You Must Be Joking!

Oscar-winning actor Helen Mirren lambasted director Michael Winner in a TV interview for allegedly treating her "like a piece of meat" during a casting session for this film in 1964. Recalling the encounter, she said that he ordered her to turn around and flaunt her body for him. "I was mortified and incredibly angry. I thought it was insulting and sexist, and I don't think any actress should be treated like that, like a piece of meat, at all. I was so angry. I still am." Winner has defended his actions, saying: "I did indeed ask her to stand up. I don't remember asking her to turn around but if I did, I wasn't being serious. I can see it now. She was wearing a peasant blouse and a skirt in the photographs, with enormous bosoms which were sagging a bit even though she was young."

When the famous Lutine bell is stolen, the officers at HQ describe it as weighing about a hundred pounds, and difficult, but not impossible, for a man to move around. Yet in the scene at the finish line, there's a brief shot of Poppy Pennington (Tracy Reed), herself probably not much more than that weight, scooping it up effortlessly in the scramble.

References The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)