10 Craziest Cinema Demands Made By Hollywood
7. Warren Beatty Wanted “Cannon Fire” in Bonnie and Clyde
The iconic western Shane left a lasting impression on a teenage Warren Beatty back in the 1950s. His defining memory of the film was how much louder the gunfire was in the film's sound mix. This was a deliberate move by director George Stevens to startle his audience.
When Beatty produced and starred in 1967's Bonnie and Clyde, he wanted to emulate this same effect. He requested that director Arthur Penn and his sound department ensure that the sound of gunfire was much louder than anything else on the soundtrack. He wanted the guns to sound like cannons!
Fast forward to the film's UK premiere, and Beatty is horrified when he can hear that the gunshots are much lower in the mix. Immediately heading upstairs to the projection booth, the star confronts a slightly bewildered projectionist. After testing the print, the seasoned projectionist had assumed that the loud gunshots were a mistake and softened them before the premiere.
Rather than ruin the film, the projectionist asserted, he had "helped" Beatty's film, commenting that it was the worst sound mix he'd encountered since Shane!