It’s finally Friday and I’m ready to relax, how about you? With all the press lately about Johnny Depp and his impending divorce (poor Johnny), I thought I’d share one of my favorite Johnny films with you. It’s called Blow, and is about George Jung, a Boston-born drug dealer, who changed American society. Take a look at some of the trivia and if you watch it, let me know what you think!
–Director Ted Demme died less than a year later, while playing basketball. A postmortem toxicology test showed cocaine in his system.
–To prepare for the role Johnny Depp interviewed the real George Jung in prison.
–A lot of Johnny Depp’s dialogue was improvised, including the scene where they are trying to find a place to put all their money from selling coke and his line “We’re gonna need a bigger boat” (a quote from Jaws (1975).
–According to the Director’s Commentary, the tape that George Jung leaves for his father near the end of the movie is a verbatim transcript of a tape that the real George Jung recorded under similar circumstances.
–The actors snorted milk powder in the cocaine scenes.
–The real George Jung (played by Johnny Depp in the film) was released from prison on 2 June 2014. He was due to be freed in November, but was released early after fulfilling a plea bargain by testifying against his co-conspirators. Jung will reside in a San Francisco halfway home until he re-adjusts to society.
–Rachel Griffiths plays Ermine Jung (George’s mother). The actress is five years younger than Johnny Depp (George).
–Ray Liotta who plays George’s (Johnny Depp) father is only eight years older than Depp.
–When George is in the courtroom the first night before he finds out that Barbara’s sick, the words that he is reciting to convince the judge that he is innocent are lines from Bob Dylan’s song “It Ain’t Me Babe” and Woody Guthrie’s song “Pretty Boy Floyd”.
–In one scene, George (Johnny Depp) has his suitcase searched at an airport. When a pair of women’s underwear are found, George says “Hard to break old habits.” This is an obvious reference to Depp’s previous film Ed Wood (1994) in which Depp’s character is well known for wearing women’s underwear.
–George’s last line, “There are no more white horses or pretty ladies at my door” is a reference to the Emerson Lake and Palmer song “Lucky Man”.
–When George is sharing a cell in prison with Diego, George is seen reading a paperback while reclining on his top bunk. The book is “Hells Angels” written by Hunter S. Thompson, the author whom Depp previously portrayed in the movie Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998).
–The scene at the hotel (where Johnny Depp gets shot in the shoulder) was supposed to be taking place in Miami Beach. It was filmed at a small hotel outside of downtown Los Angeles, where it was raining and about 40°. Shooting had to be delayed briefly because the actor’s breath could be seen on film.
–Paul Reubens previously did an anti-crack PSA as his character Pee-Wee Herman before starring in this movie which caused criticism from anti-drug companies.
–The scene where Ray Liotta asks Johnny Depp where he got the money to pay for Franka Potente’s wedding ring, Johnny Depp says, “Construction.” This is a reference to Goodfellas (1990) where Lorraine Bracco asks Ray Liotta how he can afford to pay everyone with twenty-dollar bills and why he knows everyone so well, Ray Liotta then replies, “Construction.”
–There’s a pattern to the film’s plot. Everytime George says “everything is perfect”, things will start to go wrong in his life.
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