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How did Clifton Collins Jr. portray a man with one arm?

posted 15 years ago by tocwa
14 replies | jump to latest

The one-armed man working at the cleaning supply shop is played by an actor, Clifton Collins Jr., who happens to have both arms in real life. They did an amazing job with CGI making it appear as though he was missing an arm. Does anyone have any thoughts on this or on casting actors who have both limbs in the role of handicapped characters?

[–] anomalousdarling 15 years ago

wow, i just thought he was an actor with 1 arm. that's amazing! whoever arranged that did an incredible job. I was curious how they found a 1 armed actor that fit the part so well...

[–] rachel_anne_foster 15 years ago

Gary Sinese was missing both legs above the knee in Forrest Gump and he was WAY more active than Collins in this movie.

[–] juve216921 15 years ago

My sarcasm detector is being repaired at the moment so I'm not sure if the first post is sarcasm but...

I doubt it was CGI.

The actor seemed to just put his arm behind his back and they just cut to another shot just before he turned around to avoid revealing the bump(the arm) behind his back.

CGI was not necessary...

[–] J_R_Cash 15 years ago

Juve216921 - Methinks that the OP might not know how stuff like this is done, so the rational thought on their part is to assume that it is CGI, as opposed to something as simple as putting it behind his back. Not the OP's fault, since everything is done with CGI practically.

Or maybe the OP does realize this and is using sarcasm. That's what I hate about the internet, and reading ANYTHING PERIOD, because the person writing something writes it one way, but then people read it another way; I hate it. So hopefully it is sarcasm at it's finest.

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[–] valkyrie40205 14 years ago

Or maybe OP is asking a legitimate question. Here's a excerpt from an interview with Clifton Collins Jr. The full inverview link is below.

Was your arm digitally removed?
"We did that a couple of different ways. One was a green sleeve where they digitally removed it when we could afford to do that. The other way was to get wardrobe to give me a very strong belt or a rope and tie it around my waist, something that will not move. I would lock my shoulder back and I'd literally put my arm back as far as I could to the side of my waist and lock it. Once it locked the pain would kick in and I'd try to bury the pain. Once the pain was gone they'd wipe the sweat of my forehead, then I'd go ahead and knock out the scene."

So, both CGI and old school techniques were used.

http://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a161655/collins-jr-discusses-sunshine-cleaning.html

[–] s_c47 15 years ago

I heard it was so easy for Clifton. In fact it was so easy he did it....

...with one arm tied behind his back!
http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c201/s_c47/Humor/DavidCarusoBlank2.j pg

Para tiempo means nada nunca.

[–] ekushner 14 years ago

I was really hoping that Rose would get together w/ him at the end...maybe it was implied a bit..he was a good guy :)

[–] RonSwanson 14 years ago

I heard it was so easy for Clifton. In fact it was so easy he did it.... ...with one arm tied behind his back! http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c201/s_c47/Humor/DavidCarusoBlank2.j pg

Ok I lol'd.

I was really hoping that Rose would get together w/ him at the end...maybe it was implied a bit..he was a good guy :)

Same here. I was rooting for Winston. You my boy Winston! What a fun, sexy time for you.

[–] Desertman84 14 years ago

Clifton Collins Jr,according to the DVD commentaries, had a green sleeve in his arm.So when the scenes were shot, he had two arms. They made Winston,the Collins character,have one arm by removing the arm with green sleeve in the film through CGI, during post production.

[–] cinemajunky 14 years ago

*slow clap*

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[–] AltaireIII 14 years ago

"Does anyone have any thoughts on this or on casting actors who have both limbs in the role of handicapped characters?"

Teh one armed Winston character was a quirk. It wasn't necessary for him to be one armed.

Now if you make a movie about FDR during his Presidency, then he has to be handicapped because he was in real life.

It is nice to try and cast a disabled actor in the role of a disabled character. But at the end of the day you also need talent. If real one armed actors don't have the talent to play Winston in this film then they can't be hired.

[–] thebatman1001 14 years ago

XD WIN.

[–] Kim_E 12 years ago

I thought he was great. But what I really want to know is how the heck does he braid his hair like that every day??

[–] coolaree 10 years ago

It looked like some obvious green screen trickery during some scenes. Nowadays CGI is probably simpler and faster then practical effects like tying your arm behind your back haha.