11 Facts About 'The Jerk' Steve Martin Fans May Not Even Know
Steve Martin may be one of the most widely known, critic and fan adored comedic actors there is for his many memorable roles. His role starring role as Navin Johnson in 1979's The Jerk (which he wrote) follows, as IMDB describes it, "An idiotic man struggles to make it through life on his own in St. Louis."
Essentially, Martin is poor, strikes it rich and repeats that cycle once over. He's, as you can guess, a Jerk and doesn't need anything in this life. Well, except a few things: to be revealed.
Originally it was titled Easy Money, before being changed. It was even called The Jerk (A Wild and Crazy Movie) for awhile. They later (obviously) dropped the part within the parentheses.
Deputy mayor Ray Remy made "two minutes of June 27 as Steve Martin Minutes in Los Angeles." Martin said it was the happiest two minutes of his life, while Reiner said making the trailer was the hardest thing he had ever done (plus he went over budget). 1000 people showed up to Westwood's village theater where bags of popcorn meant to last the length of a two minute trailer (very small) were handed out.
Inside shots were from a mansion owned by a Sheik, Mohammed al-Fassi, who annoyed his beverly Hills neighbors for his repainting the exterior and roof of the house, putting plastic flowers in outside urns and having very graphic human statues put up. Exterior shots were filmed at the same mansion used in The Godfather, and later in The Bodyguard.
Embarrassingly, during the premiere in St. Louis, this was the moment many fans decided it was time to get up and go get popcorn.
The wardrobe department took the shirt back, but good thing Found Item Clothing gave him a replica for his 40th birthday.
And no: not because of a defective man who wants the gas pumper to die. Reiner said:
"Every day ... we came up with at least one or two new jokes on the way to work."
Dating Steve Martin at the time may have helped that situation just a tad. They met in 1977 and were dating by the time filming of The Jerk commenced.
The man known as “Pig Eye Jackson" may look a lot like Navin Johnson (Steve Martin), but it's not him.
It's located in Pasadena, California. At least the madman (M. Emmet Walsh) can rest easy knowing those cans no longer exist.
At the last moment, Reiner told Martin to go for it, which obviously surprised Peters.
He storms out, but not before he takes the only thing in this world he needs: this ashtray. And, this paddle game. And, this remote control. Etc. You get the point.