Making movies out of board games has become something of a trend these days (lookin’ at you, Ouiji), but back in the early ’80s, the idea of turning a children’s toy into a feature length film was quite outlandish. Even more outlandish, still, was trying to emulate the chance endings that came with every round of game play. Yet, Paramount Pictures took the gamble – on both fronts.
Clue, based on the murderous game of the same name, left audiences baffled in 1985 because, rather than your run-of-the-mill finale, moviegoers watched one of three different endings, dependent on what theater they visited. Eighties viewers were not on board for the high-concept film, however, and it was a major flop, finishing sixth in its opening weekend.
Yet, in the three decades since, Clue has become a cult classic, inspiring tributes and winning new fans that have found love for the quirky mystery and smartly hilarious characters played by stars like Tim Curry and Christopher Lloyd. Basically, the film suffered only from being before its time.
In honor of Clue‘s 30th anniversary on Sunday, here’s more on that infamous lost ending and some other things you might not know about the whodunit.
The movie went through five different screenwriters.
Before Jonathan Lynn signed on as screenwriter (and eventually, director), the movie was merely just an idea in John Landis’ head. At first hoping to direct the film himself, Landis scribbled together the story’s basic framework and then pitched the concept to not one, not two, but ultimately five different screenwriters.
First up was playwright Tom Stoppard, who spent a year with the script before hitting a block. Landis said Stoppard sent him a letter that basically read “I give up.” Next was Stephen Sondheim, then Anthony Perkins. At one point, Landis even pitched the pair as a writing team but Paramount couldn’t afford their lofty fee. Here’s Landis talking to Buzzfeed about it in their highly recommended oral history about the film:
“Paramount said, ‘Who do these people think they are?!’ And I remember saying, ‘Who do they think they are?! It’s f*cking Stephen Sondheim! He wrote GYPSY!’ Anyway. They said no.”
Eventually, Lynn came along, finished the script and took over directing duties so Landis could produce.
The director wanted Rowan Atkinson to play the butler.
When Lynn’s first choice for Wadsworth (Leonard Rossiter) died unexpectedly, he decided a pre-Mr. Bean Rowan Atkinson fit the bill, but the studio rejected him due to his low-name recognition in the U.S. at the time. Here’s Lynn talking to Buzzfeed:
“They’d never heard of him and absolutely weren’t interested. He sent a tape of him doing lots of sketches and funny things. I don’t know if they watched it.”
Jane Wielding of The Go-Go’s was the film’s Singing Telegram Girl
It’s only a short few seconds of screen time, but the film’s singing telegram girl was a memorable part – it made even a tense scene in the campy murder mystery humorous.
So who was the singing woman who was too short for this world? Jane Wielding, one of the founders of iconic group The Go-Go’s. While Wielding has popped up on screen from time to time (she was also in Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure), she’s best known for writing many of the iconic group’s songs, including “Our Lips Are Sealed.”
The set was furnished with pieces from Teddy Roosevelt’s home.
The story called, obviously, for a lavish mansion, and rather than track down the real deal for the filming, producers opted to completely build a 1950s-style mansion on the Paramount lot – the same lot used for the original Rear Window.
To furnish their new estate, set designers rented 18th and 19th century antiques from real homes, which, according to one residential and commercial furniture specialist, included Teddy Roosevelt’s former house in upstate New York.
Some of the noted, luxurious furnishings used included a Hendell eagle lamp in the library, a Brunswick pool table and vintage Lenox china.
Exteriors and the ballroom scene, however, were shot at a mansion in South Pasadena.
Lynn made the entire cast watch His Girl Friday before filming.
Rather than ask his cast to watch similar films like And Then There Were None or Ten Little Indians, Lynn instead made His Girl Friday required viewing.
In the 1940 movie, a newspaper editor (Cary Grant) uses a juicy story to entice his reporter ex-wife back into his life after learning she’s engaged. Rosalind Russell’s character, however, quickly discovers there’s more behind the headline and launches a fight to help reveal a convicted murderer’s innocence.
Lynn wanted his actors to play the scenes with the film’s “same breakneck pace.”
A fourth ending was written but ultimately scrapped.
It’s pretty well known that Lynn wrote another ending in addition to the three that made it to theaters, but what that lost ending was is somewhat shrouded in debate. In general, we know it included dogs – seriously.
Lynn insists that he doesn’t remember what happened in the fourth finale, while actor Michael McKean, aka Mr. Green, thinks it involved “most of the cast… being chased by Dobermans.”
The internet, however, largely believes a different story which was laid out in Clue: The Novel, a 1986 book by Michael McDowell. It goes as follows:
The murderer is revealed to be… Wadsworth, the butler. He did it all. He goes into a confession about how he always tried to be perfect. He tried to be the perfect husband, but his wife killed herself. He tried to be the perfect butler, but was driven to killing his boss… So, in doing so, he resolved to commit the perfect murder… but that can’t be, because there are six witnesses to his confession.
Wrong, he points out. The champagne was poisoned, and all of the suspects will die in a matter of hours unless they get to a hospital. He then runs to the various rooms ripping out the phone cords. He then tells how he is going to lock them in to die… but the doorbell rings. It’s the elderly evangelist again.
The evangelist lunges for Wadsworth’s gun, and wrestles him to the ground as the other police come in. The police ask whodunit, and Wadsworth begins to retell the whole story (as he did at the beginning of the murder revelations).
The cops are watching mesmerized as he tells the story. But when he gets to the part where he opens the door to find Colonel Mustard, he steps outside, closes, and locks the door. The cops and guests are locked in, but eventually bust out of the conservatory to escape. Meanwhile, Wadsworth has jumped into the car and speeds away… but not totally, because he then hear the “grrrrr” of the German shepherd in the backseat.
Lynn had never directed a movie before.
Lynn’s background was varied – first he was an actor on stage and film, and then a television screenwriter – but never had it included director. In fact, the project was not only his first behind the camera for a feature film, but his first ever as a director.
Despite his inexperience, the cast said Lynn’s musical theater background made them feel secure. As Eileen Brennan told the New York Times:
“Jonathan instilled an enormous sense of trust among all the actors. When you ask him a question, he has an answer. Maybe it’s because he built the script, so he understands it better than anyone else possibly could.”
Lynn, of course, went on to find further success in the director’s chair. He helmed not only 1992’s My Cousin Vinny, but also Sgt. Bilko in 1996, and The Whole Nine Yards in 2000.
The entire main cast received the exact same salary.
The recent hubbub about Hollywood’s gender wage gap was apparently not an issue back in 1985 on the set of Clue. In fact, to keep it fair and avoid drama, the entire cast of the movie received the exact same salary. According to the New York Times, a contract clause negotiated by producers ensured that all the main stars were paid the same, had the same billing and had access to the same amenities.
And it worked wonders. Tim Curry said that there was no competition amongst the actors and that “people have actually gone out of their way to give other actors better camera angles.”
Carrie Fisher dropped out just weeks before rehearsals – because she was in rehab.
Actress Carrie Fisher (yes, Princess Leia) originally signed on to play Miss Scarlet, but just weeks before rehearsal, had to enter rehab due to substance abuse problems. Lynn said the signs of trouble were all there – the first time he ever met her she had fallen off a chair – but he hadn’t noticed.
The director told Buzzfeed that Fisher still wanted to do the movie, and said she could leave rehab during the day to film as long as she returned at night.
“I thought, Really? So I asked [producer] Debra Hill, and Debra said, ‘Yes, that sounds good.’ I think Debra was also on cocaine, but I didn’t know that. Then it was put to Dawn Steel, and she didn’t seem to have a problem with it. I didn’t know that everyone in Hollywood was snorting cocaine. I was really naive. They weren’t doing that in Hampstead, where I lived. Then the insurance company got involved and said, ‘Absolutely not. What are you thinking?!’ — which surprised everybody but me.”
Moviegoers were given paper to take notes during the screening.
In an attempt to make moviegoers feel as if they were a part of the action, the film’s distributors had theaters provide slips of paper with every ticket. Modeled after the notepads from the board game, each slip allowed audience members to keep track of the characters, take notes, and formulate their own opinions about the murderous perpetrator.
