When Fox released Romancing the Stone in 1984, they never dreamed of creating a classic that would be so imitated for decades to come. A huge success at the box office (although not so much critically), it brought together a series of non-sensical situations. It established an unbeatable trio (Kathleeen Turner, Michael Douglas, and Danny DeVitto) and a formula that produced copy after copy. Let’s look at 10 interesting facts about the production:

1- The landslide really injured Kathleen Turner

One of the most famous scenes is when Joan Wilder (Kathleen Turner) is “knocked down” by a mudslide in the forest, and dragged for many meters until she falls into a puddle. The force of the water in the scene was so real that the actress cut herself and needed several stitches. The realism was worth it!

2- The Rolex that saved the alligator’s trainer’s hand

I’m going to stop talking about classic moments because there are so many. The “stone” of the English title is the jewel that Jack T. Colton (Douglas) tries to help Joan locate to save his sister. In the scene in which he grabs the tail of the alligator that had eaten the emerald, the reptile gives him two powerful blows to the face. But that was nothing compared to the other real risk that Michael Douglas almost took.

The animal’s jaw was closed by trainers, but it plunged into the bay and the team had to locate it, which was made worse because it was night. Hearing screams, they reached the alligator but didn’t realize that he had already let go of the wire. The two trainers entered the water without suspecting the real risk they were running and yes, the alligator bit one of their hands. After a lot of struggle, they managed to rescue the man and take him to the hospital, with his hand badly injured.

‘My Rolex,’ he whispered to Douglas. So they discovered that what saved the total loss of the hand was because the alligator bit the watch by mistake. And yes, divers returned to the scene and found the saving rolex. The actor recalled years later that they forgot to confirm that it was still working.

3- Michael Douglas had to fight to star in the film

In 1984, Michael Douglas had an Oscar as a producer but was still seen as a television actor, with no appeal for cinema. As a result, even though he was the producer of Romancing the Stone, he was not considered to be the star of the film.

Clint Eastwood and Burt Reynolds were invited but turned down the role. With that, Douglas finally got the role he wanted so much and in fact, he became a movie star after its release, having a series of hits and even winning the Oscar for Best Actor for Wall Street years later.

4- Kathleen Turner was also not the 1st option

The person chosen to play Joan Wilder was Debra Winger, who at the time was filming Terms of Endearment, for which she would be nominated for an Oscar. The recordings were waiting for her response as to whether she would really be able to travel and, given the actress’ silence, they looked for someone else.

Kathleen Turner was not the obvious choice for the homely, spinsterly writer as at the time she was Hollywood’s biggest sex symbol, having starred in the hugely successful Body Heat just three years earlier. Because she had already appeared alongside Steve Martin in The Man with Two Brains, did you know she could be funny, but insecure and demure? It was a challenge. We know how capable she proved to be.

5- Robert Zemeckis lost Cocoon because of Romancing the Stone

Michael Douglas chose Robert Zemeckis to direct the film, but Fox executives didn’t like what they saw in the first cut. And because of distrust, they fired him from his next project, which would have been Cocoon, which they passed on to Ron Howard.

Worse for the studio, which, upon seeing the final version, went back on it but now met with the director’s rejection. Zemeckis’ next film was none other than Back to the Future.

6- An improvisation generated a famous quote

The phrase “I am an incurable romantic”, which has since become one of the most famous in film (and in cinema), was an improvisation by Michael Douglas. It is perfect.

7- A song that became a classic from the 1980s

On the soundtrack of Romancing the Stone, the credits closed with a new song by Billy Ocean: When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going, which became one of the anthems of the 1980s.

The fact that the trio participated in the music video also helped the song’s success.

8- Instead of Colombia, the forest in Mexico

Joan Wilder becomes the unwitting target of Colombian drug traffickers and travels to the country to save her sister, who has been kidnapped. There would be no way to make a believable forest in the studio, it had to be in situ. However, the 1980s in Colombia were marked by extreme violence and insecurity, so there was no way to film in the country.

Therefore, the main recordings were made in Mexico, recreating the Colombian jungle settings to maintain authenticity.

9- Tragedy struck the team with the unexpected death of the screenwriter

Romancing the Stone was Diane Thomas‘s first – and last – screenplay. The former waitress worked on the story that earned an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay, but tragically, she died in a car accident just weeks before the ceremony. Sadness is present to this day for everyone who worked on the film because she never saw that her work would become such a lasting classic.

10- The sequel didn’t work

What does Hollywood do when it has a mega-hit on its hands? Invent ways to earn even more with it. As the film made more than 80 million dollars at the box office (it cost around 10), they rushed to have a sequel, with The Jewel of the Nile. Everything that went right went wrong in the film, with an angry Kathleen Turner suing the studios for being contractually forced to participate in the production, even when she warned that the script was weak.

The friendship with Douglas and DeVitto, however, remained intact. They also made War of the Roses and recently, she made a cameo in the series The Kominsky Method, as the actor’s ex-wife. The trio’s chemistry was never lost.

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