Chaplin (1992)
Trivia
In an interview on Inside the Actors Studio (1994), Robert Downey, Jr. said that while preparing for the movie, he watched all of Charlie Chaplin's movies. When asked what how he felt about them, he said, "They scared the hell out of me."
Geraldine Chaplin played her real-life paternal grandmother Hannah Chaplin.
While researching his role, Robert Downey, Jr. visited the Museum of the Moving Image in London, England and persuaded the staff to let him try on one of Charlie Chaplin's "Little Tramp" suits and boots. The latter fit him perfectly, and he found a cigar stub in one of the pockets, which he subsequently treasured.
Geraldine Chaplin recalled that when she first saw Robert Downey Jr. in full costume, she was so awestruck on how much he resembled her late father that she needed a moment to collect her thoughts to even speak.
Contrary to what is presented in the movie, Charlie Chaplin had a child with Mildred Harris. Their son, Norman Spencer Chaplin, died three days after birth.
To prepare for his role, Robert Downey, Jr. learned how to play the violin and tennis left-handed. He also engaged a coach to help him imitate Charlie Chaplin's posture and mannerisms.
When Charlie Chaplin is at work on Shoulder Arms (1918), he asks his cameraman, Roland Totheroh, how the light is. Totheroh (and the rest of the crew) replies, "Better down at Barney's bar." That was the signal for production to end for the day. The "light" referred to the light beer served at Barney Oldfield's bar, which was the favorite drink and hangout for the crew after filming.
Sir Richard Attenborough's Director's Cut was two hours and thirty-seven minutes long, twelve minutes longer than the version shown in theaters. Attenborough said the cuts damaged the movie.
This movie was originally called "Charlie", as Chaplin was known among his friends, family, and fans. The makers of the Cliff Robertson movie, Charly (1968), complained that the title would lead to confusion with their movie, so this movie had to be renamed "Chaplin".
Kevin Kline was originally considered by producer and director Sir Richard Attenborough to play Charlie Chaplin. Kline originally turned down the role of Douglas Fairbanks because his child had just been born. Attenborough agreed to delay the shooting of Kline's scenes for a month.
Producer and director Sir Richard Attenborough turned down many movie roles because of obligations to the movies he had directed. Due to the post-production and promotion of this movie, he almost had to do so again when Steven Spielberg offered him the role of John Hammond in Jurassic Park (1993). However, Spielberg offered to move his production schedule to accommodate Attenborough.
This movie was to be distributed by Universal Pictures, but the studio wanted a bigger name than Robert Downey Jr. in the leading role, preferring Dustin Hoffman or Billy Crystal. When producer and director Sir Richard Attenborough refused to comply, this movie was put into turnaround, and a new producer had to be found. Mario Kassar agreed to take the reins, but demanded that the movie include the later part of Chaplin's life in Switzerland. William Goldman was then brought in to write these new scenes.
This movie received its limited release in the United States on December 25, 1992, the fifteenth anniversary of Charlie Chaplin's death.
When Charlie Chaplin (Robert Downey, Jr.) arrives in Hollywood (to join Mack Sennett (Dan Aykroyd)), a movie is being made. Chaplin joins in and improvises a complex scene. This was actually the final chase sequence from The Adventurer (1917). The location for the last shots of the opening sequence of the same movie were used when Chaplin takes Oona Chaplin (Moira Kelly) on a tour of his old haunts, just before they leave for Europe.
Robert Downey, Jr. mentioned in a 2013 interview that during his first audition, Sir Richard Attenborough held up a picture of Tom Cruise and told Downey that he was also considering Cruise for the part. Downey said that he was unsure if Cruise was actually in contention for the role, or whether this was merely a motivational tactic by Attenborough.
Robert Downey, Jr. recorded the song "Smile", which can be heard on the soundtrack from the movie. However, it was not used in the movie.
Producer and director Sir Richard Attenborough cast Marisa Tomei in the role of Mabel Normand after seeing her performance in Oscar (1991) on a transatlantic flight.
The producer and director Richard Attenborough later stated that Charlie Chaplin's The Gold Rush (1925) was his favourite film.
Nick Nolte was considered to play Charlie Chaplin in the later years of his life.
Co-producer Diana Hawkins was the one who suggested to Sir Richard Attenborough the idea of making a Charlie Chaplin biography movie, knowing that he was a fan of Chaplin.
In addition to playing her paternal grandmother Hannah Chaplin, Geraldine Chaplin was briefly depicted as an eight-year-old girl in a scene set in September 1952.
Charlie Chaplin's first wife, Mildred Harris, was 16 when they first met, had an affair, and got married, all within the same year. Milla Jovovich, who played Harris in the film, was also 16 at the time of filming, including performing her nude scenes. Regulations have changed since. Now only actresses 18 and older can perform nude in U.S. produced films.
Paulette Goddard did beat out Katherine Hepburn in the race to play Scarlett O'Hara. She was one of the two finalists for the role, losing only to Vivien Leigh.
Bryan Forbes' discarded script had a different beginning, and focused on some darker elements of Charlie Chaplin's life and personality. Although his script was not used, the WGA ruled that Forbes received writing credit, because much of the movie's framework was derived from his script.
Aside from Geraldine Chaplin who appeared in two of her father's movies, only one other actor in the cast had appeared in a movie with the real Sir Charles Chaplin. Phil Brown, who plays a projectionist (and who is best known as Uncle Owen Lars in Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977)), appeared with Chaplin in A King in New York (1957).
Sir Charles Chaplin's eyes were often described as strikingly blue by those who knew him. Robert Downey Jr.'s are hazel. They look dark brown, but the brighter lighting of his face in several scenes in Restoration (1995) revealed his eyes to be hazel with green highlights.
James Woods (Joseph Scott) filmed his role in one day.
Patsy Kensit auditioned for the role of Oona Chaplin.
In this movie, Roland Totheroh works with Charlie Chaplin at Keystone in 1914. Their working relationship actually started a year later. It lasted from 1915 until Chaplin was exiled from the United States in 1952. Jack Totheroh and David Totheroh, the son and grandson of Roland Totheroh, appear as cameramen in this movie.
This movie was one of many collaborations between Sir Anthony Hopkins and Sir Richard Attenborough, which includes A Bridge Too Far (1977), Magic (1978), and Shadowlands (1993).
Steven Spielberg offered Richard Attenborough the role of Tootles in Hook (1991), but he had to decline, as he was working on this film. Arthur Malet was cast instead. Spielberg later cast Attenborough as John Hammond in Jurassic Park (1993), which was his second acting role (including Chaplin, 1992) since The Human Factor (1979).
In preparing for this role, Robert Downey Jr. trained with vaudeville expert Johnny Hutch. Downey turned down several other projects during the extensive pre-production period to focus on perfecting his character in this picture.
Peter Sellers had sought to make a movie about Charlie Chaplin a few decades earlier.
John Goodman and Winona Ryder were attached to this movie at one time. They were considered for the roles of Mack Sennett and Mildred Harris.
This was John Thaw's final film before his death on February 21, 2002 at the age of 60.
Pierce Brosnan was considered to play Douglas Fairbanks. Sir Richard Attenborough cast Brosnan as the title character in Grey Owl (1999).
J. Edgar Hoover (Kevin Dunn) is arguing with Charlie Chaplin (Robert Downey, Jr.), guests at the table include Marion Davies (Heather McNair) and William Randolph Hearst (Jack Ritschel), both of whom played important roles in Chaplin's life.
Like many composers, John Barry, who scored this movie, developed a recognizable style. Part of a recognizable style is instrumental choices, melodic cues and striking certain notes or chords. In Barry's score for this movie, particularly, many similarities to his score for Out of Africa (1985) can be heard.
The cast includes three Oscar winners: Sir Anthony Hopkins, Marisa Tomei, and Kevin Kline; and four Oscar nominees: Robert Downey Jr., Dan Aykroyd, Diane Lane, and James Woods.
Deborah Moore, who plays Chaplin's second wife Lita Grey, was 28 during filming. Grey was 15 when she married Chaplin and 17 when they divorced.
Jeff Bridges, Nicolas Cage, Jim Carrey, John Cusack, Johnny Depp, Tom Hanks, and Antony Sher were considered for the title role.
The music that Chaplin plays on the tape recorder comes from the Finale to Elgar's "Enigma Variations".
James Woods claimed in the episode of The Simpsons (1989) in which he appeared that he actually travelled back in time to the 1920s to prepare for his role in this movie.
Johnny Depp did the forks in bread rolls dance gimmick Charlie Chaplin famously does at dinner, in Benny & Joon (1993).
Kevin Kline, Dustin Hoffman, Billy Crystal, and Robin Williams were all considered for the lead role per the AFI Catalog entry for this film.
Graham Sinclair (Master of Ceremonies) was the son-in-law of the director Richard Attenborough.
Gerald Sim (Doctor) was the brother-in-law of the director Richard Attenborough.
Robert Downey, Jr. and Marisa Tomei appeared in Only You (1994), Captain America: Civil War (2016), and Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017).
Johnny Depp met with Richard Attenborough to talk about the title role even though he knew he wouldn't be free to do it.
Myles Dobson auditioned for the role of the young Chaplin, but lost to Hugh Downer. However, this chance got him into acting.
Producer and director Sir Richard Attenborough's last name is mispronounced in the trailer as "Richard Attenburrow's Chaplin".
Robert Downey Jr and Marisa Tomei would later appear in Spiderman Far from Home (2019) and Spiderman Homecoming (2017).
Jim Carrey was considered for the role of Chaplin. He was subsequently considered for the role of Ian Malcolm in Jurassic Park (1993), in which he would have worked opposite Richard Attenborough.
Robert Downey Jr. has played both Sir Charles Chaplin and Sherlock Holmes (the latter in two movies). At the age of 14, the real Chaplin played Billy the page boy in William Gillette's stage play of Sherlock Holmes.
In this film, Kevin Kline plays actor Douglas Fairbanks. In the film, The Last of Robin Hood (2013), Kline plays Sir Errol Flynn. Flynn was widely considered to be the natural successor to Douglas Fairbanks. Both actors appeared mainly in swashbucklers; in particular both played Robin Hood.
There is a 3-way Canadian connection about Mack Sennett, who discovered Chaplin's talent in Hollywood. Sennett was Canadian-born (in Quebec) and is portrayed by Canadian-born Dan Aykroyd. In the France-dubbed French version, Aykroyd is dubbed by Canadian-born actor Richard Darbois, whose father, Olivier Guimond Jr. based his comedy skills partly from Charlie Chaplin.
Dan Aykroyd has appeared in prior films with several actors who have worked with Attenborough. He appeared in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)with Gandhi (1982) cast member Roshan Seth and Amrish Puri, and then in Sneakers (1992) with Ben Kingsley and Robert Redford (from A Bridge Too Far (1977)). The former film was also directed by Steven Spielberg, who directed Attenborough in Jurassic Park (1993).
Kevin Kline and Kevin Dunn worked together again less than a year later in Dave, which also featured Ben Kingsley from Gandhi (1982).
Kevin Dunn and Anthony Hopkins appeared together again in Nixon (1995), which also featured the character of J. Edgar Hoover, though not played by Dunn this time.
Gerald Sim appeared earlier this year in Patriot Games (1992), the second film featuring Jack Ryan. Attenborough's next film, Jurassic Park (1993), featured several more actors from that series: Sam Neill (The Hunt for Red October (1990)), Samuel L. Jackson (Patriot Games), and Miguel Sandoval (Clear and Present Danger (1994)).
Marisa Tomei, Robert Downey Jr and Anthony Hopkins have all appeared in the marvel cinematic universe.
One of two films on which Richard Attenborough has worked consecutive years with a composer whose first name is John. For Chaplin ((1992 as producer and director)), it's John Barry and for Jurassic Park ((1993 as actor)), it's John Williams.
