Far and Away

In Ireland, Far and Away became a cult comedy classic for some viewers because of its notoriously bad "Oirish" accents.

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The re-enactment of the Great Land Rush involved 800 extras, 400 horses and 200 wagons. All of the extras were drawn from a re-enactment group called The Re-enacters.

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While shooting the scene in which his character lifts the bowl covering the groin of Joseph (Tom Cruise, her husband), director Ron Howard was unhappy with Nicole Kidman's facial expression. Without telling Kidman, he asked Cruise to remove his underwear. Howard got the reaction he wanted, and it appears in the film.

BEHIND THE SCENES · SOURCED

Three of Ron Howard's great-grandparents actually drove in the 1893 Great Land Rush, as depicted in the film.

LIFE & FAMILY · SOURCED

The dress Shannon admires in a Boston shop window is one of the dresses worn by Clara Clayton in the final scene of Back to the Future Part III (1990).

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Although dialect coach Tim Monich had more than 17 years of experience, this was the first film on which he had to teach the cast to speak with an Irish accent. Technically, Nicole Kidman's accent is wrong: as the daughter of a wealthy landowner in Ireland at the time, she would have spoken largely with an English accent. That would probably have confused international audiences, so she was taught to speak with an educated Dublin accent.

CHARACTERS & CAST · SOURCED

The boxing scenes were shot at the partly restored train station in Billings, Montana. An abandoned Price Club in Billings served both as a factory where the plastic chickens used in the film were made and as a sound stage for the brothel. The brothel was built inside, and fire pumps were used to create rain.

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By coincidence, the southern Dingle Peninsula in Ireland, where part of the film was shot, was the place from which Nicole Kidman's paternal ancestors set sail for Australia aboard the SS Susan in 1839.

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Boxing had no weight classes at the time, so boxers often had to fight much larger opponents.

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Ron Howard asked Rod Steiger to audition for the role of Daniel Christie, which greatly exasperated the Oscar-winning actor. He did, but did not win the part. Richard Harris was also approached but flatly refused.

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It was the first feature film to use the Super 65mm format since Ryan's Daughter (1970). It would not be used again until Hamlet (1996) and The Master (2012).

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Temple Bar in central Dublin was closed for at least three months to accommodate the construction of Molly Kay's brothel street. Local shops and businesses were compensated for the disruption. Despite this, the entire street set is seen only briefly in the film.

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By coincidence, Tom Cruise and Thomas Gibson were both born on 3 July 1962.

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While the women are visiting Christie's house, Shannon's mother tells her to play a nice piano piece. Shannon plays Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. This is a nod to the code word "Moonlight," spoken when Joseph is given the gun to assassinate Daniel Christie.

EASTER EGGS & REFERENCES · SOURCED

This was Cyril Cusack's last film before his death on 7 October 1993 at the age of 82.

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The film is set between 1892 and 1893.

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It was the first film shot in Panavision Super 70mm, though some shots in the land rush sequence used Arriflex 765 cameras, 35mm VistaVision cameras for the antennas, and a 35mm Bell & Howell Eyemo fitted with Panavision anamorphic lenses.

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Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman and Thomas Gibson would reunite in Eyes Wide Shut (1999).

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As is common in Ron Howard's films, both his father Rance and his brother Clint have roles in Far and Away.

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Robert Prosky and Barbara Babcock, who play Shannon's parents, played supporting characters on Hill Street Blues (1981).

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Sean Bean was considered for the role of Stephen Chase.

CHARACTERS & CAST · SOURCED

At the beginning of the film, right after the title Far and Away appears on screen, you can see the schoolhouse from Ryan's Daughter (1970). The Irish village set was built on the same location where the bus stop scenes in Ryan's Daughter were shot.

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The film's cast includes one Oscar winner, Nicole Kidman, and two Oscar nominees, Tom Cruise and Brendan Gleeson. Cruise has an honorary, non-competitive Oscar.

CAREER & AWARDS · SOURCED

Rod Steiger was angry with director Ron Howard because Howard insisted that Steiger's audition be recorded on video. Steiger never forgave this humiliation.

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