The Freshman (1990 film)/Production

Bergman says "the most fun I ever had" as a filmmaker "was once Marlon [Brando] committed to play the character Jimmy the Toucan... Rewriting that, knowing Marlon was going to be saying all those lines? It was absolutely heaven.... On one level you’re like, I’m going to direct this guy!? But at the end of the day you say, well, somebody’s got to direct him, so what the hell, it’s going to be me. And he was really a pleasure to work with. It’s not like you’re dealing with George Burns in terms of a comedy god. Getting Marlon to do things was sometimes like turning around an aircraft carrier because he had a way he wanted to do it. But you could get him there. He was terribly respectful and funny."
Bergman says Matthew Broderick "was very hot at the time. He was impossible to get—he was like the hottest thing going!" but he agreed to do the film because of Brando. "Once Marlon was in the picture, you could get any actor you want... Olivier wanted to be in the movie [instead of Max Schell] but he was too sick.”
Though referred to in the movie as a "Komodo Dragon", the lizards supplied for filming were actually Asian water monitors, a slightly smaller relative. A tame specimen was used for scenes requiring the actors to interact with it, while the chase sequences used flightier lizards.
Category:Production