Random Behind Scenes Of Infamous 'Squeal Like A Pig' Scene In ‘Deliverance’ (15 items)

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  (#13) Herbert Coward Was The Only Person Not Fazed By The Scene

  Herbert "Cowboy" Coward appears in the film as Toothless Man, the other hillbilly who plays a part in Bobby's violation, because Burt Reynolds recommended him for the role. They'd worked together many years before at a theme park, and Reynolds thought he'd be perfect. He also helped his stuttering friend rehearse the "squeal like a pig" scene. Whereas everyone else was nervous about filming it because of the provocative content, Coward was surprisingly nonchalant.

  According to Reynolds, "The director said, 'Do you realize what you have to do in this picture?' - explaining to him that he had to jump this guy’s bones. He looked at the director [and said] 'I’ve done a lot w-w-w-worse things than that.'"
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  (#11) People Harassed Beatty For Years, Shouting The Line At Him 

  It's safe to say that the scene featuring Bobby's violation has become iconic. That became something of a curse for Ned Beatty, because he became indelibly linked to the phrase "squeal like a pig." In a piece he wrote for The New York Times, he said that people "shouted, said, or whispered" those four words to him for years.

  Although he expressed pride in being associated with a high-quality movie like Deliverance, Beatty acknowledged that hearing that famous line of dialogue was irritating. He admitted, "It hurts my pride when some jerk hollers 'squeal like a pig' at me. I get mad - real mad."
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  (#1) Who Actually Wrote The Line "Squeal Like A Pig" Is A Bit Of A Mystery

  "Squeal like a pig" is a demented and disturbing expression in the context of the scene. Interestingly, it's unclear who came up with that famous line of dialogue. Some say Boorman's frequent writing partner Rospo Pallenberg thought it up. Still others insist that McKinney ad-libbed it.

  Boorman has his own account. In the DVD audio commentary, he claims that the studio insisted he film a profanity-free version of the scene so that the movie could play on television. Everyone was standing around trying to think of something Mountain Man could say when a crew member randomly chipped in with that suggestion. The director thought it was better than what was on the page, so he decided to keep it.

  What's the true origin of the phrase? We'll probably never know for sure. 
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  (#9) Burt Reynolds Once Claimed Actor Bill McKinney Took Things Too Far

  There has long been a rumor that the "squeal like a pig" scene in Deliverance is real. Movie message boards have debated it, with users speculating on whether this could possibly be true. Those rumors were not helped by Burt Reynolds, who once claimed Bill McKinney got carried away during the scene and intended to violate Ned Beatty for real. In his autobiography My Life, he wrote, "McKinney, I swear to God, really wanted to hump Ned. And I think he was going to."

  The actor further claims that he and John Boorman had to physically pull McKinney off Beatty and hold him down because he was so in character.

  No other accounts exist to support the actor's off-hand claim, and it doesn't stand up to common sense. Most likely, this is a case of him embellishing a story to make it more dramatic than it really was.  
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  (#5) Jon Voight Nearly Turned The Film Down Because Of The Scene

  The scene in which Bobby is violated would still be shocking today, but it was especially shocking in 1972. The mere fact that it was in the screenplay indicated that Deliverance had the potential to be very controversial. In fact, Jon Voight almost turned the movie down because of the sequence. 

  He told The Guardian, "I resisted making the movie up to the very last point. Reading the script, I’d got stuck on the ['squeal like a pig'] scene." Only after John Boorman pressured him to read the script again did he "start seeing myself in the piece" and recognize that Deliverance could be an important project. 
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  (#7) It Took An Entire Day To Film

  Although it only occupies a few minutes in the movie, the "squeal like a pig" scene took an entire day to film. A big part of the reason was that Boorman planned to film part of it in one unbroken shot. This required a significant amount of rehearsal to help the actors perfect their blocking as they move in and out of the frame. He also had to spend time deciding where to put the camera.

  In the DVD audio commentary, Boorman states, "I didn’t know how to shoot it, until I found the setting; brown laurels with the acid green of the leaves, the tangled wood. As soon as I found the scenery, I knew how to shoot it."

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