The Dead Zone
In his mind, he has the power to see the future. In his hands, he has the power to change it.
Country
Genre
Budget
$10 000 000
Box office
$20 766 616
Director
Actors
Scenario
Producer
Camera operator
Composer
Artist
Carol Spier, Dan Davis
Audition
Janet Hirshenson, Jane Jenkins, Deirdre Bowen
Editing
Ronald Sanders
Whole Team (126)
Whole Team (126)
Short description
Johnny Smith is a schoolteacher with his whole life ahead of him but, after leaving his fiancee's home one night, is involved in a car crash which leaves him in a coma for 5 years. When he wakes, he discovers he has an ability to see into the past, present and future life of anyone with whom he comes into physical contact.
What's left behind the scenes
- David Cronenberg initially chose Hal Holbrook for the role of Sheriff George Bannerman. However, producer Dino De Laurentiis rejected his candidacy because he had never heard of the actor.
- The shot in which Johnny Smith sees himself lying in a burning bedroom was filmed without the use of composite shots: actor Christopher Walken was actually in the middle of a real fire.
- A stuntman was seriously injured during the filming of the flashback episode of World War II when a firecracker exploded at his feet.
- In the episode depicting a vision of the beginning of a nuclear war, President Greg Stillson, in his country residence at Camp David, threatens his military advisor that if he does not place his hand on the launch control screen, Stillson will cut it off and place it there himself. An earlier version of the script featured a more violent episode: Stillson shot the advisor and placed his dead hand on the screen.
- In the episode of Johnny Smith's first vision, among the toys on the shelf in the girl's room, a doll depicting the famous little Alien from Steven Spielberg's iconic film 'E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial' (1982) accidentally appeared. The filmmakers did not have the rights to use the image of the Alien, and Universal Pictures threatened them with a lawsuit. As a result, the episode had to be completely reshot.
- The "sweat" on Johnny Smith's face in the flaming bedroom episode was actually a special fire-retardant chemical that pyrotechnicians sprayed on actor Christopher Walken to protect him during filming. No one expected the chemical to create such an excellent sweat effect, which significantly enhanced the drama of the episode.
- To make Johnny Smith's shudders during the visions appear natural, that is, sudden, director David Cronenberg, standing next to the camera, fired a "Magnum-357" loaded with blanks at the appropriate moments. This was an original idea by actor Christopher Walken.
- The poem that Johnny Smith reads at the very beginning of the film is the finale of Edgar Allan Poe's legendary poem "The Raven".
- Johnny Smith (Christopher Walken) assigns his students to read Washington Irving's novel "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow." Much later, Christopher Walken played the Hessian Horseman in Tim Burton's "Sleepy Hollow" (1999) – a loose film adaptation of Washington Irving's novel.
- Sheriff George Bannerman (Tom Skerritt) is also a character in Stephen King's novel "Cujo," a film adaptation of which was released in 1983.
- In the final episode, as Sarah cries while embracing the dying Johnny, we hear her briefly stop crying to tell Johnny, “I love you.” But we don’t see her mouth as she says these words—this is because the original script didn't include these lines from Sarah, and her voice was dubbed in during post-production. This was done to make the film's finale more impactful.
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