10 Things You Never Knew About Anaconda (1997) | ScreenRant
Luis Llosa's 1997 creature-feature Anaconda has become one of the most beloved bad movies ever made. The big-budget B-movie has been listed among the 100 Most Enjoyable Bad Movies in The Official Razzie Movie Guide written by Golden Rasberry Award founder John Wilson.
The film follows a National Geographic film crew venturing into the Amazon jungle to capture footage of exotic wildlife, only to be held hostage by a maniacal poacher intent on finding the world's largest snake. With a budget of $45 million, Anaconda opened number one at the domestic box-office when released on April 11, 1997, earning $16.6 million opening weekend and a total of $136 million internationally. It has since become a cult classic that has spawned a slew of sequels.
10 Casting Paul Serone
Before the part was ultimately awarded to Jon Voight, several big-name actors were in the running for Paul Serone, the nefarious wildlife poacher in the film. Jean Reno was considered for the role, while Sean Connery and Tommy Lee Jones declined it outright.
Other veteran actors in consideration for Serone included Jack Nicholson, Martin Sheen, Kirk Douglas, John Malkovich, Liam Neeson, and Harrison Ford.
9 Casting Terri & Denise
Prior to Jennifer Lopez being cast as Terri Fores, the character's surname was Porter. Other actresses considered for the role included Jennifer Aniston, Kate Beckinsale, Nicole Kidman, Juliette Binoche, Sandra Bullock, and Kim Basinger. Gillian Anderson and Juliana Marguiles both declined the role of Terri.
As for the role of Denise Kalberg (Kari Wuhrer), everyone from Cameron Diaz, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Izabella Scorupco to Annette Bening and Teri Hatcher was in the running. Gillian Anderson auditioned as Denise after turning down the role of Terri.
8 Casting Danny & Dr. Cale
Just like Paul Serone, Terri Flores, and Denise Kalberg, several other actors could have been cast as Danny Rich (Ice Cube) and Dr. Steven Quale (Eric Stoltz) in Anaconda.
For the role of Danny Rich, everyone from Bill Murray, Will Smith, and Ving Rhames to Albert Brooks, and Keith David were envisioned. As for Dr. Cale, Billy Crystal, Michael J. Fox, Ben Stiller, Ray Romano, Dennis Quaid, and Dave Foley were up for the role.
7 Animatronic & Computer-Generated Snakes
Anaconda features a balanced mixture of practical animatronic snakes and ones that are computer-generated. Because CGI was so expensive at the time, every second of screen time depicting the CG-snakes cost $100,000.
The two primary snakes featured in the film were achieved through animatronics. For the Queen snake, a 40-foot model that weighed roughly 5,000 pounds (2.5 tons) was used. The second Warrior model was an animatronic device that measured 25-feet and roughly 1,500 pounds.
6 Academy Of Sciences Honor
The aforementioned 40-foot animatronic model for the Queen Anaconda seen in the film currently resides in San Francisco at the California Academy of Sciences.
The large model has been placed inside the Amazon Rainforest, Aquarium, and Snake Pit attraction at the Academy. The model has had the skin and tail removed, displaying the snake's endoskeleton and complex circuitry of the animatronic wiring.
5 Reverse Waterfall
At one point during Anaconda, a scene plays so blatantly in reverse that a waterfall can be seen dripping upward.
The scene occurs just as Paul Serone plummets into the water before. As the boat slips off the rocks, the waterfall in the background is clearly moving up the cliff in reverse, indicating that the scene was played backward in the editing process.
4 Unsynced ADR
Anaconda originally had a much more explicit language that would have likely resulted in an R-rating from the MPAA. To ensure a PG-13 rating, several lines of dialogue are dubbed via ADR, many of which do not match the lips of the characters who speak.
For example, the word "freaking" is often replaced for its more profane counterpart. Ice Cube's dialogue as Danny Rich is particularly mismatched, as the cleaned-up dialogue he recorded in post-production often fails to sync with his mouth while speaking.
3 Ice Cube's Musical References
At least two overt references to Ice Cube's rap career are made during Anaconda. The most obvious comes when Cube's character, Danny Rich, utters that "today is a good day," a clear reference to Cube's 1992 hit single.
More subtle is the scene in which Danny listens to the song "Foe Life" by gangster rap artist Mack 10. Ice Cube co-wrote the song with Mack 10, his fellow Westside Connection rap group member.
2 Monkey's Blood Props & Snake Eyes
One of the most memorably macabre scenes in the film comes when Serone baits the Anacondas by throwing chum in the form of monkey's blood into the water. Believe it or not, no fake blood was used for the scene. Instead, the "monkey's blood" was created by using a mixture of jelly and plum juice.
Although anacondas have round, spherical pupils in real life, the snakes in the film were given slanted pupils to make them appear more dangerous.
1 Planned Reboot
In January of 2020, Sony Pictures announced plans to restart the Anaconda franchise from scratch. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the film is currently in development with writer Evan Daugherty hired to pen the screenplay.
Daugherty is responsible for writing Snow White and the Huntsman, Killing Season, Divergent, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Tomb Raider. He's also been announced as the writer of the Snow White spinoff Rose Red as well as the pilot episode of TV series The Adventures of El Borak.
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