MovieChat Forums > Dead of Night (1974) Discussion > Andy played by different actor in the op...

Andy played by different actor in the opening scene!

posted 15 years ago by dwkelly
2 replies | jump to latest

Interesting piece of trivia. I just watched this film for the first time ever last night, and didn't even realize that Richard Backus did not appear in the opening scene. As described at this link, the opening scene was added later, and they had to sign on a different actor to play the role:

http://www.horror-wood.com/deathdream.htm

--Daniel W. Kelly, author, "Closet Monsters: Zombied Out and Tales of Gothrotica"

[–] crywolf-814-618006 13 years ago

In an interview with the gentleman who played Andy, the young man we see get shot in the beginning was a friend of Andy. Andy is laying on the ground, possibly mortally wounded and its his P.O.V. that the opening scene is shot.

"SHE BREATHED ON ME! A DEAD PERSON BREATHED ON ME!!"

[–] ZolotoyRetriever 9 years ago

Andy is laying on the ground, possibly mortally wounded and its his P.O.V. that the opening scene is shot.

That doesn't quite add up, though. When the first guy gets shot, some other soldier comes over to him, calling out, "Darren! Darren!" and hovers over him. The P.O.V. shot that we see is this first soldier (Darren) looking up at the other guy hovering over him. A few seconds later, the second soldier gets shot. It is so darkly lit, I can't tell if the second soldier was shot by enemy fire, or committed suicide with his own gun. But in any case, the guy lying on the ground is apparently not Andy, because the other guy calls him Darren. So anyway, it appears there are two dead soldiers in the opening segment.