So John Rad started this in the '70s, completed it in the '90s, and finally got it released in 2005? That's a very interesting productions schedule. Anybody got some more information on this? Did he just shoot a little bit at a time as money allowed?
shareI'd guess a lot of the delay was trying to get it into theaters.
shareIn the beginning, he shot a little bit at a time as money allowed, exactly as you said.
Then, the actress who played Mina broke her leg while shooting a scene, she asked Rad to pay for the expenses. He refused, she left production, and Rad didn't have an ending.
Around the mid-nineties, he decided to introduce in an early scene the character of Daniel, the cop and brother, so he could complete the story in some way. You can notice there's a decade between the two sections, as the hair style and the look of film are noticeably different. And, apparently, he resumed production the same way, a little bit at a time, doing more shuffling for the characters.
Hero cop drives a Volvo 740 GLE (introduced 1984). Femme fatale watches a Sony KX-1901 TV (introduced 1982). Biker guy wears a Lynyrd Skynyrd 1991 tour T-shirt. Belly dancer wears a 1994 Hard Rock Cafe jersey. '80s and '90s brands and hairstyles abound everywhere. Yep, totally filmed in the '70s.
There were two versions of the picture. The first was shot in 1984 and was "completed" then. The MPAA saw that, whatever it was they saw, and rated it "R" that year. The Iranian auteur then went back and shot new wraparound scenes, probably in 1994, creating the disjointed monstrosity we have now. That's the version you've seen. Of course, Rad had no right to use the MPAA seal in the closing credits, as they have no record of being shown the second cut with the reshoots. I'm curious to know what the first cut looked like. Apparently, it was padded out with footage from his first American picture, "Under the Cover of Night," as the Film Ratings website lists that as an alternate title. The screenplay for it is in the Library of Congress with a 1983 date and the music recorded for it in is there with a 1984 date, indicating everything in the first cut was shot in '84.