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Turns out the Dalai Lama had no plans to stiff Carl Spackler after all.
Nor did the big-hitting Lama promise his caddy would regain total consciousness on his deathbed.
It was all made up.
As part of Sports Illustrated’s recent Where are They Now edition, the surviving cast members of Caddyshack came clean on the filming of one of the only great sports movies ever made.
Aside from the rampant drug use and all-night parties that peppered filming of the 1980 golf flick, perhaps the most interesting revelation is the fact not a single line was written for Bill Murray’s brilliant character.
Hired because he was cheap (and his brother co-wrote the movie) Murray ad-libbed everything, including the brilliant “Cinderella story” scene where he was simply scripted to practise outside the clubhouse by cutting the tops of flowers with a grass whip.
“Everything we shot with him, he would just riff — that’s how he worked,” said director Harold Ramis, whose crew found Murray passed out in a sand trap (a.k.a. a waste bunker) one morning.
“It was pretty nuts on that set,” added Chevy Chase of the partying. “At night we would race golf carts down the fairways, people whacked out having a good time. The crew possessed whatever you needed.”
Rodney Dangerfield showed up in a limo on Day 1 of filming in Florida, pulled out a bag of cocaine and did two lines on a producers’ desk. Murray had just replaced Chase on Saturday Night Live and the two hated each other, making everyone on the set nervous about the one scene that had the two together in Carl’s shack where, amongst other things, he made up the story about caddying for the Lama.
Producers originally planned to cast Mickey Rourke as Danny Noonan and Bo Derek as Lacey Underall.
Murray, a former caddy who is now a mainstay on the celebrity golf circuit, tells a great story about following Jack Nicklaus and his son/caddy at the Masters several decades ago while trying to remain incognito. At one point, the younger Nicklaus turns to dad and says in Spackler’s voice, “I think it’s about a five iron.” Murray lit up, thinking, “Holy cow — that’s my joke!”
Now more notes, quotes and anecdotes from a sports world in mourning following the death of a finalist at the World Sauna Championships.
The Saskatchewan Roughriders made more than $325,000 when fans bought more than 12,000 special edition Riders licence plates over the last four months. Incidentally, that total is equivalent to the combined value of all registered vehicles in the province ... Thank-you Sportsnet for ensuring Flames PPV can mercifully RIP … If a pair of fans sat next to you at the Stamps game Sunday who appeared to be falling asleep, it may have been Keith Whittier and his girlfriend, who left Ottawa Thursday to attend all four CFL games this week. If only there were a few more fans who coveted the CFL the way Whittier does, the nation’s capital might still have a team … Edmonton Sun columnist Terry Jones has a good point when he wonders aloud when someone’s going to sneak into McMahon Stadium and paint the Olympic rings in the northeast corner of the stadium their proper colours. Leaving them all rust colour is indeed embarrassing.
Not only was the re-signing of Craig Conroy a popular move, but a savvy one too as the worst-case scenario for the club sees the 38-year-old centreman sent to the minors, where he could do wonders teaching prospects how to be professionals on and off the ice … Got a text from former Stamps quarterback Jeff Garcia last Wednesday saying, “Tonight is the night — the Bucs are coming to town. Pros vs Joes on Spike TV. Check it out!” Garcia, 40, is still seeking NFL employment ... Apparently, it’s in vogue to throw out ridiculous names like Warren Moon as candidates for the Eskimos GM job. So, with that in mind, why not give Taylor Hall the gig so he can save everything in Edmonton?
eric.francis@sunmedia.ca