Factual error: The whole Bowfinger scenario is impossible. They are using a 35mm Panavision cine camera which cannot be focused through the lens; it needs precise measurements on the set in order to be properly in register. Then there are the light readings required to ensure proper exposure. Wouldn't Kit Ramsay notice the man with the light meter, or the one with the tape recorder? Both measurements would have to be done with him or an identically dressed and made up stand-in (a "lighting double") on the spot. Then there is the sound. Any sound recordist worth his salary will have the microphone within centimetres of his subject, and he'll have a boom operator keeping in there. We don't even see a microphone in use! Please don't tell me this is based on the clandestine filming of Mary Pickford during her Russian visit: that was done with old black and white film which has very wide tolerance to exposure and most of all it was silent, and she was aware of the camera crew, she just thought they were news crews. (And the results were rubbish anyway).
Bowfinger (1999)
Directed by: Frank Oz
Starring: Eddie Murphy, Robert Downey Jr., Steve Martin, Heather Graham, Terence Stamp, Jamie Kennedy, Christine Baranski
Genres: Comedy
Factual error: Daisy is an out of work jobbing actress but she has a credit card that will take the cost of developing and printing the stock used to shoot a feature film in 35mm! Since they are watching colour rushes with synchronised sound on film (not cheaper video) they are not doing this on the cheap, either. Minimum cost, for a 90 minute feature, allowing four takes of each shot (which we see them do) - £41,000.00 or around US$85,000.00. That's some credit card. Anyone got the name of the issuing company?
Continuity mistake: As Daisy walks past Slater to see Bobby, her arms are at her sides. In the next shot, her hands are behind her back, clenched together.
Trivia: The character of Daisy (played by Heather Graham) is a thinly veiled jab at actress Anne Heche. Like Daisy, Anne is from Ohio, and, also like Daisy, Anne was briefly romantically involved with Steve Martin. Daisy's last lines about being involved with "the most powerful lesbian in Hollywood" are a reference to Anne's relationship at the time with Ellen DeGeneres.
Trivia: The plot was based on a real Russian filmmaker who secretly shot silent film star Mary Pickford while she was on vacation, and decided to base a film around her.
Trivia: During Daisy's topless scene, Jiff Ramsey says to Daisy, "You're doing great! You're gonna be a star." Eddie Murphy ad-libbed this line.
Kit's Agent: This is a great script! Look, it's not Shakespeare, but it.
Kit: Hey, what did you just say?
Agent: I said, 'it's not Shakespeare'.
Kit: 'It's not Shake... ', 'It's not Shake... ' (to Freddy) Do you hear what he's doing?
Freddy: I know he's doing something, I just can't put my finger on it. Yeah, yeah, yeah... What's he doing?
Kit: Shakespeare, Freddy, Shakespeare.
Freddy: Shakespeare?
Kit: Shake a spear! Spearchucker! I'm a spearchucker now.
Kit: Go call Arnold and Sly, and Jackie Chan and Van Damme, and tell them the spearchucker said hello.
Kit: White boys always get the Oscar. It's a known fact. Did I ever get a nomination? No! You know why? Cause I hadn't played any of them slave roles, and get my ass whipped. That's how you get the nomination. A black dude who plays a slave that gets his ass whipped gets the nomination, a white guy who plays an idiot gets the Oscar. That's what I need, I need to play a retarded slave, then I'll get the Oscar.
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Answer: It's done with CGI. Such freeway scenes are impossible to do with stunt drivers as you would need very complicated choreography to make it look believable.
lionhead