10. Ken Loach Told David Bradley That Kes Had Been Killed For Real In The Final Scene - Kes (1969)
Ken Loach has made some of the most beloved British movies of all time, one of which is
Kes, a drama which centres around a young boy (as played by David Bradley) who befriends a kestrel. It's a sad and happy movie all at once, and one renowned for its gritty realism, realistic performances and great cinematography. If you've seen the movie (and stop reading now if you haven't), you'll know that it ends with the unfortunate death of the movie's eponymous kestrel, because that's how filmmakers like to punish us for paying to watch their movies. It's the kind of ending that might make even the toughest of Northern factory workers cry. When filming the movie's final scenes, though, David Bradley, who was fourteen at the time, was approached by Ken Loach, who told him that they'd have to really kill one of the three "Kes" kestrels that Bradley had bonded with over the course of the production. Bradley, just as anybody in his position would be, was devastated, and channelled all his upset and anguish into the subsequent scene - the one where he finds out that Kes has been killed. Which meant he had played right into Loach's hands, of course, because they didn't kill any of the birds, but had instead used a kestrel that had died of natural causes. Normally we wouldn't advise that anybody tell such a horrific, manipulative lie to a child, but in the case of
Kes, it worked - emotional scars aside, the pay-off was well worth it.