Making an actress laugh

[gigglezgurlie]

A while ago someone posted on here about scenes in movies where an actress has to laugh...their theory was that the actress was being tickled off camera to produce the laughter. Anyone have any information or opinions on this? Or any scenes in movies that made you think maybe, just maybe? This came to mind when I was watching the original "Batman" the other night, the scene where the female news reporter is suddenly poisoned by the Joker's stuff and begins laughing uncontrollably. Any thoughts?

 

[Mimi]

Hmmm, I can't verify that for any actresses, but I do know of one case of this being done to an actor. Gedde Watanabe, the actor who played 'Long Duk Dong' on the movie "Sixteen Candles" had one scene in the movie where he is supposed to be extremely drunk and giggly while being grilled for information by his host family. He has stated in interviews that after shooting this scene a few times, he was getting hoarse and couldn't fake the laughter anymore. So right off camera, the director grabs ahold of Gedde's bare feet and begins to tickle the hell out of him while the entire scene is being shot.

If you've ever seen the movie, then you know that it got the job done...marvelously.

Mimi

 

[Collin]

They are just acting. Laughter would be easier to act out than the crying, with tears that some can act out. I don't know how they do it (onions?)...

 

[phatteus]

tears are produced on screen by plucking nose hairs

 

[Iggy pop]

I'm sure this has been done in a couple of instances, but I assure you it's not a common thing. I've been on a couple of movie sets and it is mainly just acting.

 

[Tickler Bart]

In The Brothers Karamozov, Gloria Pall WAS tickled on her feet, according to her.

http://www.gloriapall.com/ticklebk.htm

There was a few scenes during 'I dream of jeannie' that has me VERY suspiscious.
I rememeber a few scenes where Barbara Eden (Heavy Sigh! I still lopve her) is laughing uncontrollably BUT her FEET were hidden or off camera. Makes ya wanna go Hmmm....

 

[chrisheaven]

she would have been being tickled

 

[Gemma]

I should have that job.

*Professional actress tickler* sounds good.

 

[daddy]

In The Brothers Karamozov, Gloria Pall WAS tickled on her feet, according to her.

http://www.gloriapall.com/ticklebk.htm

There was a few scenes during 'I dream of jeannie' that has me VERY suspiscious.
I rememeber a few scenes where Barbara Eden (Heavy Sigh! I still lopve her) is laughing uncontrollably BUT her FEET were hidden or off camera. Makes ya wanna go Hmmm....

That is actually why she got the job believe it or not. It was one of the most popular mainstream tickling scenes for years and is still one of the best!!!

peace out,
daddy

 

[milagros317]

Gloria's book is well worth having. I recommend buying it.

 

[ShadowTklr]

OKay, this is a very short tickle, but, at the end of the movie "Shanghai Noon" with Jackie Chan, Owen Wilson, and Lucy Lui, they show outtakes of different scenes.

There is a scene in which Jackie Chan falls on top of Lucy Lui while she is lying flat on her back. He then uses his long hair to tickle Lucy Luis face. Her laughter is incredibly cute and definitely genuine.

Anyone else see that?

 

[duannewalton]

RE: the Batman scene

In that scene, the lady falls to the floor and her legs go flying up into the air, and she has her shoes on, so they couldn't have done it on her feet (maybe her sides).

 

[Ticklebell]

Nose hairs? Plucking nose hairs? Scoff scoff!! I'll show you some crying on cue, nosehair boy! lol
A good actor shouldn't need anything. Granted, lots of crappy screen actors (uh, Hilary Duff?) use glycerin. They put glycerin in your eyes for the shot and it makes these big perfect tears come out, so you don't need actual talent. But I'll tell you something. You won't find Meryl Streep asking for glycerin. And you can't fake that shight on stage. Thar blows my shpiel for the day. Tootles! Mwah!

-Bell

 

[n2tickling]

While I was stage manager for a production of Greater Nebula in Orion an actress had to laugh and it was never convincing enough so during a rehearsal the assistant director tickled her as she performe d the scene.

 

[Oddjob0226]

In the 1940s film Variety Girl the lead actress get tickled on camera. Years later (the 1980s) the actress Mary Hatcher mentioned that to get her to laugh for the tickling scene they actually did tickler her.

The Rowan & Martin film Three On A Horse has a scene where a woman's feet burst through a wall & she is treapped. On the other side a dog licks her soles and she goes crazy. It is said that the woman was the wife of director Hal Kantor... and they were going through a divorce. In getting her to laugh in the reverse shot (where her body is stuck in the wall) he had someone hidden on the other side of the wall tickling her soles. If you watch the scene, note how the woman turns away offscreen with her face set in anger, right before the cut (you can here a single laugh off mic from out of camera range). She wasn't expecting to be tickled, she thought she was just going to act, and was furious about it!

And if you see the John Goodman film The Babe there's a bedroom scene where Kelly McGillis is tickling his as they wrestle around, even though they are both laughing. Even though she's the one doing the tickling, listen to the soundtrack of their laughing (recorded elsewhere) & you can hear her say "don't tickle me...." as she laughs.