Peter Jackson’s 1996 horror/comedy The Frighteners is one of those movies I constantly forget exists and then, when I recall it, get really excited because I remember just how fun and entertaining it is.
The film follows Frank Bannister (played by Michael J. Fox), a man who uses his abilities to see and communicate with the dead to pull cons on unsuspecting people. The film also stars Jeffrey Combs (Re-animator), Dee Wallace (The Howling), Jake Busey (Identity), John Astin (“The Addams Family”), R. Lee Ermey (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre), and more. Basically, if you haven’t seen it, you don’t know what you’re missing.
Now, coming to the point of this article, one has to remember that many actors have been in TONS of films. And because they invest themselves so greatly during those few months, sometimes they find it hard to let go of previous characters. Such is the case with Fox during the filming of The Frighteners, when he kept forgetting to call Astin’s character “Judge” and instead referred to him as “Doc”, Christopher Lloyd’s character from the Back to the Future series!
Below is a clip from a behind-the-scenes reel where both Jackson and Fox discuss this and you can see the mistakes in action. It’s rather charming, in a silly way!