#little shop of horrors 1986

[lazycranberrydoodles]

the audreys have a girls night in

[horroredits]

Does this look inanimate to you, punk? If I can talk, and I can move, whose to say I can’t anything I want? LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS (1986) dir. Frank Oz

[calliemity]

Orin Scrivello's Lost Head Prop: A Masterpost

Written and researched by Calliope Avery

Content Warning: Very very mild and low quality special effects gore, implied violence, uncanny valley stuff(?), Orin Scrivello's face.

Little Shop of Horrors (1986) has an unfortunate reputation of leaving a lot of really cool things on the cutting room floor. The most infamous would be the movie's original ending, a beautiful and impressive sequence of puppetry that ended up completely scrapped. However, today we're talking about a prop that never made it into the final movie in any form:

Orin Scrivello's Decapitated Head!!!

Pictured above are the only 2 photos of the prop in its original state that I can find at the moment. The left photo was taken for promotion and advertising purposes, and the right image is actually a Topps trading card! (Which I have a physical copy of, hehe!)

To put it bluntly, I am slightly (very) obsessed with this prop head. There's so much mystery around it, and everything I've managed to dig up both fascinates me and makes me very upset. So much thought and hard creative work was put into the creation of this thing, and it was left completely left out and forgotten! I desperately want more people to be aware of this, so here is my big and (hopefully) well organized masterpost on everything for your learning pleasure. Alright, let's talk about some heads!!!!!!!!!

Forming a Timeline

The earliest mention of the head can be found in an early draft of the movie script, dated February 14th, 1985. There's plenty of concepts in this script that never seemed to get past this draft, but the severed head concept was not one of them. Here, take a look!

source

This section, found on page 66 of the script, not only established the existence of the head, but also establishes the facial expression it will later take on! Clearly, this concept was good enough to be held onto once actual production started, which is good for us! If it wasn't, then this post would be a lot shorter.

Early production of the prop began after the actors were cast, as face molds of Steve Martin were created as bases for the head.

source for the left image - source for the right image

Oooo, check these guys out!!! The left one is made of plaster, and the right one is made of rubber. The website sourcing these images included a quote from Steve Martin about the casting process. Here's the full provided quote:

"These molds were taken of my head for Little Shop of Horrors. It was cast on the lot at Pinewood Studios outside of London, and I got exceedingly claustrophobic during the casting. My entire head was covered with plaster and two straws were placed in my nose for breathing. Argh." - Steve Martin

I unfortunately don't have much information about the crafting process of the prop. I'm currently trying to track down anyone who could've worked on it, but the few people I've managed to contact haven't responded to me yet. So I can't say anything concrete about who worked on it and what went into creating it. The only thing I can assume somewhat confidently is that the creation of the prop happened around the same time as filming for Orin's scenes. It would allow them to make the face molds and also match up Martin's post-mortem Orin face with the facial expression of the prop.

Here's where it starts going downhill. From what I've found, the prop was never filmed with its face toward the camera. In the workprint that I accessed from the Internet Archive, the prop appears for 2 shots, and both of them only show the back of the head. Take a look:

source - timestamp: 1:02:59

[Video description: a low quality, slightly green tinted video depicting a deleted scene from Little Shop of Horrors (1986) where Seymour is feeding the decapitated head of the dentist, Orin Scrivello, to the plant. The video starts with a man in glasses reaching into a garbage can and pulling out a dark-haired decapitated head, holding it upside-down by the fabric on its neck. The head is faced away from the camera, so only the back of its hair is visible. There are vines flailing in the foreground of the shot. The video cuts to a shot of the plant puppet laughing silently. The video cuts again to a shot of the man slowly shuffling forward while dangling the head in front and away from himself. The plant is seen on the left side, still laughing and flailing its vines. Throughout the video, there are brief flashes of light that resemble lightning. The video's audio only consists of thunder noises and an unidentifiable sound that resembles chewing noises. End ID.]

My best guess for this choice is maybe it isn't as convincing when filmed? In the photos it looks really well made and realistic, but perhaps it didn't come across that way during shots. Regardless, the head was still in the film at this point, so that counts for something!

But as you and I both know, those 2 shots were left on the cutting room floor, completely removed from the final product. The prop was left completely unused and unspoken of... except for one instance.

Remember the trading card I mentioned at the beginning? It's a part of a full set of trading cards that were made and distributed by the brand Topps. Back when the movie first came out, you could buy a pack of 5 mystery Little Shop of Horrors themed trading cards, along with a stick of bubblegum. This 44-card set is notable for featuring a lot, and I mean a LOT of images from cut movie scenes. There's photos of the original ending, there's photos from the cut sequence The Meek Shall Inhereit, and of course there's also the card featuring the prop head! However, those 2 sequences would later be rediscovered, cleaned up, and then added into the Director's Cut rerelease of the movie. The prop head wouldn't get this treatment, staying obscured, unknown, and unmentioned.

Fast forward about 30 years. A certain unused movie prop would be offered in an auction, allowing us to not only see high-quality photos of said prop in its current state, but also to allow us to know the exact materials it was made of! Without further ado, I present Orin Scrivello's decapitated head, circa 2018:

source

This absolute freak of a guy was up for auction at the "Profiles in History: Icons and Legends of Hollywood" auction on June 5th, 2018. No one ended up buying it (I would. I need to buy it actually. Please sell it to me.), but the auction gives us some absolutely divine information about the prop, such as what it's made of and its dimensions! Here's a quote from the auction website describing its materials:

"Vintage original hollow cast resin character head painted in realistic flesh tones with brown eyebrows and eyes. The 13 x 8 x 9 in. head has been polyfoam filled for stability. Exhibiting cracks to the crown, which is brittle and with other wear and age. A striking likeness of Steve Martin. In vintage good condition."

How neat! The high-resolution images allow us to see the detailed sculpting of the prop, which is still evident and impressive with its age and missing parts! The creases on the forehead, and around the mouth and eyes, the realistically colored teeth, this was clearly sculpted with a lot of attention to detail. I would've loved to have an image like this back in the prop's prime, back when it still had hair and a fresh coat of paint.

Why was it Scrapped?

This is entirely just me theorizing, but I have a feeling it's for the same reason the original ending got snubbed.

If you take the time to watch the archived workprint, you'll find a lot of cuts and changes were made that changed the tone of the whole finished project. Orin's death and dismemberment scenes got edited down a lot. Shots of him struggling and knocking things down as he falls to the ground got cut, the voiceline where he begs Seymour for help is gone. The shot where Orin's legs jolt when Seymour brings down the axe is gone too.

It's not just Orin-related scenes either! Mushnik no longer cries out for Seymour when being killed and eaten, and that's ignoring how different the scene happens in the stage musical. And obviously, the entire ending got changed so that Audrey and Seymour survive, leading to the cut of the magnificent ending sequence where all the Audrey II's destroy New York. In a way, the film got murdered and gutted of any of its real horror, with attempts to cover up any of the blood they couldn't scrub out.

In the movie's later quest to rebrand as a softer version of itself, it only makes sense that 2 shots of a decapitated head wouldn't make it. The appearance of the dismembered leg made it through, probably because it's less gruesome, but a head is... different. I obviously think it should've been kept it in, along with almost everything they trimmed from the workprint, but alas.

Tldr, they cut the head off of the movie because it wasn't funny enough.

Conclusion

This is where the information I have ends, unfortunately. I do have more research routes I would like to take, but one of them involves desperately contacting random people who I suspect could've been involved (I've tried this, I've gotten no responses from those who I've managed to find an email for), and the other route involves taking a road trip to the actual goddamn Library of Congress, which is not something I can do right now or even in the near future. So this is probably as far as I'm getting!

However! If I find anything new, this post will be updated and/or remade again, depending on how big or little the info is. For now, I think this is good enough to share, and maybe letting people know will encourage others to research this prop as well! It'll probably be easier if it's not just me, y'know.

I'll finish by saying that I think research and preservation of art like this is very important. While it's common for cool artistic things to end up cut from movies, I think preserving that those cool things existed in the first place is something worth doing. Even though this prop head was a very small part of the movie, it's clear a lot went into creating it! I feel bad that I'm not able to credit any person or people for their work, but I hope getting the word out about it will do some justice.

If you've read this whole thing, thank you so much! I appreciate your interest and I thank you for taking the time to read all this. I hope you found it as interesting and fascinating as I do!

Oh, by the way, if this post looks familiar at all, you've probably seen the original version of this post I made awhile ago. I wasn't happy with the formatting of that post, and I ended up making too many discoveries to just continue updating it. I'll keep the original up to preserve it, but reblogs will be off for it, as I want this version to be the one to go around. Thanks!

[whoareyoueventhough]

Me, indecisive: hmm I don't know

Me, indecisive, just having seen little shop of horrors: I, DONT, KNOOOOOW... I DONT KNOOOOOoooooowwww... I HAVE SOOO... MANY STRONG... RESERVATIOOOOOONSSSS

[featheredframingdevice]

Y'all, we've got to get on the same page with this. Little Shop of Horrors Day is September 23rd, not 21st.

No shade, because gods know I've misheard plenty of lines and lyrics over the years, but it's narration of an onscreen text crawl, so I'm pretty confident this time.

[standing-flowers]

my lsoh headcannons under cut!!!

(lil cw for sh mention* (very brief))

Seymour:

he/him, I mostly see him as a cis male but him and Audrey are totes t4t (i would explain this if i could but i cannot)

queer as HELLL

autistic and dyslexia, his special interest is plants and botany

has seen Mr mushnik as a father figure ever since he adopted him

*after Audrey two grew too much to be satisfied with just blood from Seymour's fingers, he developed a small sh habit bcs he thought it would ground him when stressed

forgets to shower (me too brotha me too)

wears shoes a size too big bcs comfy

fell for Audrey harder

Audrey:

she/her, mostly see her as cis but her and Seymour are totes t4t

unlabeled, just bcs she's never actually thought abt it and only focused on her attraction to men

has to develop an emotional relationship with someone to romantically fall for them

tried to convince herself she loved orin while they were together

is an absolutely AMAZING cook like omg

used to want to be a fashion designer when she was younger

fell for Seymour first

Orin:

she colour matches her clothes to how she's feeling

always wanted to go shopping with the urchins

he/him, cis

this man is bisexual as FUCK he'd never publicly fawn over a man though

was terrified by Arthur Denton bcs he'd never met someone who reacted positively to how he treated them

extremely high ego and apathy

rarely feels actual romantic attraction, mostly just uses ppl for his own gain/satisfaction

originally pursued dentistry just bcs it's what his mum encouraged him to do but later found out he loved it

Audrey Two:

she/they/it, genderfluid and intersex

asexual. I fully believe that even if she were a human she'd be able to reproduce asexually

as a younglin they cared for Seymour, but grew out of it

lowkey wanted to be Audrey (just bcs she found her curious. thats it.)

extremely apathetic towards humans (I feel this is obvious though)

HATED being in the plant pot

has a favourite/least favourite blood taste list (Mr mushniks was it's least favourite)

loved being doted on as a younglin

Mr mushnik:

he/him, cis

straight

only took Seymour out of the orphanage bcs he needed help at the flower shop but didn't want to pay/hire employees

Audrey and Seymour's pining pissed him off

might update these at a later date cuz I feel like there's more grrr. also soz if these are kinda weird my mind works strangely

[sea-side-spectre]

Then Suddenly there was this

TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE SUN!

Close Ups + Full Unedited

Progress Checks!

Acrylic on Canvas [3|6|23]

:]

[cressida-jayoungr]

One Dress a Day Challenge

Black and White October

Little Shop of Horrors / Ellen Greene as Audrey

The patterning on this dress made me think of The 101 Dalmatians, which came out around the same time as the original, non-musical Little Shop of Horrors. Actually, it came out one year later--Little Shop was in 1960, and Dalmations was in 1961--but it's fun to think that it might be a reference.

She accessorizes with white pumps and white gloves in proper early-1960s style. The black net scarf is a bit unusual, but it looks good with the dress. (ETA: I have been reminded that it's actually a sling for her injured arm. In which case, props to her for finding a way to make an "evening wear" sling!)

[vtomleni]

i watched little shop of horrors, and I'm really that because they killed Audrey 😢

i wanted to yell "don't feed Audrey's body to plant, don't defile her corpse 😭" but he fucking did 🙄 like i get that he might feel responsible for the plant and all, but DUDE AGGGGGHHHHH AUDREEEEEY you deserve everything good in this world honey sweetie, you deserve to have nice things and be loved, and be respected, I'm actually tearing up right now, I'm so sad, i don't care that plants took over the world there, like yeah consumerism or greed or whatever, I DON'T CARE, AUDREY IS FUCKING DEAD!!! 😭😭😭

[gangles-toybox]

this is gonna sound stupid

Ok, so lsoh fandom, at least for the '86 movie, do y'all think that Orin *likes* abusing Audrey?

I know that sounds like a really..weird..question to ask since he is a sadist. But what I mean by this is, he *clearly* enjoys pulling teeth n shit but he seems more...angry more than anything when he's abusing her. Do you think he even really likes her? I mean I'm just saying, she seems to have all of her teeth in tact & he offers Seymour a "dental appointment" on the first day he meets him. Idk these are just things I noticed when I thinkt too long lol.

[squishy-teeth]

FEED ME, SEYMOUR!! FEED ME ALL NIGHT LONG!!!!!

[little-whats-her-name]

May or may not have made an elderly woman's day today

So I was at some botanical gardens and there was a group of about five people (myself included) all looking up at a sign with a map and trying to figure out which route to go on

And then I noticed a box labelled brochures

Except there were no brochures

Taking a stab in the dark, I put my hand under the metal top of the box and it lifted up. And inside. There were brochures!

I handed one to this elderly woman, she thanked me, and I had a moment to study her facial features.

I blurted out, "You kinda look like Ellen Greene."

And then I realised that statement probably meant nothing to her, so I clarified, "She plays Audrey in Little Shop of Horrors. She's a musical theatre person." (I was so nervous, the word "actor" had completely left my mind 😂)

The woman smiled and said, "I'm going to take that as a compliment."

I told her, "It absolutely is. She's adored by the fandom."

[calliemity]

hey! did you know there were a few songs that were written as possible additions to the movie version of little shop of horrors? lets talk about them!!

first and foremost, im getting all this information from a wonderful book called "Attack of the Monster Musical: A Cultural History of Little Shop of Horrors" written by Adam Abraham. its the best book ever written ever, if youre interested in the details of lsoh's creation, from the early inspirations to the most recent revival, this is the book you wanna read! again, my source is this book, please check it out of you can!!

okay, so heres the list of songs written specifically for the movie, some of them you might know already! also im not counting the cut songs from the stage musical, maybe ill talk about those another time. ill include song/lyric links if applicable!

Thundercrash: this song was a prototype to Some Fun now, and was meant to replace "Ya Never Know" and "Closed for Renovation". the name comes from a lyric in the original version of both songs, Ya Never Know ("and with a thunder-crash"). i cant find anything else on this song aside from the book, which gives us only 1 verse: "Seymour, the shnook / His life was the worst / Oh what a bore dirt poor is / Now take a look / His luck has reversed"

Some Fun Now: this one is used in the movie! youre definitely familiar with it lmao

Bad: first version of a final villain song for audrey II. this one's probably the most well-known, since it was featured on the 2003 broadway cast album as part of the cut songs. it's the only one included that wasnt cut from the orignal show!

Bad Like Me: the second version of a final villain song for audrey II. much less well known than Bad, this one includes musical motifs that ended up transferring over to the final version of the song! its also just a very neat song imo, probably my favorite out of these

Mean Green Mother From Outerspace: the final version of audrey II's villain song, which was obviously used! there's nothing to explain here, everyone knows this song lol

Your Day Begins Tonight: a song written for the final credits of the movie. sung by the urchins, its unclear if this song came before or after the other end credit song. not much is known aside from lyrics, apparently!

Crystal, Ronette, and Chiffon: another song considered for the final credits. this one actually got a howard ashman demo, and its also been covered by debbie gravitte and was performed by the cast of the recent off broadway revival! its gotten a good amount of attention!

this is all i have im pretty sure! hopefully you thought this was cool :] if i missed anything let me know!!!!!

[adaptations-polls]

Which version of this do you prefer?

[cut-me-and-call-me-yours]

LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS (1986)

I couldn't believe how ridiculous and fun this movie was. It totally threw me for a loop. I was expecting a low-budget film that was the usual plot line for any film of this Era. Boy, was I wrong. Not only is this a musical with super catchy songs, but it throws the usual "protagonist saves the day" trope right out the window. In fact, none of the cast saves the day. The day is not saved at all. The plants take over, and we all die, and that is an ending that is so unusual, and I loved it so much. The was Audrey II moves was very life like to tye point I almost forgot she was just a puppet. The plot was super original, and there were so many funny moments. Not to mention, the 3 black ladies that sing killed it and every preformence and slayed while doing it. Seriously, who is their stylist? I need them in my personal life

[standing-flowers]

why the fuck was my childhood crush orin scrivello. what was wrong with little me