on different wards to learn about behaviour
- Being in hospital: helped actors stay in character -> brought humility onto set -> no one trying to be a big star -> beneficial for the film
- Forman wanted to capture real moments, camera rolling without cast knowing -> thinking they were rehearsing etc
- Group therapy effective -> actors didn't know when they'd be on camera
- Forman wants simple, direct acting -> guides them through their work -> allows actors to act natural
- Forman: 'it must be real'
- Forman + Fletcher never discussed interpretation of Ratched, only she needs to be 'natural'
- Scriptwriter: own mother-in-law talked like Nurse Ratched, helped shape script
- Fletcher sees Ratched as human being & not a witch, believes in what she is doing is right for the patients
- Cast went out to dinner: Fletcher would organise where everyone sat
- Improvisation: fishing trip ad-libbed -> Forman didn't want the fishing trip scene as felt it'd be more impactful with them just staying in the hospital
- Jack was McMurphy: behind the camera as well
- Movie shot sequentially -> apart from fishing trip
- Towards end: actors sleeping in actual beds on set
- Filmed in January: helped create mood & atmosphere of the movie