A cena em questão é a cena William Friedkin se referiu como a mais difícil de sua carreira.
A ponte foi construída especificamente para o filme com cabos de aço feitos para parecer uma corda desgastada. Também tinha hidráulica oculta para controlar o movimento da ponte e dos veículos que a atravessavam. De acordo com o artigo da Wikipédia :
The bridge was designed by John Box using carefully hidden hydraulic components allowing control of the movements of the bridge and the trucks alike. Its first iteration was constructed in the Dominican Republic over a period of three months, and it required $1 million to complete.
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Logo após a conclusão, chuvas anormalmente baixas fizeram o rio secar, obrigando a tripulação a se mudar, para desanimar o estúdio. Eles encontraram um novo local no México.
The previously constructed bridge had to be disassembled and re-anchored. Friedkin's crew's arrival caused a major disturbance in the vicinity among the locals because of his reputation as a director of The Exorcist. However, a part of the population offered help to finish the structure. Ultimately, this river also became stricken with drought, which forced the application of some practical effects to complete the scene. In order to create artificial rain, Friedkin employed sewage pumps draining water from the river and diverting it to a sprinkler system. This scene alone, which lasts 12 minutes, took several months to complete and cost approximately three million dollars.
Em suma, a ponte, embora parecesse muito antiga e desgastada, era uma nova construção feita para parecer envelhecida e angustiada. Apesar de tudo isso ,
The bridge itself was so rickety that, despite the safety precautions, the truck (often with an actor inside of it) slid off the side and into the shallow water five times during rehearsals and filming.
Esse trecho foi confirmado em uma entrevista da Revista Esquire com Friedkin:
ESQ: I heard that the trucks fell into the river.
WF: We dumped those trucks many times with guys in them and had to fish them out, which took hours.
ESQ: It reminds me of when Francis Ford Coppola was making Apocalypse Now. You guys were making films that were dangerous to the cast and crews. Those films would never get made today.
WF: Nor should they. I believe today that there is no film and no shot in a film that is worth a squirrel getting a sprained ankle. We were irresponsible in that regard. Apocalypse Now is a great movie, and when you watch it you don't think about how dangerous it was to make, but it was.