The Untold Truth Of Animal House

With its small budget, Animal House couldn't exactly have a custom set built, so the producers had to ask to film on real college campuses. After getting laughed out of a bazillion meetings, they finally asked the dean of students at the University of Oregon. He was still kicking himself for turning down The Graduateyears

With its small budget, Animal House couldn't exactly have a custom set built, so the producers had to ask to film on real college campuses. After getting laughed out of a bazillion meetings, they finally asked the dean of students at the University of Oregon. He was still kicking himself for turning down The Graduate years before and said "yes" without even reading the script. Location locked, Landis sent his Delta frat actors in ahead of schedule to bond. It worked, but definitely not in the way he imagined.  

Peter Riegert (Boon), Tim Matheson (Otter), Bruce McGill (D-Day), James Widdoes (Hoover), and Karen Allen (Katy) decided to check out a real frat party. As the Animal House cast later told the New York Times, the actual frat brothers really didn't like these Hollywood types crashing their party. The moment Riegert knocked a cup of beer over, it was open season. Matheson recalled that the football team chased them down and went Apollo Creed on their collective backsides. The result was a cast sporting black eyes, bruises, and missing several teeth.

In the end, assistant director Cliff Coleman saved the day. A veteran of Sam Peckinpah's demented movie shoots, Coleman covered up the fight from John Landis and ensured all the actors got patched up before shooting started (via Stumped Magazine). As for the Animal House cast themselves, they'd later say that brawl was key to getting them to gel so well on screen.

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