| FILMING "COMA" |
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| "COMA" the movie began life as a best-selling novel by Harvard Medical School instructor Robin Cook. The story concerns the plight of a 23-year-old med student, Susan Wheeler to prove that there is a conspiracy at Boston Memorial Hospital. The book was hailed by the critics as a "first-rate thriller." Producer Martin Erlichman read the novel in galley form and was convinced it would make a great film. He felt that it would scare people about hospitals the way "Jaws" did for beaches. He got author, screenwriter & director Michael Crichton onboard and went to MGM to pitch them. Several changes were made turning the book into film. The biggest being that the blonde beauty medical student would now be a 2nd year surgical resident. The book version of Susan was a girl constantly going up against male chauvinistic hospital politics. The movie toned the woman's lib slant way down. Once MGM gave the green light, casting started. Oscar-nominated Genevieve Bujold was cast as surgical resident Susan Wheeler. American audiences knew her primarily from the 1974 film "Earthquake." Bujold won acclaim in the title role of "Anne Of The Thousand Days", and had a done a great body of work in her native Canada. Cast as 4th year surgical resident and Susan's lover, Mark Bellows was Michael Douglas, who had spent a lot of time behind the camera with films like multiple Oscar winner "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest." Audiences remembered him fondly for his role in "The Streets Of San Francisco." Rounding out the cast were Richard Widmark as Chief Surgeon Dr. Harris, Rip Torn as Chief Of Anesthesiology Dr. George. Broadway star Elizabeth Ashley was cast in the memorably creepy role of "Mrs. Emerson", head nurse of The Jefferson Institute. Rounding out the cast were ex-model Lois Chiles as Susan's doomed friend Nancy Greenly and former U.S.C. basketball star & model Tom Selleck as Boston Memorial patient Sean Murphy. Also in a small but important scene is future star Ed Harris as a pathologist. Filming started in Boston, Massachusetts in June of 1977 and then 2 weeks later moved to Los Angeles to finish location shooting at a Century City A/C plant (the Boston Memorial power plant in the film), Los Angeles City Hall (Harris' office, I assume) and the USC Medical school (scenes of Susan's chase) At MGM four sound stages were used to build the hospital interiors. One set was the Jefferson Institute interiors. While the exteriors were filmed at the Xerox headquarters in Lexington, Mass - the interiors required special lighting and filming-handled by Gerald Hirschfield. For the room where the comatose victims are "stored", 12 actors & actresses were signed for 3 days of work. They were suspended in mid-air for 6 minute intervals, and lowered for a rest then put back in place. Due to the physical strain, they were paid extra wages. Most reported feeling great afterwards and one extra said she lost an inch off her waistline! Genevieve Bujold loved the part, and felt that it could have easily been played by a man, and embraced the challenge. She did all her own stunts, as she did in "Earthquake." While Crichton and Cook are M.D.s, an additional 6 doctors were employed as consultants, making "Coma" very authentic. The films score was provided by Jerry Goldsmith and was unusual in that no scoring was heard for the first 45 minutes-not until Dr. Wheeler is aware that she is being pursued. The movie was released in February 1978 and was a commercial success. |
| Martin Erlichman and Michael Crichton in front of Boston City Hospital. |
| Crichton shows Bujold how to operate. |
| Setting up the last scene. |
| Filming the interiors of the Jefferson Institute. |
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| PHOTOS : MGM/WB |
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