Good Morning POU! Here are some interesting facts about the making of the 1988 movie “Mississippi Burning”.
“MISSISSIPPI BURNING” was released on this day 35 years ago. pic.twitter.com/ZQNnb5lBdL
— Films to Films (@filmstofilms_) December 9, 2023
The news interview clips were filmed by the film’s director Alan Parker, with real locals from Mississippi, and their lines were ad-libbed when talking about their disgust and hatred for black people, with only minor prompting. Parker said it was at times an uncomfortable experience, since he wasn’t always sure if they didn’t believe what they were saying.
Many of the extras participating in Clayton Townley’s speech scene, were actual members of the Ku Klux Klan, and used their clan membership cards as ID.
At one point, Gene Hackman decided that he would no longer make more violent films, after seeing a brief and violent clip of his performance in this film (and taken out of context, he thought) at the 1989 Academy Awards. That stance prevented him from accepting a future job as director of “The Silence of the Lambs” (1991) and almost cost him the Sheriff role in “Unforgiven” (1992), which he reluctantly accepted after being convinced by Clint Eastwood, a role that earned great acclaim, and his second Oscar.
The Director, Alan Parker, and his crew whipped up batches of what they called “OMD” or “Old Man’s Dick”. This ugly mix of purple, yellow, and brown was painted on every piece of set, every chair, every table top, every prop. They made up a dye, and dipped costumes into it, everyone’s from the FBI Agents, the white supremacists, and the black civil rights campaigners, who are murdered at the start. Stephen Tobolowsky (Clayton Townley) saw the process first hand, then went to the film’s premiere, and wondered why the stuff wasn’t showing up on-screen. Parker ambushed him afterwards and asked him, “What did you see?”. Tobolowsky said he hadn’t seen “OMD” Parker replied, “I didn’t ask you what you didn’t see, I asked you what you saw.” Tobolowsky suddenly realized his eyes were drawn to the black actor’s skin. “Alan’s face turned a lovely red, and he said, ‘Right’,” Tobolowsky said. The only thing “OMD” didn’t touch was human skin. You watch the film, and the “OMD” is invisible, but it gives everything, except human skin, a dull sameness, that makes your eyes look elsewhere, to human skin, the most important visual in a film about racism.