The Pit and the Pendulum

💡 Did You Know?

In her autobiography 'Truth and Dare: A Memoir', Rona De Ricci recalled an incident happened to her during the filming of this movie:"In one of the scenes, my character, Maria, who was imprisoned by Torquemada, is being examined nude, true to the Inquisition's handling of women who were accused of being witches and coerced into pleading guilty. At the rehearsal, and clothed at my insistence, the director wanted us to 'improvise' that scene a bit. Circled by the clergy and the guards, I was pulled and pushed and humiliated with barbs authentic to the period and some that were not. When I sensed this was getting out of the artistic realm and was more of a cruel joke, I protested.The director reassured me that it was for the sake of the shot. We tried again, but now the language turned more profane and contemporary, along with more shoving. The director watched with sick satisfaction. Crying in anger, I demanded it stop, citing that the script didn't call for it, nor had I signed for more than what was in this scene originally, and I refused to continue. "