‘Everybody was fondling underwater!': an oral history of the Rocky Horror Picture Show at 50

The Guardian

7 days ago

The Rocky Horror Picture Show was released in cinemas in late 1975 with little fanfare, but the provocative musical, with its campy parody of sci-fi and horror B-movies, fabulous costumes and rollicking songs, dug its glittering heels in and refused to let go for the next 50 years.
The film was an adaptation of the hit musical The Rocky Horror Show, created by Richard O'Brien when he was an unemployed actor. The story of Dr Frank-N-Furter (Tim Curry), an alien, transvestite scientist, decked out like a bewitching glam rock god and hellbent on seducing everyone around him, galvanised audiences into participating in a way that had never been seen before.
As its popularity grew, audiences began to take an active role in screenings – dressing up, dancing, singing along and adding their own lines of dialogue. Screenings also became safe spaces for LGBTQ+ fans, drawn to the film's unabashed celebration of queerness, sexual liberation and gender fluidity.
It remains the longest-running theatrical release in film history and still plays in cinemas today. We look back with the cast and crew to find out how the film became such a cult phenomenon.
The year was 1974. Actor Richard O'Brien decided to adapt The Rocky Horror Show for the big screen, working with the show's director, Jim Sharman. They kept most of the original cast but the studio, 20th Century Fox, insisted that the lead couple, Brad and Janet, were recast with Hollywood actors.
Richard O'Brien, co-screenwriter, composer and Riff Raff (a 'handyman')I was approached by Mick Jagger's people to buy the rights because he wanted to play Frank. I spoke to Jim, and he went: 'No, don't do that.' I said: 'Why not?' He said: 'Well, that means we won't be able to make it.' It had never occurred to me that we'd be allowed to. By the time we got to Los Angeles, Lou Adler was the producer, and he made the overture to 20th Century Fox. Suddenly we were allowed not only to make the movie, but all be in it. The kids were allowed into the sweet shop.
Jim Sharman, director and co-screenwriterI was given two options. One was a reasonable budget with rock stars and the other one was a tiny budget keeping the original team together. I said: 'Great, let's do that.' I thought it was fine to have Americans playing the Americans, and it was great to have Barry [Bostwick] and Susan [Sarandon], who were, at that time, not particularly known.
Barry Bostwick, Brad (a 'hero', who stumbles across Frank-N-Furter's castle one stormy night along with his girlfriend Janet, played by Sarandon)
It was interesting because [Susan and I replacing the original Brad and Janet] was a parallel to the characters coming into a new, strange world. Susan and I stepped into a very vibrant, glam, rocky environment in London. We were fish out of water; naive, wide-eyed and curious.
Nell Campbell, Columbia (a tap-dancing 'groupie' and Frank-N-Furter's former lover)
For [Bostwick and Sarandon] it was definitely a little difficult stepping into, basically, a theatre company because we'd all worked together for at least six months.
Patricia Quinn, Magenta (Riff Raff's sister and Frank-N-Furter's 'domestic')Sharman said: 'Let's go around to [associate producer] John Goldstone's house, and take a look at the sets and the designs.' So I went and saw this pink laboratory set. I saw Transylvanians [Frank-N-Furter's alien companions] on motorbikes. I saw my dinner dress sketched by Sue Blane, the amazing costume designer, and I said: 'Oh, I'm doing this.'
Tim Curry, who had cut his teeth in the stage musical as Frank-N-Furter, made his film debut as the sex-crazed, corset-wearing scientist.
Bostwick I was enamoured with Tim's acting chops. To watch him balance the meanness and darkness with the charm and seduction of that character, few people could have done that.
O'Brien When we did it on stage, [Frank-N-Furter] was a bit more German expressionistic theatre, a lot more gothic and ghoulish, and the makeup was rougher. But when we got into the studio, Frank became very glamorous, and it was rather lovely.
Production started in October 1974, on a budget of $1.4m, for nearly two months – on location in Bray Studios and Oakley Court, a country house in Berkshire, which were both used for Hammer horror films.
Sharman We shot at the Hammer Horror studios as a bit of a homage. But that proved to be a little bit impractical. I made many impractical decisions. It was freezing, the middle of winter, the conditions were far from perfect.
Bostwick It was a miserable shoot. I was always wet, I was in my underwear, and every 20 minutes, the prop guy was spraying me down with ice-cold water, because they apparently didn't know how to heat up water in England at the time. So, Susan got pneumonia, and everybody had colds. I remember cursing a lot before scenes when the guy had to come by. At one point, I took the spray and started spraying him, just so he got a taste.
Campbell It was hilariously unglamorous … Mercifully, I had a fantastic silk padded dressing gown which got me through the shoot because we were half naked a lot of the time. We would have to hike to the bathrooms. And we were all being paid a very small amount.
Quinn Everything was a bit of a surprise on this film. Nothing was explained. [The dining table scene didn't have] anything to do with the play. Tim Curry was told to pull the tablecloth off the table in one fell swoop. Underneath was Meat Loaf [who played Eddie, a motorcyclist murdered by Frank-N-Furter]. I thought: 'Oh my God,' because nobody told us. I got hysterics. Richard said to me: 'Shut up.' It was hilarious, and it's all in the film. There was no time to make mistakes.
Bostwick The orgy in the swimming pool … We ended up on the stage, wet, in high heels, trying to do the high kicks. It took every bit of balance, energy and camaraderie to do that. Everybody was kissing and fondling underwater. And then when we got out, we went into a little warming booth. We had a cup of tea, and as we were leaving, it caught on fire. Everybody was afraid it was going to burn down the whole set, and we would be shut down. We got out just in time.
They used an unusual technique to get the opening scene.
Quinn Jim said: 'Have you ever seen Man Ray's Lips, the painting?' 'Never.' He said: 'We could have your lips miming to Science Fiction.' They [erased] my face completely and painted my lips. I started to do it but the lips kept going out of frame. The lighting guy said: 'You see that lamp, that's clamped in that clamp? Bring it down and clamp her head.' So they brought over [the clamp] and screwed in the top and the sides so I was clamped … The most famous lips in cinema history.
The intense shoot meant that no one had time to socialise.
O'Brien We were there first thing in the morning at six o'clock. You went home, straight to bed, to get up the next day. We didn't have time to party.
Bostwick I don't remember having dinner with anybody. I think I got to know the makeup guy better than anybody else … I was experiencing London for the first time. I spent my time at flea markets if I had a day off.
Quinn We were exhausted. I never even got to know Susan. Barry said to me once: 'You never liked me.' And I said: 'No, I didn't, because I thought you were Brad' – you know, that dull person. There was no time for chit-chat.
Bostwick There was a lot of pot going around in the ranks of the Transylvanians.
The film flopped on its release in August 1975 and was panned by critics.
O'Brien We had our first viewing of the movie. We all left a little bit depressed. It seemed slow to me. It was a fast 90 minutes on stage. The film seemed more dreamlike, languid. I thought: 'God, people should have picked up their cues a bit quicker.'
Campbell It was my big break, so the fact that it disappeared without a trace was very disappointing.
Bostwick It never opened in New York. Then I found out later that it hadn't been a big hit when it opened in London.
The film was rereleased in midnight screenings in April 1976, with word-of-mouth spreading during its run at New York's Waverly Theater (now the IFC Center). Fans started to yell out their own responses to lines during screenings, and 'shadow casts' dressed up as the characters and lip-synced their own performances in front of the screen. The film was embraced by the queer community, who found a sense of belonging in these immersive screenings.
O'Brien I was at home one day, and someone said to me: 'Have you heard about your movie?' I said: 'Yes, opened and closed.' 'No, it's doing this midnight business.' That was a surprise.
Sharman In a funny way, I felt it would find that audience. Quite irrationally, because there was no reason why it would. But I always felt that there was something special about it. Lou understood the potential and persuaded people at Fox, who had more or less washed their hands of it, to start playing it at late night [screenings]; and so it grew.
Quinn When I was in South Africa, people said it was being banned for corrupting the youth. They said it had been banned in Germany for cannibalism. I thought: 'Wow, we're going to be a hit.' The first Magenta [fan] ever to dress as me became one of my closest friends.
Bostwick It started out as a gay event … The audience were outcasts, in a way, from their own society. They found their family there. They found someplace to go and be seen. They were exploring who they were authentically in the world, and they were witnessing something in the film that they had never seen before; that there is an alternative way of being.
Campbell In the beginning, there weren't that many things [they would call out to the screen]. Now they pretty much call out after every line. The original things were very witty and hilarious. But now – and I know that my fellow cast members agree – it's too much because you can hardly hear anything without them screaming out.
Sharman People said: 'Are you horrified that your film is being used as wallpaper for a party?' I said: 'No, it's fantastic.'
Sharman and O'Brien teamed up again for Shock Treatment, a loose follow-up to The Rocky Horror Picture Show released in 1981, which featured several of the same characters.
O'Brien The first draft had Rocky (a creature created by Frank-N-Furter and played by Peter Hinwood in the original film) rising from the grave, pulling Frank's body from the rubble and dragging him back to Dr Scott (Jonathan Adams) to get him reanimated. The producers liked it. Jim said: 'No, we're not doing that.' Everything was reworked and Shock Treatment came up. It's a flawed piece. I'm not happy with it, truthfully.
Sharman I felt Rocky Horror Picture Show was self-contained and resisted the idea of a sequel. Having moved on, I was also cautious about 'putting the band back together'. I was, however, keen to work with Richard again. We depicted an America enslaved by reality TV run by a megalomaniac. It didn't fly – maybe the satire seemed too dark and far-fetched for the time – though it has proved prophetic.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show went on to gross more than $115m worldwide and is now the longest-running film release in cinema history. It continues to screen around the world.
O'Brien I find it astonishing. People try forever to write something which has legs. It's like a musical that was written in a 13-year-old boy's bedroom … [LGBTQ+ fans] come and say that it was something that changed their lives. They found that they weren't alone, that somehow there was a place for them in the world. They weren't going to be laughed at, ridiculed.
Bostwick I think that my kids, if they have children, will be able to take their children to it and say: 'That was your grandfather, and they used to call him 'asshole' [a common refrain called out by the audience during fan screenings] for his whole life. But he wasn't. He was a great dad. He was just associated with this iconic story.' I'm very proud of it, and I'm a champion for its worldviews.
Campbell We're the only positive cult I can think of. The great joy has been what this film means to so many people. It is still difficult for a lot of people to come out as gay or cross-dressers or bisexual or trans. This 50-year-old film still brings people together because of the shadow casts. I've met so many people that have met their partners that way. Sometimes at a screening I will meet an entire family dressed up as the characters. It's just marvellous.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show is screening at selected cinemas across the UK from 22 August