Little Shop of Horrors is a 1986 American
comedyComedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
musicalThe musical film is a film genre in which songs sung by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, though in some cases they serve merely as breaks in the storyline, often as elaborate...
film adaptationFilm adaptation is the transfer of a written work to a feature film. It is a type of derivative work.A common form of film adaptation is the use of a novel as the basis of a feature film, but film adaptation includes the use of non-fiction , autobiography, comic book, scripture, plays, and even...
of the
off-BroadwayOff-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...
musical comedyMusical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
of the same nameLittle Shop of Horrors is a rock musical, by composer Alan Menken and writer Howard Ashman, about a hapless florist shop worker who raises a plant that feeds on human blood. The musical is based on the low-budget 1960 black comedy film The Little Shop of Horrors, directed by Roger Corman...
by composer
Alan MenkenAlan Menken is an American musical theatre and film composer and pianist.Menken is best known for his numerous scores for films produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios. His scores for The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and Pocahontas have each won him two Academy Awards...
and writer
Howard AshmanHoward Elliott Ashman was an American playwright and lyricist. Ashman first studied at Boston University and Goddard College and then went on to achieve his master's degree from Indiana University in 1974...
, about a nerdy florist shop worker who raises a vicious plant that feeds on human blood. Menken and Ashman's off-Broadway musical was based on the low-budget 1960 film
The Little Shop of HorrorsThe Little Shop of Horrors is a 1960 American comedy film directed by Roger Corman. Written by Charles B. Griffith, the film is a farce about an inadequate young florist's assistant who cultivates a plant that feeds on human flesh and blood. The film's concept is thought to be based on a 1932...
, directed by
Roger CormanRoger William Corman is an American film producer, director and actor. He has mostly worked on low-budget B movies. Some of Corman's work has an established critical reputation, such as his cycle of films adapted from the tales of Edgar Allan Poe, and in 2009 he won an Honorary Academy Award for...
.
The film was directed by
Frank OzFrank Oz is a British-born American film director, actor, voice actor and puppeteer who is known for creating and performing the characters Miss Piggy and Fozzie Bear in The Muppet Show, Cookie Monster, Bert and Grover in Sesame Street, and for directing films, including the 1986 Little Shop of...
, and stars
Rick MoranisFrederick Allan "Rick" Moranis is a Canadian comedian, actor, musician, and a magician. Moranis came to prominence in the late 1970s on the sketch comedy show Second City Television, and later appeared in several Hollywood films including Strange Brew; Ghostbusters; Spaceballs; Little Shop of...
,
Ellen GreeneEllen Greene is an American singer and actress. Greene has had a long and varied career as a singer, particularly in cabaret, as an actor and singer in numerous stage productions, particularly musical theatre, as well as having performed in many films – notably Little Shop of Horrors...
,
Steve MartinStephen Glenn "Steve" Martin is an American actor, comedian, writer, playwright, producer, musician and composer....
, and the voice of
Levi StubbsLevi Stubbles , better known by the stage name Levi Stubbs, was an American baritone singer, best known as the lead vocalist of the Motown R&B group Four Tops...
as the plant. Ashman wrote the film's screenplay, his first and only one before his death in 1991.
Little Shop of Horrors was filmed on the
Albert R. Broccoli 007 StageThe Albert R. Broccoli 007 Stage is one of the largest silent stages in the world. It is located at Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England, and named after the famous James Bond film producer Albert R...
at the
Pinewood StudiosPinewood Studios is a major British film studio situated in Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, approximately west of central London. The studios have played host to many productions over the years from huge blockbuster films to television shows to commercials to pop promos.The purchase of Shepperton...
in
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, where a "downtown" set, complete with overhead train track, was constructed. The film was produced on a budget of $30 million, in contrast to the original 1960 film, which, according to Corman, only cost $30,000. The film's original 23-minute ending, based on the musical's ending, was rewritten and reshot after receiving negative reviews from test audiences and has never been seen since besides black-and-white workprint footage.
Plot
In September 1960, Seymour Krelborn (
Rick MoranisFrederick Allan "Rick" Moranis is a Canadian comedian, actor, musician, and a magician. Moranis came to prominence in the late 1970s on the sketch comedy show Second City Television, and later appeared in several Hollywood films including Strange Brew; Ghostbusters; Spaceballs; Little Shop of...
), a nerdy young assistant in a
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
florist shop, is trying to store pots but breaks them by accident. Seymour and Audrey Fulquard (
Ellen GreeneEllen Greene is an American singer and actress. Greene has had a long and varied career as a singer, particularly in cabaret, as an actor and singer in numerous stage productions, particularly musical theatre, as well as having performed in many films – notably Little Shop of Horrors...
), his co-worker, with all the other tenants of their
skid rowA skid row or skid road is a run-down or dilapidated urban area with a large, impoverished population. The term originally referred literally to a path along which working men skidded logs. Its current sense appears to have originated in the Pacific Northwest...
area complain of their surroundings ("Skid Row (Downtown)"). The day of an unexpected
total eclipseAs seen from the Earth, a solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between the Sun and the Earth, and the Moon fully or partially blocks the Sun as viewed from a location on Earth. This can happen only during a new moon, when the Sun and the Moon are in conjunction as seen from Earth. At least...
, Seymour discovers a mysterious new plant ("Da-Doo"), which resembles a
Venus FlytrapThe Venus Flytrap , Dionaea muscipula, is a carnivorous plant that catches and digests animal prey—mostly insects and arachnids. Its trapping structure is formed by the terminal portion of each of the plant's leaves and is triggered by tiny hairs on their inner surfaces...
. He names the plant "Audrey II" in honor of Audrey, on whom he has a secret crush. However, when the shop closes for the day, Seymour discovers that Audrey II is wilting from lack of food. It refuses to eat anything normal plants would feed on, such as soil, water and sunlight. Seymour accidentally pricks his finger on a rose thorn, and discovers that Audrey II has an appetite for human blood ("Grow for Me").
As the plant thrives, business booms at Mr. Mushnik's (
Vincent GardeniaVincent Gardenia was an Italian American stage, film, and television actor.-Early life:...
) previously failing flower shop ("Some Fun Now"). Seymour becomes a local celebrity, but he is very weak because Audrey II needs increasingly more of his blood every day. Meanwhile, it is revealed that Audrey has feelings for Seymour. She dreams of one day marrying him and fantasizes about moving to a
tract houseTract housing is a style of housing development in which multiple similar homes are built on a tract of land which is subdivided into individual small lots...
complete with plastic-coated furniture, a "big, enormous" twelve inch television screen, and raising two children with Seymour ("Somewhere That's Green"). Seymour tries to ask Audrey out, but she has a date with her dentist boyfriend Orin Scrivello (
Steve MartinStephen Glenn "Steve" Martin is an American actor, comedian, writer, playwright, producer, musician and composer....
), who is revealed to be a sadist and
abusiveVerbal abuse is best described as a negative defining statement told to you or about you; or by withholding any response thus defining the target as non-existant...
("Dentist!").
Eventually, the now-huge Audrey II (voiced by
Levi StubbsLevi Stubbles , better known by the stage name Levi Stubbs, was an American baritone singer, best known as the lead vocalist of the Motown R&B group Four Tops...
of The Four Tops) begins to talk to Seymour, demanding more blood than Seymour can give, while offering more fame and fortune in return ("Feed Me (Git It)"). Audrey II convinces Seymour to kill Orin after Seymour becomes enraged watching him abuse Audrey. Seymour books an appointment with Orin and arms himself with a
revolverA revolver is a repeating firearm that has a cylinder containing multiple chambers and at least one barrel for firing. The first revolver ever made was built by Elisha Collier in 1818. The percussion cap revolver was invented by Samuel Colt in 1836. This weapon became known as the Colt Paterson...
, although he cannot bring himself to use it. However, Orin, disappointed with his previous
masochisticThe word masochism could refer to:*Sadomasochism*Self-defeating personality disorder...
patient Arthur Denton (
Bill MurrayWilliam James "Bill" Murray is an American actor and comedian. He first gained national exposure on Saturday Night Live in which he earned an Emmy Award and later went on to star in a number of critically and commercially successful comedic films, including Caddyshack , Ghostbusters , and...
), decides to amuse himself by
huffingInhalants are a broad range of drugs whose volatile vapors are taken in via the nose and trachea. They are taken by volatilization, and do not include drugs that are inhaled after burning or heating...
nitrous oxideNitrous oxide, commonly known as laughing gas or sweet air, is a chemical compound with the formula . It is an oxide of nitrogen. At room temperature, it is a colorless non-flammable gas, with a slightly sweet odor and taste. It is used in surgery and dentistry for its anesthetic and analgesic...
. His gas mask malfunctions. While begging Seymour to help him, Seymour stands idly by. After asking Seymour "What did I ever do to You?" Seymour replies "Nothing, its what you did to her." Orin asks "Her who?...Oh, her." and dies from asphyxiation.
Seymour drags Orin's body back to the flower shop where he uses an axe to chop it up for Audrey II (per its demands). Mushnik passes by the flower shop and witnesses Seymour's actions, fleeing in fear without being noticed. Seymour feeds the body parts to the plant and it continues to grow larger as the film progresses. After a sleepless night, Seymour discovers two policemen questioning Audrey about Orin's disappearance. She says that she feels guilty about Orin's death, even though she did not cause it, because she always secretly wished that he would disappear. Seymour tells Audrey that she is beautiful and should not have such low self-esteem. They admit their feelings for each other and kiss passionately ("Suddenly, Seymour").
That night, Mushnik confronts Seymour and accuses him of being an axe-murderer. Seymour confesses, "It's true, I chopped him up, but I didn't kill him!". As Mushnik prepares to hand him over to the police, Audrey II yearns for Seymour to lead Mushnik close to him in order to get him out of the way ("Suppertime"). Before leaving the store, Mushnik suddenly decides to bargain with Seymour, offering Seymour "a one way bus ticket out of town" If he allows Mushnik to take care of the plant. Seymour gives Mushnik fake instructions to feed it minerals and water on Thursday while Audrey II sneaks up behind him and he is swallowed whole by the carnivorous plant.
Seymour's fortune continues to grow and he becomes a media star ("The Meek Shall Inherit"), but he is very worried about Audrey II's growth and insatiable appetite. He is also afraid that Audrey will only love him if he continues to be famous. He decides to get out of town and marry Audrey, leaving the plant to starve. Audrey II catches him leaving and demands another meal; Seymour agrees, but insists on ground chuck from the local butcher.
When Seymour briefly leaves the shop to get the meat, Audrey II decides to put an end to the distraction Audrey has become to his plans. He telephones Audrey and coaxes her to come over, then tries to eat her ("Suppertime (reprise)"). Seymour returns and saves her just in time, and tries to explain to her what happened. When he mentions that he thought she liked him because of the plant and his fame, Audrey reveals that she liked him the day she started working at the flower shop ("Suddenly, Seymour (reprise)").
As they share this moment together, they are interrupted by a salesman named Patrick Martin (
James BelushiJames Adam "Jim" Belushi is an American actor, comedian, and musician. He is the younger brother of comic actor John Belushi.-Early life:Belushi was born in Chicago...
) from World Botanical Enterprises who offers to breed Audrey II and make a fortune by selling the plant to families around the world. Seymour, shocked, realizes that Audrey II planned for this all along, and that it is planning for world domination.
Seymour confronts and fights the gigantic plant, which by now has little offspring buds in tow with the faces of Audrey II's victims. Audrey II bursts out of its pot and reveals to Seymour that it is an
alienExtraterrestrial life is defined as life that does not originate from Earth...
from
outer spaceOuter space is the void that exists between celestial bodies, including the Earth. It is not completely empty, but consists of a hard vacuum containing a low density of particles: predominantly a plasma of hydrogen and helium, as well as electromagnetic radiation, magnetic fields, and neutrinos....
("Mean Green Mother from Outer Space"). After a brawl with Seymour that wrecks the entire shop, Audrey II manages to latch onto the store's support beams and completely yank the shop to pieces, seemingly killing Seymour in the process. However, Seymour's arm bursts through the rubble and he grabs a broken exposed electrical wire, using it to electrocute the massive plant and its buds, blowing them all up.
Seymour, having miraculously survived the collapse and the explosion, is safely together again with Audrey at last. They wed and move to the suburbs that Audrey dreamed of; however, just before the end credits start to roll, there appears a new, smiling Audrey II bud in their front yard.
Cast
- Rick Moranis
Frederick Allan "Rick" Moranis is a Canadian comedian, actor, musician, and a magician. Moranis came to prominence in the late 1970s on the sketch comedy show Second City Television, and later appeared in several Hollywood films including Strange Brew; Ghostbusters; Spaceballs; Little Shop of...
as Seymour Krelborn, the initially good-hearted protagonistA protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...
; a nerdy florist who loves "strange and interesting" plants.
- Ellen Greene
Ellen Greene is an American singer and actress. Greene has had a long and varied career as a singer, particularly in cabaret, as an actor and singer in numerous stage productions, particularly musical theatre, as well as having performed in many films – notably Little Shop of Horrors...
as Audrey Fulquard, a sweet, quiet, ditsy and insecure coworker; the object of Seymour's affections, but dating the sadistic Orin Scrivello.
- Vincent Gardenia
Vincent Gardenia was an Italian American stage, film, and television actor.-Early life:...
as Mr. Mushnik, the grouchy, penny-pinching owner of Mushnik's Flower Shop.
- Steve Martin
Stephen Glenn "Steve" Martin is an American actor, comedian, writer, playwright, producer, musician and composer....
as Orin Scrivello, DDS, an abusive and sadistic dentistA dentist, also known as a 'dental surgeon', is a doctor that specializes in the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of diseases and conditions of the oral cavity. The dentist's supporting team aides in providing oral health services...
, and Audrey's boyfriend.
- Levi Stubbs
Levi Stubbles , better known by the stage name Levi Stubbs, was an American baritone singer, best known as the lead vocalist of the Motown R&B group Four Tops...
as the voice of Audrey II, an evil and profane flytrap-like extraterrestrial plant with plans to take over the worldHegemony is an indirect form of imperial dominance in which the hegemon rules sub-ordinate states by the implied means of power rather than direct military force. In Ancient Greece , hegemony denoted the politico–military dominance of a city-state over other city-states...
. Audrey II serves as the primary antagonistAn antagonist is a character, group of characters, or institution, that represents the opposition against which the protagonist must contend...
of the film.
- Tichina Arnold
Tichina Rolanda Arnold is an American actress and singer. She is best known for having portrayed the roles of Pamela James on the FOX sitcom Martin and the family matriarch Rochelle on the UPN/CW sitcom Everybody Hates Chris....
, Michelle Weeks, and Tisha Campbell as CrystalThe Crystals are an American vocal group based in New York, considered one of the defining acts of the girl group era of the first half of the 1960s. Their 1961–1964 chart hits, including "Uptown", "He's a Rebel", "Da Doo Ron Ron " and "Then He Kissed Me", featured three successive female lead...
, RonetteThe Ronettes were a 1960s girl group from New York City, best known for their work with producer Phil Spector. The group consisted of lead singer Veronica Bennett ; her older sister, Estelle Bennett; and their cousin Nedra Talley...
, and ChiffonThe Chiffons was an all girl group originating from the Bronx area of New York in 1960.-Biography:The Chiffons were one of the top girl groups of the early 1960s...
, the three dropout school-girls who act as the chorus throughout the film.
- James Belushi
James Adam "Jim" Belushi is an American actor, comedian, and musician. He is the younger brother of comic actor John Belushi.-Early life:Belushi was born in Chicago...
as Patrick Martin, a Licensing and Marketing executive from World Botanical Enterprises who offers Seymour a proposal to sell Audrey IIs worldwide. (The role was played by Paul Dooley-Personal life:Dooley was born Paul Dooley Brown in Parkersburg, West Virginia, the son of Ruth Irene , a homemaker, and Peter James Brown, a factory worker. Dooley was a cartoonist as a youth and drew a strip for a local paper in Parkersburg. He joined the Navy before discovering acting while at...
in the unused original ending; Dooley still receives screen credit in the Special Thanks section).
- John Candy
John Franklin Candy was a Canadian actor and comedian. He rose to fame as a member of the Toronto branch of The Second City and its related Second City Television series, and through his appearances in comedy films such as Stripes, Splash, Cool Runnings, The Great Outdoors, Spaceballs, and Uncle...
as Wink Wilkinson, the WSKID DJ who enjoys putting on a radio show about "weird stuff" called, "Wink Wilkinson's Weird World".
- Christopher Guest
Christopher Haden-Guest, 5th Baron Haden-Guest , better known as Christopher Guest, is an American screenwriter, composer, musician, director, actor and comedian. He is most widely known in Hollywood for having written, directed and starred in several improvisational "mockumentary" films that...
as The First Customer, the first customer to enter the flower shop and notice Audrey II.
- Bill Murray
William James "Bill" Murray is an American actor and comedian. He first gained national exposure on Saturday Night Live in which he earned an Emmy Award and later went on to star in a number of critically and commercially successful comedic films, including Caddyshack , Ghostbusters , and...
as Arthur Denton, a masochistic man who goes to Orin for pain.
- Stanley Jones
Gordon Stan Jones , sometimes credited as G. Stanley Jones, Staley Jones or Stanley Jones, was a Canadian film and television actor.-Career:...
as the NarratorA narrator is, within any story , the fictional or non-fictional, personal or impersonal entity who tells the story to the audience. When the narrator is also a character within the story, he or she is sometimes known as the viewpoint character. The narrator is one of three entities responsible for...
, whose voice is heard reading the opening words.
- Miriam Margolyes
Miriam Margolyes, OBE is an English actress and voice artist. Her earliest roles were in theatre and after several supporting roles in film and television she won a BAFTA Award for her role in The Age of Innocence .-Early life:...
as Dental Nurse, Orin's sarcasticSarcasm is “a sharp, bitter, or cutting expression or remark; a bitter jibe or taunt.” Though irony and understatement is usually the immediate context, most authorities distinguish sarcasm from irony; however, others argue that sarcasm may or often does involve irony or employs...
nurse/secretaryA secretary, or administrative assistant, is a person whose work consists of supporting management, including executives, using a variety of project management, communication & organizational skills. These functions may be entirely carried out to assist one other employee or may be for the benefit...
that Orin appears to enjoy harming frequently.
Musical numbers
- "Prologue: Little Shop of Horrors" – Chiffon, Ronette, Crystal
- "Skid Row (Downtown)" – Seymour, Audrey, Mushnik, Chiffon, Ronette, Crystal, Company
- "Da-Doo" – Seymour, Chiffon, Ronette, Crystal
- "Grow for Me" – Seymour, Chiffon, Ronette, Crystal (off-screen)
- "Somewhere That's Green" – Audrey
- "Some Fun Now" – Chiffon, Ronette, Crystal
- "Dentist!" – Orin, Chiffon, Ronette, Crystal
- "Feed Me (Git It)" – Audrey II, Seymour
- "Suddenly, Seymour" – Seymour, Audrey, Chiffon, Ronette, Crystal
- "Suppertime" – Audrey II, Chiffon, Ronette, Crystal
- "The Meek Shall Inherit" – Chiffon, Ronette, Crystal, Company
- "Suppertime (Reprise)" – Audrey II, Audrey
Filmed ending
- "Suddenly, Seymour (Reprise)" – Audrey, Seymour
- "Mean Green Mother from Outer Space" – Audrey II, the Pods
- "Little Shop of Horrors medley" – Company
Planned ending
- "Somewhere That's Green (Reprise)" – Audrey, Seymour
- "Mean Green Mother from Outer Space" – Audrey II, the Pods
- "Finale: Don't Feed the Plants" – Chiffon, Ronette, Crystal, Company
The film differs only slightly from the stage play. The title song is expanded to include an additional verse to allow for more opening credits. The song "Ya Never Know" was re-written into a
calypsoCalypso is a style of Afro-Caribbean music that originated in Trinidad and Tobago from African and European roots. The roots of the genre lay in the arrival of enslaved Africans, who, not being allowed to speak with each other, communicated through song...
-style song called "Some Fun Now", although some of the lyrics were retained. Four other songs ("Closed for Renovation", "Mushnik and Son", "Now (It's Just the Gas)", and "Call Back in the Morning") were cut from the original production score. "Mean Green Mother from Outer Space" was written for the film. The full version of "The Meek Shall Inherit" and "Finale Ultimo (Don't Feed the Plants)" were cut from the film due to the alternate ending, but are included on the soundtrack album. The dramatic reprise of "Somewhere That's Green" was also in the film, but it was cut as well, and only can be found as part of the original ending.
Critical reaction
Little Shop of Horrors has received very positive critical reception. It currently holds a 91% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes by critics.
The film was also nominated for two
Academy AwardsThe 59th Academy Awards were presented March 30, 1987 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Los Angeles. The ceremonies were presided over by Chevy Chase, Goldie Hawn, and Paul Hogan....
:
- Best Visual Effects (lost to Aliens)
- Best Original Song
The Academy Award for Best Original Song is one of the awards given annually to people working in the motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences . It is presented to the songwriters who have composed the best original song written specifically for a film...
("Mean Green Mother From Outer Space") (lost to "Take My Breath AwayAmerican pop singer Jessica Simpson covered "Take My Breath Away" and released it as the third single from the album In This Skin in 2004. Her version was produced by Billy Mann. Simpson chose to cover this song because she felt that it was the theme song of her relationship with her then husband,...
" from Top GunTop Gun may refer to:* Top Gun is a 1986 film starring Tom Cruise.**Top Gun , soundtrack to the movie**Top Gun , a number of games based on the movie...
)
It was also nominated for two
Golden Globes----Picture - Drama: Platoon ----Picture - Musical or Comedy: Hannah and Her Sisters ----TV Series - Drama: L.A. Law ----TV Series - Musical or Comedy: The Golden Girls ...
:
- Best Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical
- Best Original Score – Motion Picture
The Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score is one of several categories presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association , an organization of journalists who cover the United States film industry, but are affiliated with publications outside North America, since its institution in 1947...
(Miles GoodmanMiles Goodman was an American musician who composed music for television programs, including Teen Wolf, and many films, notably the toe-tapping tunes from Footloose and the incidental music to Little Shop of Horrors . As a producer, Goodman specialized in light jazz and classics...
)
Development and production
Little Shop of Horrors was the only film ever written by
Howard AshmanHoward Elliott Ashman was an American playwright and lyricist. Ashman first studied at Boston University and Goddard College and then went on to achieve his master's degree from Indiana University in 1974...
, who died in 1991 while he was working on
Aladdin. Originally
Steven SpielbergSteven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
was going to produce the film, while
Martin ScorseseMartin Charles Scorsese is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film historian. In 1990 he founded The Film Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to film preservation, and in 2007 he founded the World Cinema Foundation...
was going to direct, who wanted to shoot the film in
3-DA 3-D film or S3D film is a motion picture that enhances the illusion of depth perception...
.
The character of the masochistic dental patient, Arthur Denton, played in the original film by
Jack NicholsonJohn Joseph "Jack" Nicholson is an American actor, film director, producer and writer. He is renowned for his often dark portrayals of neurotic characters. Nicholson has been nominated for an Academy Award twelve times, and has won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice: for One Flew Over the...
and cut from the stage version, was added back to the story and played by
Bill MurrayWilliam James "Bill" Murray is an American actor and comedian. He first gained national exposure on Saturday Night Live in which he earned an Emmy Award and later went on to star in a number of critically and commercially successful comedic films, including Caddyshack , Ghostbusters , and...
.
Greene was not the first choice for the role of Audrey. The studio wanted
Cyndi LauperCynthia Ann Stephanie "Cyndi" Lauper is an American singer, songwriter, actress and LGBT rights activist. She achieved success in the mid-1980s with the release of the album She's So Unusual and became the first female singer to have four top-five singles released from one album...
, who turned it down.
Barbra StreisandBarbra Joan Streisand is an American singer, actress, film producer and director. She has won two Academy Awards, eight Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Special Tony Award, an American Film Institute award, a Peabody Award, and is one of the few entertainers who have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy,...
was also rumoured to have been offered the part. Since Greene was the original off-Broadway Audrey, the role was given to her.
The film's version of Audrey II was an extremely elaborate creation, using
puppetA puppet is an inanimate object or representational figure animated or manipulated by an entertainer, who is called a puppeteer. It is used in puppetry, a play or a presentation that is a very ancient form of theatre....
s designed by Lyle Conway. For the musical numbers (which involved a great deal of movement on behalf of the puppet), the frame rate of the filming was slowed to 16 frames per second, frequent screen cuts were used to minimize the amount of screen time the puppet spent with human actors, and when interaction was totally necessary, the actors (usually Moranis) would pantomime and
lip syncLip sync, lip-sync, lip-synch is a technical term for matching lip movements with sung or spoken vocals...
in slow motion. The film was then sped up to the normal 24 frames per second and voices were reinserted in post-production. During Audrey II's final stage of growth, 60 technicians were necessary to operate the one-ton puppet.
The song created for the film, "Mean Green Mother from Outer Space", written by
Howard AshmanHoward Elliott Ashman was an American playwright and lyricist. Ashman first studied at Boston University and Goddard College and then went on to achieve his master's degree from Indiana University in 1974...
and
Alan MenkenAlan Menken is an American musical theatre and film composer and pianist.Menken is best known for his numerous scores for films produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios. His scores for The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and Pocahontas have each won him two Academy Awards...
, was nominated for an
Academy Award for Best Original SongThe Academy Award for Best Original Song is one of the awards given annually to people working in the motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences . It is presented to the songwriters who have composed the best original song written specifically for a film...
. It caused a small degree of controversy at the
Academy AwardsAn Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
because it was the first Oscar-nominated song to contain
profanityProfanity is a show of disrespect, or a desecration or debasement of someone or something. Profanity can take the form of words, expressions, gestures, or other social behaviors that are socially constructed or interpreted as insulting, rude, vulgar, obscene, desecrating, or other forms.The...
and thus had to be censored for the show.
In early 1987, DC Comics adapted the film as part of their DC Movie Special series, featuring art by former
BatmanBatman is a fictional character created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger. A comic book superhero, Batman first appeared in Detective Comics #27 , and since then has appeared primarily in publications by DC Comics...
illustrator
Gene ColanEugene Jules "Gene" Colan was an American comic book artist best known for his work for Marvel Comics, where his signature titles include the superhero series, Daredevil, the cult-hit satiric series Howard the Duck, and The Tomb of Dracula, considered one of comics' classic horror series...
.
The original ending
The film's 23-minute original ending, based on the off-Broadway musical's ending, was rewritten and re-shot after receiving negative reviews from test audiences. The new ending, written by Ashman, changes the fates of the film's main characters and allows for a (basically) happy ending. The film's rarely seen original ending was the preferred choice of Oz and the majority of the actors, including Moranis.
As originally conceived and filmed, the story follows the stage musical's plot: Audrey is attacked by Audrey II and dies in Seymour's arms, begging him to feed her to the plant so that Seymour will get all the fame he deserves. Seymour does so, and in the process coincidentally fulfills Audrey's great wish, that she be "somewhere that's green". After Seymour feeds Audrey to the plant, he attempts to commit suicide by jumping off Audrey's apartment complex. Before he can, Patrick Martin (played in this version by
Paul Dooley-Personal life:Dooley was born Paul Dooley Brown in Parkersburg, West Virginia, the son of Ruth Irene , a homemaker, and Peter James Brown, a factory worker. Dooley was a cartoonist as a youth and drew a strip for a local paper in Parkersburg. He joined the Navy before discovering acting while at...
) climbs to the roof to persuade Seymour to let him cut samples of the plant so that they can grow into little Audrey IIs and be sold across America. Seymour quickly slides down the ladder and crosses the street to Mushnik's while Martin reminds him that plants are in the
public domainWorks are in the public domain if the intellectual property rights have expired, if the intellectual property rights are forfeited, or if they are not covered by intellectual property rights at all...
and can be sold without his permission. After confronting the plant as it sings "Mean Green Mother from Outer Space", the plant tears down the shop, plucks Seymour out of the rubble, and eats him. It then spits out his glasses, and laughs evilly as the scene fades to black (the evil laugh was provided by director
Frank OzFrank Oz is a British-born American film director, actor, voice actor and puppeteer who is known for creating and performing the characters Miss Piggy and Fozzie Bear in The Muppet Show, Cookie Monster, Bert and Grover in Sesame Street, and for directing films, including the 1986 Little Shop of...
, as Levi Stubbs hadn't recorded much of his dialogue before the original ending was cut).
The three chorus girls appear in front of a sparkling American flag (a
pasticheA pastiche is a literary or other artistic genre or technique that is a "hodge-podge" or imitation. The word is also a linguistic term used to describe an early stage in the development of a pidgin language.-Hodge-podge:...
of the opening scene of
PattonPatton is a 1970 American biographical war film about U.S. General George S. Patton during World War II. It stars George C. Scott, Karl Malden, Michael Bates, and Karl Michael Vogler. It was directed by Franklin J. Schaffner from a script by Francis Ford Coppola and Edmund H...
) and narrate how Audrey II becomes a consumer craze like
Pet RockPet Rocks were a 1970s fad conceived in Los Gatos, California by advertising executive Gary Dahl.-Development:In April 1975, Dahl was in a bar listening to his friends complain about their pets. This gave him the idea for the perfect "pet": a rock...
s. People are shown fighting over miniature potted Audrey IIs in an
A&PThe Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, better known as A&P, is a supermarket and liquor store chain in the United States. Its supermarkets, which are under six different banners, are found in Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. A&P's liquor stores, known as...
. But soon, Audrey II (along with its army of duplicates) takes over Cleveland,
Des MoinesDes Moines is the capital and the most populous city in the US state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small portion of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines which was shortened to "Des Moines" in 1857...
,
PeoriaPeoria is the largest city on the Illinois River and the county seat of Peoria County, Illinois, in the United States. It is named after the Peoria tribe. As of the 2010 census, the city was the seventh-most populated in Illinois, with a population of 115,007, and is the third-most populated...
, and
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, as the song "Don't Feed the Plants" warns the audience not to give in to evil temptations. In the dramatic finale, Audrey II takes over
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, attacks the
Brooklyn BridgeThe Brooklyn Bridge is one of the oldest suspension bridges in the United States. Completed in 1883, it connects the New York City boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn by spanning the East River...
, fights the
U.S. ArmyThe United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
, climbs the
Statue of LibertyThe Statue of Liberty is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, designed by Frédéric Bartholdi and dedicated on October 28, 1886...
and, in homage to the 1933 classic monster movie
King KongKing Kong is a Pre-Code 1933 fantasy monster adventure film co-directed by Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack, and written by Ruth Rose and James Ashmore Creelman after a story by Cooper and Edgar Wallace. The film tells of a gigantic island-dwelling apeman creature called Kong who dies in...
, scales the
Empire State BuildingThe Empire State Building is a 102-story landmark skyscraper and American cultural icon in New York City at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and West 34th Street. It has a roof height of 1,250 feet , and with its antenna spire included, it stands a total of 1,454 ft high. Its name is derived...
. There are also various nods to the 1953 film
The War of the WorldsThe War of the Worlds is a 1953 science fiction film starring Gene Barry and Ann Robinson. It was the first on-screen loose adaptation of the H. G. Wells classic novel of the same name...
. Finally, in the last shot after the title "THE END?!?" has appeared, the plant crashes through the screen of the film and laughs as the camera (the audience) comes closer and closer to its gaping maw.
A special effects team skilled in working with miniatures, led by Richard Conway, went to great lengths to create the finale. The sequence cost $5 million to produce. However, preview audiences rejected this ending as too disturbing. Afterwards, director Oz commented: "In a stage play, you kill the leads and they come out for a bow — in a movie, they don't come out for a bow, they're dead. And the audience loved those people, and they hated us for it." In the final cut, the only miniatures shot by Richard Conway are the New York City streets passing behind Steve Martin's motorcycle ride at the beginning of "Dentist!"
Oz and Ashman scrapped Audrey and Seymour's grim deaths and the finale rampage, and Ashman rewrote a happier ending, with
James BelushiJames Adam "Jim" Belushi is an American actor, comedian, and musician. He is the younger brother of comic actor John Belushi.-Early life:Belushi was born in Chicago...
replacing
Paul Dooley-Personal life:Dooley was born Paul Dooley Brown in Parkersburg, West Virginia, the son of Ruth Irene , a homemaker, and Peter James Brown, a factory worker. Dooley was a cartoonist as a youth and drew a strip for a local paper in Parkersburg. He joined the Navy before discovering acting while at...
(who was unavailable) as Patrick Martin. In the happy ending, Audrey II is killed and Seymour, Audrey, and humanity survive. The musical number "Mean Green Mother from Outer Space" was left intact from the original cut, but shots of Audrey observing from a window were added in. This happy ending is somewhat ambiguous, however, with a final shot of a smiling Audrey II bud in Seymour and Audrey's front yard. Tisha Campbell was unavailable for the final appearance of the chorus girls in the yard and was replaced with a lookalike seen only from the waist down. A brief scene earlier in the film, in which Seymour asks Audrey to marry him, was also re-shot to provide context for the new ending.
Another cut sequence is seen on the blooper reel on the DVD, in which Seymour is seen running through fog and in the background are white pillars under a black sky. Director Oz, who provided a commentary on the reel, says this was a "dream sequence" that never made the final cut of the film. It is taken from the deleted section of "The Meek Shall Inherit", in which Seymour agonizes over the murders he has committed to feed the plant. Stills from this sequence reproduced in the
Little Shop of Horrors photo novel by Robert and Louise Egan show Audrey running through dry-ice fog towards Seymour, only to bypass him and embrace Audrey II (the "Suppertime" sized plant). Another still shows Seymour confronting a giant framed portrait of Mr. Mushnik, and yet another shows Seymour engulfed in vines as if turning into a plant. This sequence was cut, but it appears on the soundtrack album. These scenes are available within the special features section of the DVD.
Other changes from the stage show
Apart from the changed ending, major changes from the stage musical include:
- The deletion of the songs "Closed for Renovation", "Call Back in the Morning", "Mushnik and Son", "Now (It's Just the Gas)", and "Sominex"; the reprise of "Somewhere That's Green" and "Don't Feed the Plants" were present in the original ending but deleted in the final cut. The song "You Never Know" was adapted into the significantly shorter "Some Fun Now". The opening of "The Meek Shall Inherit" was rewritten entirely and was cut to a fraction of its length in the show. The film originally included Seymour's original solo in a dream sequence, but it was scrapped later on. Moranis's solo bit for this song can be heard on the film's soundtrack.
- The character of Arthur Denton, the masochistic dental patient, was not in the stage show. However, he does appear in the original 1960 film under the name Wilbur Force, played by Jack Nicholson
John Joseph "Jack" Nicholson is an American actor, film director, producer and writer. He is renowned for his often dark portrayals of neurotic characters. Nicholson has been nominated for an Academy Award twelve times, and has won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice: for One Flew Over the...
.
- The sequence in which Seymour goes to the WSKID radio station and the character of Wink Wilkinson was added. In the stage show, only the tail end of Seymour's radio interview is heard.
- The subplot of Mushnik's adoption of Seymour (motivated by Musnik's desire to ensure his own profit from Seymour's success rather than from any parental affection) is deleted.
- Mushnik does not witness the dismemberment of Orin in the musical, but rather discovers blood drops on the floor and Orin's dental smock in the garbage after the dentist is fed to the plant. His attempt to blackmail Seymour at gunpoint into giving him the plant is also not present. In the stage musical, he merely confronts Seymour with the evidence he has found and orders him to explain it to the police.
- "Suddenly, Seymour" and "Suppertime" take place the day after Orin's disappearance, unlike in the stage musical, where these events take place several weeks later.
- Seymour is made less culpable in the deaths of Orin and Mushnik than he is in the stage musical, thus making him more sympathetic. In the stage musical, Seymour deliberately waits as Orin slowly asphyxiates. He later lies to Mushnik that he has left the day's earnings inside Audrey II. In the film, it is more ambiguous as to whether Seymour is intentionally helping to kill both characters.
- Productions of the stage show typically have the same actor who plays Orin and/or Martin provide the voices of the opening narrator and the radio announcer of WSKID, and play the first customer, and all of the people trying to get Seymour to sign with them during "The Meek Shall Inherit." In the film, however, different actors portray all of these parts.
- In the film Seymour asks Audrey to marry him, which she happily agrees to do. The two never make a plan to marry in the stage show, but Seymour promises Audrey that they'll leave Skid Row together in a scene before "Suppertime Reprise."
- The Audrey II tricks Audrey into coming into the shop by calling her on the payphone, whereas in the stage musical Audrey comes into the shop worried, unable to sleep and looking for Seymour.
- The characters of Chrystal, Ronnette, and Chiffon didn't interact with the main characters of the film as much as the musical, but rather they were more like singing narrators with not many people appearing to notice them, except in the beginning when they were sitting around by Mushnik's shop, and when they confront Audrey about her boyfriend Orin.
DVD release
Little Shop of Horrors was the first
DVDA DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
to be recalled for content.
In 1998,
Warner Bros.Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
released a special edition DVD of the film. This DVD included approximately 23 minutes of unfinished footage from Oz's original ending, although it was in black and white and was missing sound, visual, and
special effectThe illusions used in the film, television, theatre, or entertainment industries to simulate the imagined events in a story are traditionally called special effects ....
s. Producer and rights owner
David GeffenDavid Geffen is an American record executive, film producer, theatrical producer and philanthropist. Geffen is noted for creating Asylum Records in 1970, Geffen Records in 1980, and DGC Records in 1990...
became angry at Warner for including this footage on the DVD without his consent, and as a result the studio removed it from shelves in a matter of days and replaced it with a second edition that did not contain the extra material. The original
first editionThe bibliographical definition of an edition includes all copies of a book printed “from substantially the same setting of type,” including all minor typographical variants.- First edition :...
DVD is now a much sought-after collector's item and sells for upwards of $150 on
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.
Geffen wanted to re-release the film to theaters with the original ending intact.
On February 28, 2007, Warner hinted that a DVD reissue, featuring the original ending in color with the missing effects, may be on its way. It was later discovered that the original colored film printing was destroyed in a studio fire years earlier, leaving only the black-and-white workprints available to the studio. Geffen has claimed to possess a color copy of the original printing.
Director Frank Oz announced at the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, Queens that the film would be released as a 2-disc DVD/Blu-ray set with the original ending restored.
External links