Jeremy Strong, one of the lead actors in Aaron Sorkin's new Netflix film The Trial of the Chicago 7, said he used a fart machine on set to heighten the courtroom scenes' tension. The Trial of the Chicago 7 dramatizes the turbulent months-long trial in which the government charged seven anti-Vietnam protesters with conspiracy and inciting a riot during the 1968 Democratic National Convention. The movie's star-studded cast portrays some of the most important counterculture figures of the era, including Mark Rylance as the radical attorney William Kunstler and Sacha Baron Cohen as prankster protestor Abbie Hoffman.
Strong plays Jerry Rubin, another real-life protestor and Abbie Hoffman's de facto right-hand man. Both Rubin and Hoffman founded the Youth International Party, whose followers (known as "yippies") were known for their political pranks and theatrical protest demonstrations. Throughout The Trial of the Chicago 7, Jeremy Strong and Sacha Baron Cohen essentially turn the trial into a circus, at one point even dressing in judge robes and police uniforms to pester Judge Julius Hoffman (who, as Cohen humorously mocks in the movie, has no relation to Abbie Hoffman).
To get into character as Rubin, Jeremy Strong told Vulture that he brought a fart machine to the courtroom set to mess with everyone, particularly Judge Hoffman (played by Frank Langella). Because the real trial lasted nearly six months, Rubin and Hoffman found many ways to amuse themselves during the arduous, boring process. That's why Strong said he frequently hid the fart machine near where Langella was sitting, randomly setting it off to infuriate Langella and enhance the tension of the scene. Here's what Strong had to say about his unusual tactic:
I planted a fart machine in the judge’s dais where he couldn’t find it. I would set it off sometimes before a close-up, and it would really piss him off. His face turned red. Those are the takes we used in the film. It was great — there was real, palpable tension in the room when that happened.
Although the fart machine worked, Aaron Sorkin, who had already cast Strong in his directorial debut Molly's Game, wasn't always pleased with the surprises. Strong said the writer-director frequently sent a producer over to chastise him for interrupting the scene and causing a commotion. However, for Strong at least, those confrontations only enhanced his ability to bring truth to the character, since the real-life Rubin certainly something that would've happened to the real-life Rubin during the trial.
It's always interesting to hear when actors try to go "method" using various weird or sometimes dangerous tactics. In addition to the fart machine, Strong begged Sorkin to actually tear-gas him during the riot scenes, which Sorkin declined to do. Perhaps the most well-known story of method acting is when Jared Leto sent his Suicide Squad castmates everything from used condoms to dead pigs while in character as the Joker. The intensity of method acting often intimidates other people on set, which is why method actors frequently need talented directors to course-correct them back toward their vision if things start to get out of hand.
Source: Vulture
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