Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
De Niro r safety ed by icopter.. to jump e rocky hen we e snake CTOR JOHN SAVAGE
e.’ Bobby yells at me: ‘Jesus Christ, n. Don’t call me by my character me. We’re f***ing going to die here.’ started laughing and just said, ‘I’m g,’ and we looked at one another and h dropped. God knows how, but we sed the rocks and the water took us he side of the production boat below. We both stared at one another on k. Then we looked up to see that the copter was wavering as it was stuck he cable on the bridge, but luckily ebody crawled out and pushed it off. Had that not happened, the ’copter d have crashed down on us too.” st then, De Niro noticed a snake, a i Banded Krait, on his friend’s leg. avage says: “A snake was wrapped und my leg. I was still in disbelief at t happened, so kind of froze. One of the guys on the boat calmly removed it and then cut its head off. Later he told me its bite was deadly.”
The three leading men found themselves in deep water again shooting the famous logs scene in a fast-moving river.
Savage says: “We hung off the logs as the water pushed them around. I got pushed down in shallow water, trapping my legs in the wet sand. Suddenly the rest of the logs were coming toward us and about to cover me entirely and drown me.
“I heard Chris shout, ‘We’re getting stuck.’ Then Bobby went under too as the logs rolled out of control. Chris somehow pulled me out.
“The panicked camera team rammed the boat into the logs to stop us getting crushed or drowned. The impact dislodged the camera and it fell in – the footage lost for ever.
“Bobby somehow got out of the water, on to the log and used the boat to push our log away from the danger area.”
Even when the cameras stopped rolling, the drama continued for the cast as they watched co-star John Cazale battle terminal cancer, bravely supported by his girlfriend Streep.
Cazale, 42, who had been dating Streep for three years, knew he was dying of lung and bone cancer.
Savage says: “John was in a bad way, so after shooting we would often go up to their hotel room. Meryl was always by his side, caring for him. We all knew this was his farewell, but his spirit was so strong with so much laughter on those nights.
“He would tell jokes, bust our balls and laugh loads in front of us.”
Sadly Cazale, who played Stosh, died shortly after filming wrapped in March 1978.
The Deer Hunter is most remembered for the Russian roulette scenes, when De Niro and Walken fire a partially loaded pistol at their own heads.
But Dzundza, who played John Welsh, reveals the scenes almost failed to make the final cut, with studio bosses wanting them out. Dzundza, 73, says: “Those scenes were a metaphor for combat –
ACTOR WHO PLAYED STEVEN