According to Evan Rachel Wood, one of the scenes in the 2007 Beatles themed musical Across the Universe is more based in reality than it looks. While presenting a special Cinespia screening of the film at Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Wood shared a behind-the-scenes story from the set.
Notably, Wood did not present the film in person but instead recorded a video because she is “recovering from a knee injury and not going anywhere.”
“They told me to share a funny story or moment from when we were on set,” Wood said. “Well, I’ll just say this… during the “I Am the Walrus” scene, any moment you see myself and Jim Sturgess, we are actually tripping.”
Wood continued, indicating that the stars had taken real drugs while shooting parts of the hallucinogenic sequence.
The scene in question is one of the more psychedelic moments of the film. During the sequence, Wood’s character Lucy and Jim Sturgess’ Jude attend a nightclub show where Bono, performing as “Dr. Robert,” sings the Beatles song “I Am the Walrus.” A montage of swirling colors and lights ensues as we’re led to believe the main characters are on a drug trip.
Wood said director Julie Taymor wasn’t initially aware that she and Sturgess were on drugs for the scene. “When I told her that later on, she said, ‘Oh. That makes sense!’” said Wood.
During the message, Wood also explained that Across the Universe “almost didn’t happen.”
“The heads of the studio wanted to change quite a bit. They wanted to remove anything political, anything queer, and anything psychedelic. So, pretty much every cool part of this film would have ended up on the cutting room floor if it wasn’t for our amazing director Julie Taymor. She stood her ground and got the entire cast to back her up and say we would remove our names from this film if they were to gut it in that way.”
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