Editing Freaks (1932 film) (section)

==Production==
===Development===
[[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer]] (MGM) had purchased the rights to [[Tod Robbins]]'s short story "[[Spurs (short story)|Spurs]]" in the mid-1920s at [[Tod Browning]]'s urging for a reported $8,000.{{sfn|Mank|2005|p=124}} [[The Doll Family|Harry Earles]], a dwarf who had appeared in Browning's ''[[The Unholy Three (1925 film)|The Unholy Three]]'' (1925)—and who would ultimately star as Hans in ''Freaks''—had originally proposed the idea of making a film version of "Spurs" to Browning.{{sfn|Hartzman|2006|p=139}} The studio agreed to hire Browning to direct the project based on his past success at [[Universal Pictures]] with ''[[Dracula (1931 English-language film)|Dracula]]'' (1931) and for his collaborations with [[Lon Chaney]].{{sfn|Mank|2005|p=123}}

In June 1931, MGM production supervisor [[Irving Thalberg]] offered Browning the opportunity to direct ''[[Arsène Lupin (1932 film)|Arsène Lupin]]'' with [[John Barrymore]]. Browning declined, preferring to develop ''Freaks'', a project he had started as early as 1927; Browning had worked with a traveling carnival prior to becoming a filmmaker.{{sfn|Smith|2012|p=86}} Screenwriters [[Willis Goldbeck]] and [[Elliott Clawson]] were assigned to the project at Browning's request.{{sfn|Jensen|2012|p=201}} Leon Gordon, Edgar Allan Woolf, [[Al Boasberg]] and an uncredited [[Charles MacArthur]] would also contribute to the script.{{sfn|Jensen|2012|p=201}} The script was shaped over five months.{{sfn|Jensen|2012|p=201}} Little of the original story was retained beyond the marriage between a dwarf and an average-sized woman and their wedding feast, and the setting—originally France—was relocated to the United States.{{sfn|Jensen|2012|p=201}} Both Thalberg and [[Harry Rapf]] served as uncredited co-producers on the film.{{sfn|Peterson|2009|p=36}}

===Casting===
[[File:Johnny Eck-Angelo Rossitto in Freaks.jpg|thumb|upright|Johnny Eck as Half-Boy and Angelo Rossitto as Angeleno]]
[[Victor McLaglen]] was considered for the role of Hercules, while [[Myrna Loy]] was initially slated to star as Cleopatra, with [[Jean Harlow]] as Venus.{{sfn|Mank|2005|p=124}} Ultimately, Thalberg decided not to cast any major stars in the picture.{{sfn|Mank|2005|pages=123–125}} Instead, Russian actress [[Olga Baclanova]] was cast as Cleopatra, based on her success in a Los Angeles-produced stage production of ''The Silent Witness''.{{sfn|Mank|2005|p=124}}

Harry Earles was cast as Hans, the carnival sideshow performer whom Cleopatra attempts to murder for his estate.{{sfn|Mank|2005|p=124}} Earles' real-life sister, [[The Doll Family|Daisy]], portrayed his dwarf love interest, Frieda.{{sfn|Mank|2005|p=124}}

Among the supporting characters featured as "freaks", casting agent Ben Piazza scoured the East Coast for over a month and put out advertisements for photographs and screen tests, scouting carnivals and sideshows for Browning; amongst others, a girl with "Elephant skin", "a boy with dog legs", "a giant", "a bunch of pygmies" and the legendary dwarf performer "Mega Mite" didn't make the cut.<ref name="mf" /><ref name="dfr">{{cite web|url=https://deepfocusreviews.com/definatives/freaks/|title=Freaks}}</ref> The cast that would included Peter Robinson ("The Human Skeleton"); Olga Roderick ("The [[Bearded Lady]]");<ref name=sedalia>{{cite news|work=The Sedalia Democrat|location=Sedalia, Missouri|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/38718181/the_sedalia_democrat/|title="Freaks" Now At Liberty Is Most Unusual Motion Picture Ever Produced For Screen|via=Newspapers.com|date=February 21, 1932|page=12}}</ref> Frances O'Connor and Martha Morris ("[[armless wonder]]s");{{sfn|Matthews|2009|p=54}} and the conjoined twins Daisy and Violet Hilton.{{sfn|Mank|2005|p=124}} Among the [[Microcephaly|microcephalic]] characters who appear in the film (and are referred to as "pinheads" throughout) were Zip and Pip (Elvira and Jenny Lee Snow) and Schlitzie, a man named Simon Metz who wore a dress.{{sfn|Nicholas|2018|p=236}}

Also featured were the [[intersex]] Josephine Joseph, with her left-right divided gender;{{sfn|Bombaci|2006|p=101}} Johnny Eck, the legless man, who was scouted for the role while performing in [[Montreal]];{{sfn|Nicholas|2018|p=136}} the completely limbless Prince Randian (also known as The Human Torso and miscredited as "Rardion");{{sfn|Mank|2005|p=118}} [[Elizabeth Green the Stork Woman]]; and Koo-Koo the Bird Girl, who had [[Virchow–Seckel syndrome]] or bird-headed dwarfism and is most remembered for the scene wherein she dances on the table.{{sfn|Mank|2005|p=124}}

===Filming===
''Freaks'' began [[principal photography]] in November 1931,{{efn|Film historian Gregory William Mank states production began on November 9, 1931,{{sfn|Mank|2005|p=124}} though Thomas Doherty in ''Pre-Code Hollywood: Sex, Immorality, and Insurrection in American Cinema, 1930–1934'' (1999) writes that principal photography began November 2, the same day as ''[[Tarzan the Ape Man (1932 film)|Tarzan the Ape Man]]''.{{sfn|Doherty|1999|p=11}}}} with a 24-day shooting schedule.{{sfn|Mank|2005|p=124}} At the time of the production's beginning, the film had a budget of approximately $209,000,{{sfn|Mank|2005|p=124}} though it would eventually expand to more than $300,000.{{efn|name=budget}} The film was shot on the MGM studio lot in [[Culver City, California]].{{sfn|Doherty|1999|p=11}} Baclanova recalled her time first meeting her co-stars on the set:

{{blockquote|Tod Browning, I loved him. He say, "I want to make a picture with you, Olga Baclanova...&nbsp; Now I show you with whom you are going to play. But don't faint." I say, "Why should I faint?" So he takes me and shows me all the freaks there. First I meet the midget and he adores me because we speak German and he's from Germany. Then he shows me the girl that's like an orangutan; then a man who has a head but no legs, no nothing, just a head and a body like an egg. Then he shows me a boy who walks on his hands because he was born without feet. He shows me little by little and I could not look. I wanted to cry when I saw them. They have such nice faces, but it is so terrible...&nbsp; Now, after we start the picture, I like them all so much.{{sfn|Mank|2005|p=125}}}}

During the shoot, the film had already begun to draw disgusted reactions, resulting in MGM segregating the film's cast and crew to a separate cafeteria so that "people could get to eat in the commissary without throwing up."{{sfn|Smith|2012|p=93}} Filming was completed on December 16, 1931, and Browning began retakes on December 23.{{sfn|Mank|2005|p=125}}