FILM · 1990 · USA
Bird on a Wire
27 archived facts 4 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
27 Interesting Facts About Bird on a Wire
Interesting Facts (19)
- #001
According to the production notes on the DVD, the baboon was the only male of its kind in the world trained to work on camera.
- #002
Kurt Russell was originally meant to star opposite his real-life partner Goldie Hawn, but he was already committed to Tango & Cash (1989) with Sylvester Stallone, which was shooting at the same time and came out a few months earlier. Russell suggested director John Badham ask his Tequila Sunrise (1988) co-star Mel Gibson, and Badham was pleasantly surprised when Gibson said yes.
- #003
Throughout the zoo shoot, two full-time crews did nothing but water the rainforest plants.
- #004
What finally sealed the deal with Mel Gibson was a producer's offer of his house for the summer, letting Gibson shoot the film while giving his large family a great summer vacation home.
- #005
Three kinds of sand were brought in for the zoo set, including 16 truckloads from Oregon, mixed together and sifted three times to remove any glass shards that could hurt the big cats' paws, then spread ten inches deep over the concrete cage floors to protect them.
- #006
Director John Badham on working with wild animals: "No animal is easy to direct. They don't read the script. It's kind of controlled chaos; you really have to be ready to capture something exciting that might happen, and you have to be ready to deal with dangerous things because they are wild animals and they will hurt you."
- #007
Producer Rob Cohen said: "There were other films with car chases, helicopters, motorcycle rides through unbelievably narrow streets, escapes over rooftops and so on. But what set this film apart was the zoo climax and the difficulty of shooting it."
- #008
The cage walls on the zoo set were just plaster, so the crew had to take special care that animals like the tigers never put a foot on them.
- #009
On the Kino Lorber commentary, director John Badham says he decided to direct the film because of the scene where Mel Gibson's character pranks the gas station owner with fake legs sticking out from under a car, calling it "the most interesting introduction to a main character he had ever read."
- #010
Two big bridges spanned a 60-metre gap in the middle of the rainforest set, both more than three storeys high, and the main suspension bridge had to be designed and reinforced to carry 1,200 pounds of crew and equipment.
- #011
It's the last film to use the 1963 Universal Pictures logo as standard, though some later films, like Inglourious Basterds (2009), brought it back for a "retro" feel.
- #012
For the scene where Rick and Marianne escape the attic and edge across a ledge, a platform was built beneath them to keep them safe and create the illusion they were high up on a tall building.
- #013
Giant leaves were made for the background of the zoo set, with real plants in the foreground for close shots.
- #014
In the shopping mall scene, the Saskatchewan flag is visible as Mel Gibson and Goldie Hawn head for the stairs, and as they go down, the flags of Ontario, British Columbia and Prince Edward Island appear behind them.
- #015
Three waterfalls were built on the rainforest set, the biggest about three stories high; according to the production notes, they were the first waterfalls ever built on a Canadian soundstage.
- #016
Director John Badham has suggested the film was first meant to be set in New York City, but it actually moves through the Midwest, where Mel Gibson's character is in Witness Protection, to Detroit, then Wisconsin and finally St. Louis. Even so, it was mostly shot in Vancouver, British Columbia.
- #017
Mel Gibson's character gets shot in the backside, something his co-star Goldie Hawn also went through in Protocol (1984).
- #018
A computer screen in the film lists the alias of criminal Richard Jarmin (Mel Gibson) as "David Puttnam, Columbia Pictures."
- #019
The thrilling zoo sequence was shot seven days a week, with director John Badham running the main unit and producer Rob Cohen directing a second unit to back him up.
Production Story (2)
- #020
Director John Badham and Rob Cohen sent Mel Gibson and Goldie Hawn just the first 30 pages of the script to hook them, and were very surprised when both signed on.
- #021
Behind the Scenes (4)
- #022
Once Mel Gibson talked her into it, Goldie Hawn did most of her own stunts. She was reluctant at first, fearing how tough and grueling they'd be, but in the end she was so proud of her stunt work that she kept the stunt jacket after filming, and as of 2017 she still displays it next to her Oscar.
- #023
Animal stunt coordinator Monty Cox brought two of his own male tigers and scouted across Canada for other big cats.
- #024
Wes Tritter, who plays Scottie, improvised a jump over the sandwich board.
- #025
It took cinematographer Robert Primes two weeks to light the massive zoo set while he was shooting the main scenes with John Badham.
Easter Eggs & References (2)
- #026
When Joe Weyburn checks Rick's last workplace, the names David Puttnam and Columbia Pictures flash up briefly, a clear dig at Puttnam's short, stormy stint running Columbia Pictures in the 1980s.
- #027
The crop duster is a Piper J-3C-65 Cub and the black helicopter chasing it a Hughes 369D; both fly upside down and even do a 360-degree loop, as in John Badham's earlier Blue Thunder (1983).
Continue through the archive
Sources & editorial notes
Reference databases
- IMDb
Information from external sources is independently selected, consolidated and edited by Arka Evren. Sources are listed for verification and further reading. Encyclopedia text is used under its licence (CC BY-SA). How we work