Really Spanked or Not?

Don't you believe it, these actors know exactly what their doing and the risks attached.
Many a director has been driven to distraction by a leading man who is willing to be injured for the sake of continuity, realism or as I mentioned in my original blog artistic integrity.
That's why they insist on them being so heavily insured and also why insurance companies have often stepped in and saved the actor from himself.
Any way I'm talking about an actress submitting herself to a smacked bottom not standing herself next to an exploding petrol tanker.

I remember Honor Blackman said that when they filmed the fight scene between her and Connery in Goldfinger she got thrown around a bit and bruised up from landing on her back on hard, thinly padded floors. She didn't complain because it wasn't all that uncommon for the same thing to happen when filming action scenes in The Avengers. Most of the on screen spankings were pretty brief and I don't think too many actresses would have had issues with a few slaps on the behind.

In Kes (the story of a boys' love for a Kestrel set in Yorkshire) a group of school boys were caned on their hands by the headmaster. In rehearsals they were told it would be a "pretend caning", but in the actual shooting it was the real thing! Fortunately the boys were not strangers to the cane and took it in good part.

Not porn stars, but the number of people who are at least curious about spanking and a little bit turned on by the idea is large. I just remember women in an office giggling over the name of a Scottish gentleman surnamed Spankie. Actors (the word is unisex) are practised in getting into character and often, I suspect, they're drawn to acting through a love of make-believe, so trying out something kinky without any intention of taking it up permanently may come easily to them.

Then of course there are powerful directors or stars in the roles demanding that they spank, and actors (usually female) who don't want to offend them.

I cannot now find a copy of the interview, but in it Maggie Gyllenhaal stated that not only was she really spanked in the famed "Secretary" scene - at her own request - that in two of the fifteen takes she was reduced to tears.

Her explanation was that to portray realistically a scene so divorced from her real life, it was necessary for her to experience it for real,

Huh, apparently real spankings for movie actors are the norm rather than the exception after all. I stand corrected.

Unlike the actors, who are corrected - then have to stand, as they can't sit down!

The older the movie the more likely that it was real - as long as it looks real. I've seen poorly staged spankings in a few old movies where it was clear that there were only pats landing.

More recent movies have effects. Padded seats, fake instruments, or a combination of the two. Often the method is mentioned in the DVD's commentary. For example, the True Grit remake included padding. The Ya Ya Sisterhood scene involved a light piece of velvet that was made to look like a leather belt but couldn't be felt.

Then you have stories that generally come from the 60s or earlier. If I recall correctly, after the coal scuttle bit Maureen O'Hara threatened to sue John Wayne for assault if he ever tried something like that again. Then there's the story about Cheaper by the Dozen. The young actor Jimmy Hunt was reportedly acting full of himself and Clifton Webb, the on screen father, decided they needed to "rehearse" a spanking scene.

Darn, some of the great "spanking movie" pages have died. The closest I can find for the Cheaper by the Dozen bit is from a web page on Jimmy Hunt at http://reocities.com/Hollywood/hills/3447/trivia.htm where it states:
During rehearsal's on Cheaper by the Dozen, Clifton Webb had to spank Jimmy for one of the scenes, but Jimmy states that he spanked him hard and he didn't like it. From then on, Jimmy wanted all rehearsals to be short, "Let's do the shot."

Goodgulf

The caning of the hands in Kes, reminds me of a similar trick that Alfred Hitchcock pulled in Psycho. When they rehearsed the shower scene they used warm water, but when it came to shooting the scene for real the great director ordered that the water be changed from warm to freezing cold to ensure he got the shocked reaction from Janet Leigh, she was unaware of this and it certainly seemed to work.

Directors are so cruel to actors, aren't they? They will do anything they have to in order to make a movie that fits with their vision.

Which is why I can see (and have written stories about) directors "surprising" actresses with spankings in their movies, TV shows, and commercials.

Goodgulf