It probably shouldn’t come as a surprise that Easy Rider was a troubled production. Both stars Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda had seriously bad reputations at the time and they enjoyed drinking and taking copious quantities of drugs. Hopper was set to direct the movie with Fonda producing but neither of them had ever performed either role before and they were struggling to make a deal. They eventually managed to persuade Bert Schneider to fund the movie himself. Schneider and his partner Bob Rafelson had made a fortune from the Monkees television show and wanted to move into film. The film was about two drug smuggling bikers (played by Fonda and Hopper) in search of spiritual freedom riding through the American South to Mardi Gras. At the start of the film they make some money by flogging their illicit cargo smuggled into LA from Mexico. They pick up a hitchhiker who gives them some LSD and they visit a hippie commune. They then get arrested in a small town and meet an alcoholic lawyer (played by Jack Nicholson) who joins them. The film tackles the thorny issue of social tension as some redneck locals attack them. They have a warped trip with two prostitutes in a graveyard and their whole journey ends in tragic disaster after another redneck attack. To begin with Easy Rider was little more than an idea about a biker movie which would connect with the spirit of the sixties. The script was made up as they went along and to get started Schneider gave them $40,000 to shoot some test footage at Mardi Gras. They hired a bunch of friends and acquaintances most of whom were far from qualified for the job and even before they left things began to go wrong. Hopper was dropped off at the airport by his wife who told him he would make a fool of himself and before he boarded the plane they agreed to a divorce. The shoot was a complete disaster. Hopper was by all accounts insane. He carried loaded hand guns around and took drugs and drank heavily before screaming at the cast and crew. Even on the first morning of the shoot he told them all that they were slaves and the movie was his. As he ranted one of the soundmen recorded his outburst. Most of the cast and crew quit unable to deal with the diminutive director. Hopper had a terrible falling out with Fonda after pressuring him to use the death of his mother as inspiration for the graveyard scene and he finished up by having a fist fight with one of the camera operators. When they returned to LA the footage was awful and Fonda played the tape of Hopper ranting for Schneider and suggested replacing him. Schneider persuaded him to try again and this time they hired a proper crew and prepared for the shoot. Rip Torn was originally cast in the role of George Hanson, the alcoholic lawyer eventually played by Jack Nicholson. Apparently Torn dropped out before shooting began after a violent argument with Hopper who insulted rednecks from Texas which offended Torn. Some of those involved thought Nicholson would be a good influence and potentially stop Fonda and Hopper from killing each other. The next big argument was over the script. Terry Southern was hired to write it but Fonda and Hopper claimed he provided the title and left. Southern claims he wrote the whole script. After Southern left Hopper says he wrote the script himself. Hopper and Fonda then argued about the remaining share which Southern had left behind and their relationship continued to deteriorate. They fought incessantly for the rest of the production. Although the proper shoot was more professional they still hired a number of amateurs and random people they met along the way and they frequently improvised scenes and dialogue. They all got wasted often and Nicholson was apparently a huge toker. It is rumoured they smoked real joints on film. It took over seven weeks to finish the filming and then at the wrap party they realised they had forgotten to shoot an important scene and had to go back and do it. Hopper took ages to edit and had a number of bizarre ideas such as running the credits upside down. He eventually came back with a cut that was four and half hours long and insisted it couldn’t be any shorter. Schneider had to persuade him to take a holiday so they could re-edit to a reasonable length. At the screening of the new cut down version Hopper went mad. Predictably he hated it and although he eventually accepted it (he had little choice) he then began to demand that Fonda was removed from the writing credits. Hopper didn’t get his way and after the release he tried to sue for a bigger share of the points but the case was thrown out. When the film was finally shown Hopper won best new director at Cannes and the movie was an absolute smash hit which became a symbol of the counter culture in America. The three stars of the film were catapulted to greater fame and a film that had cost just $500,000 took millions at the box office and in home rentals.