9 things you didn’t know about “Carrie,” 50 years later

The scariest part of Carrie White’s high school prom isn’t even the bucket of pig’s blood. It’s that Carrie is actually having a good time before that. After being bullied by her classmates and abused by her mother for what seems like years (the movie takes place over about a week), Carrie experiences, for a few short minutes, the same thrills as the other teenagers. Until, of course, it all goes horribly wrong.

Brian De Palma’s “Carrie,” which opened in US theaters 50 years ago today, went on to become one of the most memorable horror movies of the 1970s. The movie, which is adapted from Stephen King’s first published novel, was a breakthrough for star Sissy Spacek, features a slew of actors who would go on to greater fame, and received two Academy Award nominations.

Tales from behind the scenes are almost as interesting as the movie itself. Here are nine things you probably didn’t know about “Carrie.”

1. Stephen King didn’t think “Carrie” would amount to anything

Stephen King was a struggling high school English teacher when he first started writing “Carrie.” He got the idea for the story after working as a janitor in a high school but after just three pages decided it wasn’t going anywhere. He later wrote that he couldn’t see wasting weeks “creating a novella I didn’t like and wouldn’t be able to sell,” and he admitted he didn’t know jack about high school girls. So he crumpled up the pages and tossed them in the trash.

His wife Tabitha came across the crumpled manuscript while emptying the trash. She brushed off the cigarette ash and read it. “You’ve got something here,” she told him. She wanted to know how the story ended and offered to help him with the parts he was having trouble with (writing about teenage girls).

“Carrie” was published in 1974. King received a $2,500 advance from the publisher (Doubleday). The real money came when the paperback rights were sold for $400,000. The young family’s financial woes were a thing of the past.

2. “Carrie” and “Star Wars” had the same auditions

Before either “Carrie” or “Star Wars” were hits, directors Brian De Palma and George Lucas realized they were both trying to cast relatively unknown young actors. Why not hold auditions for both at the same time?

The directors met with hundreds of young actors, often sitting in on the same auditions. This led to some interesting crossover. Carrie Fisher read for the title role in “Carrie,” and Amy Irving (Sue Snell) read for the part of Princess Leia. Carrie’s kind-hearted prom date Tommy Ross (played by William Katt) auditioned for the part of Luke Skywalker. “Carrie” itself was released in November 1976, and “Star Wars” followed in May 1977.

3. Sissy Spacek deliberately looked like crap at her audition

Brian De Palma wasn’t that interested in casting Sissy Spacek as Carrie (he’d met her through her husband, art director Jack Fisk). He already had another actress in mind for the lead role. But Spacek was determined to win the part. The night before her screen test, she re-read Stephen King’s novel and found an old sailor dress her mother had made for her in the seventh grade. The next morning she didn’t wash her face or brush her teeth, and she put Vaseline in her hair to make it look greasy. When she arrived at the audition, the hair and make-up people tried to clean her up, but she refused. After all, she was trying to look like someone who didn’t fit in. De Palma was convinced.

4. Piper Laurie thought she was in a comedy

Piper Laurie (Margaret White, Carrie’s religious fanatic of a mother) hadn’t been in a feature film for about 15 years when Brian De Palma offered her the part. She wasn’t impressed by the screenplay when she first read it. In fact, she thought Carrie’s mother was so over the top that the movie had to be a satire. She started rehearsals with some rather outlandish ideas for the character (including a bit in which Margaret pulls herself around the room by her own hair). De Palma had to remind her that he wasn’t after the laughs.

5. Sissy Spacek slept in fake blood

The prom sequence took about two weeks to film, and there was a continuity problem. Once Carrie is drenched in blood, all the stains and streaks have to remain in the same place. Rather than have the make-up department re-do the look every morning, Spacek decided to keep the (sticky) fake blood on between shoots. Spacek “slept every night, without a shower, in a trailer right next to the soundstage,” according to co-star P.J. Soles.

6. P.J. Soles was really injured during the prom scene

During Carrie’s revenge spree, Norma Watson (P J Soles) is blasted by a fire hose. The effect of the water is a little too realistic. Soles recalled that the fireman “wouldn’t do it [aim the hose at her] because he said it was too powerful.” During the shoot, the water hit Soles in the ear, rupturing her eardrum, and she lost her balance and fainted (the crew thought she was acting). She went on to appear in another horror classic, 1978’s “Halloween.”

7. Both Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie received Oscar nominations

The Academy Awards aren’t known as the most horror-friendly institution in the universe, but both leading actresses in “Carrie” were nominated. Sissy Spacek was nominated for Best Actress, Piper Laurie for Best Supporting Actress. Both lost to performers in the movie “Network” (Faye Dunaway won Best Actress, Beatrice Straight won Best Supporting Actress). It was the first of six acting nominations for Spacek (she won for playing country music star Loretta Lynn in 1980’s “Coal Miner’s Daughter”). Laurie (already an Oscar nominee for 1961’s “The Hustler”) received her third nomination for her performance in 1986’s “Children of a Lesser God.”

8. The original trailer for the movie spelled Stephen King’s name wrong

It’s hard to imagine anyone in Hollywood getting Stephen King’s name wrong these days. But in 1976 the author was still relatively unknown. That might explain why the original trailer for “Carrie” credits the novel to “Steven King.”

By the time the movie arrived, King had only published two novels: “Carrie” and “’Salem’s Lot.” His reputation was growing rapidly, but the movie business hadn’t quite caught up with it.

9. Sissy Spacek insisted on being buried for the final scene

After the mayhem at the prom (and her confrontation with her mother), director Brian De Palma had one more trick up his sleeve. Towards the end of the movie, Carrie’s friend Sue dreams she is visiting the charred lot where the White house had stood. As she lays flowers on the ground, a blood-drenched hand bursts out of the ground and grabs her. De Palma figured no one would know whose hand it was and planned to use a double. Sissy Spacek insisted on doing it herself. Her husband (and the movie’s art director) Jack Fisk dug a hole for Spacek, and they laid plywood over it. When the time came, it was Spacek who reached up and grabbed Sue Snell (played by Amy Irving). The scene only lasts a few seconds but is one of the most memorable endings in horror movie history. And that IS Sissy Spacek’s hand.