Tommy - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[discussimdb]

Fan of Tommy or just want to share your movie knowledge? This topic is dedicated to all trivia and questions related to Tommy

[lena]

For years after the album's release, Pete Townshend felt that a film version would be a mistake and that the story wasn't strong enough. Townshend spent a year bulking up the story with Ken Russell and writing new music for the film version.

[ray]

The Sally Simpson character is played by Victoria Russell, director Ken Russell's own daughter. She later became a noteworthy costume designer.

[violet]

Hot on the heels of this movie's release, Roger Daltrey and Paul Nicholas appeared together again in director Ken Russell's film Lisztomania (1975), playing fictionalized versions of, respectively, composers Franz Liszt and Richard Wagner.

[chad]

There were several new songs written especially for the movie that weren't on the original album. Among those were "Champagne", "Mother and Son", and "TV Studio". Also, a couple of songs were re-written with either new lyrics ("Pinball Wizard", "We're Not Gonna Take It", and "Do You Think it's All Right?"), or new titles ("1951" was originally called "1921" on the original release of "Tommy").

[sophie]

Eric Clapton appears in the film as a favor for Pete Townshend, who helped him kick his heroin addiction.

[brent]

Ann-Margret largely improvised the infamous bean scene. Director Ken Russell simply told her that her character was having a nervous breakdown, and that she could do whatever she wanted. Unfortunately, at one point during filming, her hand accidentally struck the broken glass of the television screen and Russell had to rush her to the hospital for stitches.

[terry]

All of the movie was filmed to a recorded soundtrack, except for the "Pinball Wizard" sequence, in which The Who really did play in front of the theatre audience (Sir Elton John's band, however, is featured on the soundtrack). When the fans rush the stage at the end of the sequence, that wasn't scripted, but caused by the excitement The Who's live performance generated, particularly when Pete Townshend started to smash his guitar.

[edgar]

DIRECTOR_CAMEO(Ken Russell One of the disabled people during "Eyesight to the Blind/Marilyn Monroe" sequence. He can also be seen in the "Tommy's Holiday Camp" sequence in the junkyard at the end of the film. He's in a wheelchair.

[carla]

In 1977, Eel Pie Publishing released "The Story of Tommy" by Richard Barnes & Pete Townshend. The latter recalled the rock opera from its genesis onward (taking up slightly over 1/4 of the pages), while Barnes primarily focused on the making of the film. The book features a wealth of rare color and black & white photos and illustrations, as well as song lyrics and interviews with the movie's key players.

[willard]

The scene of Mrs. Walker's hallucination of soap, beans, and chocolate coming out of the television set, took three days to film. According to Russell's DVD commentary, the baked bean and detergent scenes (and the Rex Baked Beans parody ad) were "revenge" for real-life baked bean and detergent ads he had made early in his career. Russell also recalled that Ann-Margret's husband objected to her rolling around in the chocolate, and that she cut her hand badly on the glass of the television screen, and he had to take her to the hospital to have her hand stitched, but was back on-set the next day.

[ella]

Shortly after the release of the original rock opera upon which this film was based, the song "Tommy, Can You Hear Me?", complete with vocals, was used in a commercial for the United Way.

[norma]

The original choice to play the Acid Queen was David Bowie.

[veronica]

Ann-Margret learned her role by reading the script and listening to the original album by The Who. She recorded her part in a single eleven hour session.

[nicholas]

The Pinball Wizard sequence was filmed in the Kings Theatre in Southsea. This is not the same theatre in which Ken Russell filmed his earlier work The Boy Friend (1971). This was filmed at The New Theatre Royal in Portsmouth. Both theatres are still very much active.

[nicholas]

All the actors - including famous non-singers Jack Nicholson and Oliver Reed - perform their own songs.

[wallace]

Ken Russell originally wanted Sir Christopher Lee to play the Doctor. But he was in Bangkok, Thailand, filming The Man with the Golden Gun (1974). Luckily, Jack Nicholson was in London at the time, and he was brought in as a last-minute replacement for Lee. His singing and his film part were filmed and recorded in eighteen hours.

[chad]

Ann-Margret won the Best Actress Golden Globe for her performance, was nominated for the Oscar, and remains to this day the only actress ever Oscar-nominated in the lead category for a performance which is (save for one single word) entirely sung.